Hey guys, I have a 2014 ZX14r and was just inspecting near the kickstand. I grabbed the breather and it was so brittle, my finger went right through it. The breather is the little bottle down by the kickstand part number 14069-0703 with the vent tube off it's tail (not the oil receiever/bottle (part 13045-1057). I ordered a replacement part, but it won't be here over the weekend.

My question is, can I just remove this breather entirely while I wait for the new part to come in? I mean it has a giant hole in it right now, so it's not performing it's function. Just wondering what you guys would do and any advice you can give. Thanks! For now, I wrapped the crappy body of it gorilla tape. Looks real boss.

* Last updated by: DeadCow on 6/30/2022 @ 8:12 AM *

That is probably the dain tube from the air box and the bottle is meant to catch any liquid that might run down so you know you are getting oil or water in there. I don't see a problem if you run it without the bottle. I never saw anything in mine on my Gen1. Maybe a drop of oil when it was over serviced.

It's def not the bottle. The breather has got a drain tube out the bottom and is the part number I mentioned. I differentiated with the part numbers so people would know I'm not talking about the bottle. I just can't believe it was so deteriorated that my finger went through it like it did. I'm not sure what this part I broke even does. Boggling.

On another note, I'll be honest, until I started researching this, I didn't even know the oil catch bottle was there (second owner of the bike I have), and it's always leaked oil around that area, so I went looking for it, and it was buried close to the engine, and I can see that that bottle is overfilled, so Im gonna pull the tank and clean out that bottle, the tube, and the airbox later today.

Also thanks for all your tutorial posts, Rook. You've helped me a number of times, and I've never had the opportunity to say thanks... so.... thanks!

* Last updated by: DeadCow on 6/30/2022 @ 10:57 AM *

You are DeadCow.

The tube you're talking about is probably the crankcase vent and if it's just the hose coming out of the bottle or the bottle itself, I see no problem running the bike for a while without either or both.

If you have oil in the airbox breather bottle, it was probably over serviced on oil. If this happened recently, there probably is a film and even maybe a couple small pools of oil in the airbox. I would not try to wipe it out of the airbox. It will all drain down and dry up eventually. Wiping it will probably hook fibers out of the rag because the inside surface of the airbox is rough cast. I doubt cloth fibers would cause much problem getting sucked into the intakes but the way I see it, why bother?? It definitely will dry out completely on it's own and as long as you have a good air filter in there, there's no dust getting past it that would collect on the oil film (if you even have that anymore).

I would have a look at the air filter. It will clog up faster if it got misted with oil.

If you know you didn't over service the oil, this oil you see in the bottle might have been from years back. If so, the air box would be dried out and assuming the filter has been changed, that would be unaffected as well.

I've always had a oil leak problem on the left side of the bike. I took that little bottle out and it was full all the way up the drain tube and there wasn't just a little puddle in the airbox, it was a lake in there. With it on it's stand, I vacuumed it out, then used throttle body/intake cleaner to remove the film and let that drain into a rag under the drain hose with the bottle off so it cleaned out the tube, too.

For the bottle, again it's never been emptied while the bike was in my possession, so it's likely to have always been full, but aside from that, the contents of the bottle were not just oil, it was def an oil/water combo. there was mold in the bottle. I cleaned it out entirely with Brakleen, and it's sparkly new right now. I'll keep an eye on it. I never have to touch the antifreeze, the oil always comes out clear on changes, I've never overheated, and I never blow steam so I don't consider it a potential head gasket leak. Probably just "ridden in the rain" runoff over so many years.

I know the 2014's had a real problem with oil in the airbox at higher RPM's and I really push this bike. My ride into work is only 13 miles and I rarely leave 4th gear and RPM's are up around and above 9k the whole time. Last riding season, I thought the oil leak was the head cover gasket and plug seals so I replaced them. It obviously didn't solve the problem, but it at least let me adjust the valves. I have 36k on this bike, so it was time. Only one needed adjusting though.

I changed the oil and filter yesterday. I checked the level this morning while holding it straight up on it's tires with the bike completely cold and to me it looks perfect:

I suppose the bike could be adjusted so it's on an angle, but I always check it in the same spot in my garage. I just don't know what consitutes "level" (maybe a bubble level between the axles?) and I suppose it could be overserviced every time by me, but I can't believe the oil level would be that sensitive.

Last year I did empty the oil out of the airbox before I serviced the head cover gasket and valves and there was a lot in it, I just felt that it was just the 2013/2014 and the oil issue they have and my riding style. I guess going forward if that is the case, I can keep it under control by servicing the overflow bottle. Just... man, I wish that servicing that bottle was part of the oil change instructions in the manual, because it's super easy to overlook that and has never been part of any other bike I've ever worked on.

Thanks for your input on all this. Helps a lot to have someone to get other ideas from.

* Last updated by: DeadCow on 7/1/2022 @ 8:46 AM *

Home he here takes a plug to the frame rain drain. Where that hose goes to plumb into the frame as in, the hose leading to the frame hole is plugged up too. The breather hose has a mini breather kind of k&n style, then wrapped with a cut down plastic drinking bottle. Razor X the bottom of the bottle, breather hose is shoved up from the bottom, breather filter is pushed into the breather hose, tighten the hose clamp, slide the bottle up the hose, so it can dump the oil coming out of the filter. The bottle captures the oil that would have entered into the air-box is sitting at the bottom of the bottle.... cocked at an angle or if straight up, would leak out the too wide of an X cut.

Out of Stock @ Revzilla. $6 part.
https://www.partzilla.com/product/kawasaki/14069-0703

the contents of the bottle were not just oil, it was def an oil/water combo.

I just don't know what consitutes "level"

If the cold check is as shown in the photo with the bike standing straight up balanced so it's not falling to the left or the right ...adnn you still are getting oil up in the airbox, there's something weird going on. That doesn't look overserviced to me.