newbie - er5 - white oil - help

[stooster]

hi,

just passed test and loving my er5 . ok i know its only a lil un to you lot but huge to me. anyway. done about 30-40 miles and all seems to be ok but the oil is white. i am maintenance fitter so mech competent and am assuming that the head gasket has gone. can anyone confirm this. ive read some posts about condensate building up inside the engine and that a good run will clear the engine. if so how long of a run are we talking.

my thoughts were to top up coolant and mark the level. change oil and filter then run for a bit then check again.

any help appreciated.


cheers

[veeeffarr]

Sounds like a gasket faliure,

I'd personally let out some oil to check whether it's mayo or condensation.

But then again, I'm a tool that knows nothing about mechanics!

[lee125]

if the oil is white is normally means that water has got into it.

[.....]

Take it for a nice ride to let the oil get properly up to temperature and check again. Has it been stood for a while or have you been doing short runs on it?

[Nath]

[stooster]

[Nath]

[swampy]

[Redd]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Would be a bit worried that it could be a blown head gasket. However it could be condensation, depending on where it has been stored and for how long, and a few oil changes are a lot easier than a head gasket.

Could also be a leaking water pump seal.

Not sure on the ER5, but the GPZ500 is a pain to get the head off it as the frame runs very close to it.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[beans]

Sounds like condensation to me. My monster had a bit of mayo under the filler cap today and its not even liquid cooled! Take it for a good blast and get the revs up a bit, if neccessary stay in 3rd or 4th gear on a long stright and get the revs up near the redline which is better for your licience then redline in top gear. This should get the temperature up a bit and get rid of any condensation. Is there any evidence of oil in the water i.e dip your finger in and you should be able to feel it on your hand. Has there been much steam coming out of the exhaust? I dont know ER5's very well do they have a temperature gague? If they do has it been overheating at all? Is the bike getting upto temperature, as this could suggest a dodgey thermostat which is stuck open and not allowing the engine to reach full operating temperature. Has the bike been loosing any water?

[Mark_petty]

I would do as someone else has suggested change the oil and filter and then take it out for a long run.
If the water level hasn't gone down at all i'm not sure how water is mixing with the oil. So I would say its a build up of moisture from the air (condensation)
____________________
[Rides: Suzuki GSF600sx]
[CBT: Passed] [Theory: Passed] [DAS: Passed]

[stooster]

cheers for all the help guys. just read all the comments and decided to do the oil and filter change and see how things go. also gonna do the plugs and air filter to get a bit accustomed to the bike and as i have no idea where it has been before i bought it. looking at the chain it has been stood for a while as it was beginning to rust.

cheers again, stu

[stinkwheel]

Check the coolant level in the radiator rather than the expansion bottle. The rad. cap isn't all that efficient at allowing coolant to drain back down from the bottle. I have seen the radiator half empty on my GPZ with a couple of inches still in the bottle.

In my experience, if the head gasket is going to fail on one of the 500 twins, it is usually between the cylinder and the water jacket rather than between an oilway and the water jacket. As such you would normally see symptoms of a pressurised coolant system with a blown head gasket.

I have heard of the water pump seal going on Kawasakis before which would cause the same problem.

I have a feeling it is probably just condensation though, those bikes have a big sump (3.4 litres) in relation to their engine size so condensation is a distinct possability.

I would also expect to see some oil in the coolant if one of the gaskets/seals had let go as the oil will be at a much higher pressure than the coolant.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[stooster]

dont want to drag the topic on too much longer as others need help i know but i just had a thought. im doing the service tomorrow inclusive of the oil and filter change but thinking .............should i change the oil and leave the old filter in...run the bike for a week or so so it picks up all the old oil residue then do another oil change and then do the filter this time. Or .....are there some good oil flushing solutions out there that i should use......

[stinkwheel]

I would chuck the filter to be honest. If there are bits of goo and water in there, the paper element is going to be in a bit of a state.

Plus the filter and assosciated pipework holds a bit over half a pint of (old, knackered) oil.

Filters are not expensive.

I suppose if you really wanted to flush it, you could buy a container of cheapo bargain basement 10W-40 oil from a filling station. Drop the old oil. Fill with cheapo. Ride round the block a couple of times, drain the cheapo oil and chuck the filter then put in whichever oil you decided upon. If it has got up to temperature, the oil is going to have circulated to anywhere it is going to go

Probably not necessary though.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Redd]

[stooster]

job done and i dont think head gaskets gone . the oil looked pretty much ok but the sight glass was still covered. used off the shelf engine flush and ut left the gubbins all clean from what i could see.

new filter fitted after flush....jobs a good un......thanks for the help guys.

stu