Milky oil sight glass...

The weatherman BLEW the weather report yesterday and I got stuck in some fairly heavy rain for my ride home from work last night. No visibility, soaked jeans, water logged boots, lots of fun! :whistle:

Anyhow, when I got home I was wiping down the bike and noticed my oil sight glass all milky. When I tipped the bike and checked the oil level it didn't necessarily look milky, but there seemed to be a film on the sight glass.

Can condensation cause this? I find it hard to believe riding in the rain can get water in the oil. For all I know this might happen a lot and I just happened to catch it last night since I was wiping things down right after riding.

Post edited by: savedrider, at: 2006/03/07 11:25

Post edited by: savedrider, at: 2006/03/07 20:09

probably just condensation from cold water on hot engine .let it sit a day and check again. goodluck,happy wrenching!

This happens on mine from time to time, it always goes away. At least so far.

Mines milky all Winter. The engine never gets hot enough to evaporate the condensation.

Engine oil needs to get up to temp hot enough to boil of water (a byproduct of combustion) and other byproducts. Acids are present in cold oil and can eventually cause engine wear. Do you routinely go for short rides? I would step up oil change frequency and try to get a good long ride in periodically to get oil nice and hot.

Well I put my battery back into my bike today for my first ride of the year. Nice sunny day, temp in the 40's. When I stopped for gas, I noticed the same milky appearance in my sight glass. I am relieved to hear that a longer ride will get rid of the problem.

Is this happening because of the bike sitting all winter in the unheated garage?

Getting oil up to temp on regular basis is good idea, but does not replace frequent oil changes. Oil viscosity and protection breaks down over time and use. Frequent oil changes are probably the best thing you can do for your engine.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I commute about 14 miles each way to work and back. So I do think it has enough time for the oil to come up to temp. I have an oil cooler and the colder weather probably isn't helping.

I also used about a quart of that Lucas Oil Stabilizer at my last oil change. I don't think I'm going to use it next time and see what happens. I'm about 600 miles away from an oil change (3000 mi. intervals).

Search the archives for a post on oil additives or stabilisers. I remember old cold ankles posted a link to a site which showed some Lucas additive foaming when used with a particular oil - I just cant remember the details.

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Woodstock ON Canada
1980 kz750E1, 4->1, K&N pods

I saw something similar on the Ford Diesel website where they found the Lucas caused excessive foaming which is very bad in a Diesel engine at least. Not sure about KZs. I'd highly doubt it hurt anything, but highly doubt any benefit either. Just to set some ease to the whole thing, as everyone probably has read multitimes, I have a 167,000 mile KZ650 that went 135,000 without a rebuild. I rode it to work all Winter in temps as low as zero in a 6 mile roundtrip ride. I did this for about 18 straight Winters and it never hurt the old 650, but that oil looked really nasty white all Winter.
JR wrote:

Search the archives for a post on oil additives or stabilisers. I remember old cold ankles posted a link to a site which showed some Lucas additive foaming when used with a particular oil - I just cant remember the details.

........................................................................................
Woodstock ON Canada
1980 kz750E1, 4->1, K&N pods

JR wrote:

Search the archives for a post on oil additives or stabilisers. I remember old cold ankles posted a link to a site which showed some Lucas additive foaming when used with a particular oil - I just cant remember the details.

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Woodstock ON Canada
1980 kz750E1, 4->1, K&N pods

Yeah, I've seen that test and it shyed me away from Lucas some time ago. For whatever reason I bought a gallon of it a while back and decided to try it again. I think I'm done with additives and will stick to regular oil in the future.

PS - You should read some of those testimonials on the Lucas site though...makes you think...

Air Cooled engines have a disproportionally large oil capacities. Additionally unitary motorcycles have transmissions that are lubricated with engine oil. I've found that it takes more than a few miles to get the oil hot. The result is that even after the engine is up to temp the transmission and the oil are somewhere behind the curve.

I really don't like to hear an owner say "I keep it in the shed and start it up every two weeks..." That theory will not only result in moisture in the oil but will certainly allow condensation under the valve cover.

If someone askes to hear one of my bikes, I first decide if I'm prepared to start it up and run it twenty or so miles before I put it up. If not, I just say " I'd rather not".

I've never seen a milky sight glass that thirty minutes of spirited riding wouldn't cure. If you feel the need to spread oil over your cams and cylinder walls find a way to crank the engine without the ignition, thirty seconds ought to do it.

KZCSI

Post edited by: KZCSI, at: 2006/03/07 22:39