Oil sight cloudy looking?

Was not like this a few days ago. Looks like something is covering it now. Any ideas before pulling cover Again. Lol. I cant see the oil level. I thought it was maybe condensation from being ridden while cold out. But i can tip the bike over thinking oil would get rid of any condensation but that is not working. I'm stumped

This begs a few more questions:

What model/engine is this oil sight photo from? Is it your KZ or ?

Is the bike in running condition? Can you go run it down the road for 20-30 miles? If you recently changed the oil or the bike has set for awhile the oil will show condensation as you described. It may not entirely burn out/away until you give the engine a good thorough running.

If the bike is not in riding condition, then this is simply the condition of too much moisture from high humidity and storage. I used to get this after a month or three in garage storage. My KZ and ZRX seem to soak up moisture in high humidity long storage stints. If the bike has been stored for awhile and it is not ready to ride anytime soon but the engine can run, I would give it a good enough warm up to get as much moisture out of the engine as possible. Short periods of engine running & idling may bring more moisture in instead of getting rid of it. I would consider changing the oil after a good warm up. I would consider using a not so pricey oil since you may end up gathering more moisture resulting in the same condition by next spring. I would not leave the current oil in all winter unless you plan to run the engine enough to get the moisture out of the oil. You may end up getting some corrosion on the top of valves and camshaft.

Otherwise, I would not sweat it too much unless you are OCD like many of us here. :laugh: NOW, if this was a liquid cooled engine it could be an indication of coolant in the crankcase but this is a KZ right? :whistle:

haven't seen that before?

Have you smelled the oil? Is there fuel in the crankcase oil? If so you could have fuel leaking into the crankcase. Just a further thought. :whistle:

Thank for the input Forrest. Yes it is my 82 KZ. It is running and I have been riding it the last 2 days. I to thought it was condensation over the glass. But as I said I can lean the bike over thinking the oil would clear any condensation off the glass but it doesn't. My first thought was water in the oil but that's just not possible like you said on my air cooled bike. I think I'll leave it parked tomorrow until I can look into it tomorrow eve. My only other thought is that someone at work is messing with me and poured some water in it. For their sake they better hope I don't I can't find them if that is the case. I have not smelled the oil. I will check that also. By the way I run the rotella in it because that's what I run in my truck.

Water + Oil will turn to a milky brownish white color......

blew a 2.8 ltr up in my chev S-10 when a head gasket slowly let go. Antifreeze got into oil and slowly destroyed engine

The oil was a milky brownish white.......

The cleaner the oil......the lighter white it will be.

4TheKZ1000 wrote: Water + Oil will turn to a milky brownish white color......blew a 2.8 ltr up in my chev S-10 when a head gasket slowly let go. Antifreeze got into oil and slowly destroyed engine

The oil was a milky brownish white.......

Yes I know. That's what I was saying. It's not possible unless someone is messing with it where I park. My curiosity is now getting the better of me. I'm going out to drain the oil.

WTF????? How does this get in a air cooled motor? This is the only sign of water. The oil that drained out was dark brown.

Do you have the stock air box?

Did you wash bike with a hose?

Did you ride in rain?

The answer is simple this bike is not ridden enough and when it is ridden it's put up before the whole engine and transmission can come up to temp.

What are the products of combustion? Water vapor and carbon dioxide. Our engines share the case with the transmission and that means there's extra metal and volume than a simple drysump motor. It takes 20 minutes of riding to get my KZ900 totally warmed up. That is, hot enough to drive off the water vapor that snuck (normal) into the crankcase through poor sealing, rings etc.

Bill

My nephew just mentioned riding in the rain. Which I did get caught in Monday night. For about a mile. Wasn't actually raing at the time but the roads were wet. How would it get into the case from rain though? Have Uni pods no air box. I guess the water hitting those and getting sucked in the carbs? Just confusing that it's just stuck to the side and in the sight glass. The rest of the oil was fine.

KZCSI wrote: The answer is simple this bike is not ridden enough and when it is ridden it's put up before the whole engine and transmission can come up to temp.

What are the products of combustion? Water vapor and carbon dioxide. Our engines share the case with the transmission

Bill

I ride it everyday that it's not raining. And far enough to get up to temp. I'm not quit following what you trying to say here