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Strange oilcolour?!?

B

boheme

Joined May 2005
137 Posts | 0+
North of Stockholm, Sweden
Hallo!

The two last times I´ve changed oil, the old oil that I tapped out of the bike looked different from before.

It had this brown/greyish look?!?

The first time I thought it may be a coincident, but now I´m starting to wonder.

I´m used to more or less black oil coming out!

I change my oil regularly, after like 4 - 6 h.

Any ideas why the strange colour?

when I started it right after the oilchange the oil looked brown/grey/bubbly in the oilcheckingwindow.

Best regards

/Rikard
 
Maby check your cooling system if it leaks a litle bit a water trough the waterpump axle O ring then your oil will be gray or light brown just like a Irish Cream but i am sure it want taste better he he
 
sounds like water ingress into the oil.

likely place would be headgasket. you can try retorquing the head down to the later pressures recommended in the doc which i think is 44pounds or 60Nm.

however it is probably too late.

another place that leaks is the O ring in the sidecover. if you had a new gasket lately it can get trapped on the O ring and leak everything straight into your oil!

regards

Taffy
 
Thanks guys!

I had the engine totaly down and everything changed not so many runninghours ago...

It seems like the waterpumpgasket is the first to check and hope for the best!

Is it easy to see the "hungup-problem" you´ve mentioned Taffy?

/Rikard

Edit:

I´ve just read the doc about loosing coolant, and it said " If after a rebuild: did you renew and silicon in the three 'O' rings around the barrel?
What 3!!! o-rings and what barrel???
 
If the wp seal is leaking then it should be coming out the drain hole behind the shaft seal as long as its not blocked. Most usually see oil coming out or here!

Steve
 
steve said:
If the wp seal is leaking then it should be coming out the drain hole behind the shaft seal as long as its not blocked. Most usually see oil coming out or here!

Steve
Click to expand...

Hallo Steve!

Thanks for your help! Here are some stupid questions from a stupido (me!)

Is the wpseal the same thing as above mentioned 'O'-ring?

I´m afraid I don´t know where to find "drain hole behind the shaft seal".... EDIT: FOUND IT!!!! Never seen it before... it may be blocked...

How should I read the drainhole?
Is dry good?
If it comes oil? What is wrong?
If it comes water? Do I understand you correctly if I say that I need to change the wpseal? Could it still get water in my oil?


/Rikard
 
The water pump shaft has two seals on it, one to keep the oil in the engine, and the other to keep the coolant in the water pump. There is a drain hole between them. Look under and behind the water pump for the hole. This is the same for all the motors, whether the pump is driven of the cam direct on the head or on the clutch cover.

There shouldn't be anything coming out of the drain hole, but if there is its one of thos seals. If its not coolant, the the wp shaft seal is OK.

The later motors however can get the drain hole blocked because mud and crap can build up there. If this happens, then its possible for coolant to get past the oil seal because seals only work properly one way and it'll look for the easiset way to depressurise.

So like Taffy says, the head gasket is a suspect and the o ring he describes I can't visualise, but if he says its there, I'm sure it is.

Steve
 
Big thanks Steve!

Now I´m starting to get things! At least I think I do... :oops:

If my drainhole is blocked, as it very well might be... could that mean that an 'o'-ring or a seal doesn´t do its job.... the water should instead get out through the drainhole.... which is blocked... and instead it goes pass the next (oil?)seal into my oil?

/Rikard

P.S How do I clean the drainhole... it seems like the best way would be from the inside...to avoid the things that blocks to get into my waterpump... or could it be done from the outside?D.S
 
If my drainhole is blocked, as it very well might be... could that mean that an 'o'-ring or a seal doesn´t do its job.... the water should instead get out through the drainhole.... which is blocked... and instead it goes pass the next (oil?)seal into my oil?

Yep.

A bit of soft wire, like copper, or mild steel tie wire, twisted up there carefully will be OK. All it can do is contact the shaft which is hardened steel. Won't go far, but will give you an idea. If its clear, then coolant gets in like Taffy says.

If you need to get inside then the thing needs to be pulled apart, and you would put new seals in then anyway, because its easy and cheap once its apart.

Steve
 
I´m really living an learning here! :D

Thanks for your help!

If I need to take the thing apart, is it enough to remove the waterpumpcover or does one need to remove the hole side?

As it seems I´ve been driving with water in my oil, how dangerous is that?

/Rikard
 
It depends on whether your motor is an early one or later one. Where is the water pump? If up top, remove wp cover, circlip and impellor, then the rocker cover. To replace the seals you'll need to break the cam chain and remove the cam. If its a later model its a bit similar but you need to remove the clutch cover. I'm sure the manuals are in the downloads section. Just get it clean and be careful and its not too hard.

But checking the drain hole will confirm whether you need to do thiis at all.
 
I´ll check that first thing in the morning!

I´ll be back to tell my tale....

hopefully with a happy ending!

/Rikard
 
since you have a 2001 the pump is down low, you don't need to disturb the top cover. the o-ring they are talking about is on the inner set of cases and seals the coolant passage between the center case and the clutch cover. it is a 17 x 2.4mm oring that sits in a groove on the center case at about 11 o'clock when the clutch cover is removed. if its leaking, then you will definitely get coolant in the oil. but if it' misaligned or bad or just missing, it would have leaked from the beginning. when your oil gets coolant, it turns into a light chocolate pudding and lubricates the same. a couple of good flushes with a light oil is a good idea after the fix.
do the thing taffy reccomended first: tighten the head bolts.. requires pulling the top cover.
the 3 orings he's talking about are on the cylinder liner.
 
boheme

go here: http://www.husaberg.org/wiki/index.php/Engine_tuning

at the bottom is a photo of a 670ccm engine and the tall barrel clearly shows 3 x 'O' rings at the base.

the other 'O' ring in the side of the cases looks at you in the top of the cover. you can't miss it!!!!

if all you have done is to have taken the sidecover off then this is your problem!

regards

Taffy
 
The three big O rings on the barrell:

312676628.jpg


The waterpump O ring (top left hand corner) as you can see the side cover gasket passes by the O ring really close, so when not paying attention or not knowing about this it's easy to mess up and have the side cover gasket on top of the O ring wich causes water to enter the engine. Been there done that :D :D

278659095.jpg
 
Hallo and thanks!

The engine was completely stripped, everything changed and rebuild last march (´07) and since then it has somewhere close to 20-30 running hours.

It has only been these two latest oilchanges that has got the cappucinocoloured oil.

Could the bottom cylinder gasket get torn (and leaking) that fast? Or is it common that you need to further tighten after a period?

If it was the 'o'-ring that had got stuck, then, as mentioned, it would have been leaking earlier. Right?

Yes, yes... I´ve been cleaning the drainhole at the wpcover it´s time to see if something comes out...


The way to check things? Make an adjustment....new oil.... check oil... or how do you recommend that I do?
/Rikard
 
Can't help you on how to check everything, on my engine the waterpump o ring was the culprit (spelling??) and it took a couple of oil changes to get rid of all the water in the oil and get the color back to normal.

So don't 'panic' after the first oil change like I did and tear the engine apart again, change the oil a couple of times and if the color doesn't go back to normal after a couple of times, then open up the engine again! :D
 
Thanks Mr Belgique!

I understand that you can do nothing but point me in the right direction, but... thanks!

I´ll start tearing the engine as soon as possible and I´ll hope that it is a easy fix...


Thanks everyone!

/Rikard

Edit:
I now started the engine, after cleaning the weephole, nothing comes out! I didn´t run it for more than a couple of minutes. I also look for bubbles in the radiator while running, and saw a few...

If the weephole doesn´t weep, does that mean that the water and oilsealings at the wp are alright?
And the problem instead would be the 'O'-ring behind the clutchcover or the headcylindergasket?
Or could it still be the sealings at the wp?

It seems strange that the headcylindergasket could be broken so soon after a new one has been put on...
 
At last!

Now´s the wpseal in the sidecover!

Hope it doesn´t leak....

On friday I´ll put things together again.... and hope for the best!

/Rikard
 
boheme said "I also look for bubbles in the radiator while running, and saw a few... "

This does suggest a head gasket is the cause..........

Combustion pressure forces gas into the cooling passage via a dodgy head gasket and it bubbles off to atmosphere in the top of the radiator.

If its really coolant in the oil, its suspiciously like a head gasket to me.

Steve
 

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