Milky Oil

[lexx790]

Things had been going well, using the bike daily for work and then passing the yearly safety check in UK.
For a treat the bike was going to get a thorough servicing.
Unfortunately since the last weekly oil check I now find a milky soup inside the sight glass.
Further investigations show a sudden loss of coolant and milky oil throughout the engine.
The bike is now up on the ramp and engine stripped and cleaned.
New gaskets on order and hopefully back on the road soon.

[cvincer]

I've had the water in oil problem with a few cars, & have always done the following:-

1) Left the car for a day, which allows most of the WATER to settle in the sum with the oil on top.

2) Drain sump.

3) Effect repair.

4) Fill engine with 4 litres of diesel & 0.25 litres of oil.

5) With a low compression engine, start it up & IDLE for 2 minutes ....... high comp engine, take out plugs & turn over for
    2 minutes.

                      As diesel/oil mixture gets into all nooks crannies & oil ways, the diesel absorbs any water it meets.

6)  Wait a day,  drain the sump, renew the oil filter & fill up with fresh oil.


                   

                     

[jefferson]

Sounds like the water pump seal is leaking. Did you get any coolant out the weep hole?

[QBS]

I wasn't aware that diesel fuel absorbs water.  Good to know.

[dingleberry]

Methanol also absorbs water not that you would want to put that in your engine. I always got milky oil in my speedway bike from the stuff because I wasn't operating on full throttle like most of the other (braver/younger) guys, probably caused by blow by. Ok, nothing to do with original post, sorry.

[lexx790]

Thanks for the replies.
the front cylinder and head is off and filled with coolant to check for leaks.
The gasket was well stuck to both parts and ripped apart so is impossible to tell if theres the problem.
Engine has been swung down on the rear bolt and I'll take the rear off.
No weeps from the leak hole.
Ordered new gaskets, will keep you posted if I find anything.

[jefferson]

The weep hole could be plugged up with something and you wouldn't get anything out of it. The first place to check for coolant in the oil is the seal on the water pump.

[lexx790]

Weep hole is clear.
I had a look at the weep hole on a spare engine casing and theres a seal on the oil side and on the water side with the weep hole in between.
If water is transfereing to oil through this route the weep hole must be seriously blocked solid.

[fret not]

Quite possible the issue is not the water pump seals, more likely a head gasket.

[lexx790]

I took the rear head off this evening and although there no breakdown in the gasket there was no adhesion to the cylinder even though the bolt heads were tight.
I think this may be to do with the exhaust. ??????
My predator system has a rear muffler which has a 2-1 on it and lately its been rusting away.
First the connection pipe to the rear cylinder broke off, which I re fabricated and welded back on.
Second time the bottom half of the taper to the muffler started disappearing. Again another chunk of metal was beat into shape and welded in place.
Whats this got do do with Milky oil you ask, well my theory is all this tightening and movement and slight misalignment of said bits of metal has put pressure on the head to make it leak across the gasket.
More stripping and cleaning is still ongoing. Then rinsing with diesel etc.etc etc.

[fret not]

Lexx, inspect the water passages for any sign of corrosion or erosion.  It's a very remote possibility that a pin hole could have developed to leak into the oil.  My best guess is the gasket.

[lexx790]

I have the cylinders and heads currently filled with water on a dry bench to check for any leaks, I hope its the gasket too.

[lexx790]

While cleaning all parts for assembly I found some serious wear in the rear head from the cam chain.
So I clamped the head on a gasket, filled it with water and pressurised it.
A tiny jet of water emerged from the worn groove, leak found.
This now gives me 2 more problems, will my spare engine give me a spare cylinder head and why was the chain off center causing it to rub.
Tonight I've found the spare head, tested it for leaks and found it to be okay, now just some cleaning to do.

[fret not]

Lexx, was the cam chain tensioner not functioning properly?  Where did the chain contact the head?

Get a shop to weld up that leak and save the head.

[Rikugun]

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully the spare will be OK. Had there been any noises? Pics of the affected area would be great if possible.

[lexx790]

Picture as requested.
The light line across the blue spot is the leak from the head.
I have yet to determine why the chain was off set, there were no strange noises.
The spare head is a suitable replacement so no welding is required.
I'll try and get a better picture of the worn area.

[Rikugun]

That looks difficult to get to for a weld repair - I'm glad your spare is viable.

So only one head has unusual wear? How do the two chain slippers compare to the unaffected cylinder?

[lexx790]

Taking a real close look at the leak point on the head it seems a bit odd.
The shape of what I thought was wear seems to bear no resemblance to where the cam chain runs. ????

[fret not]

Curiouser and curiouser.  Sometimes if the leak is just a pin hole it can be stopped with a well placed center punch and hammer blow.

[QBS]

A job for J-B Weld?