Oil in coolant ?!

Hi all,

Noticed an oil leak under my 2001 ZX6R this morning, which wasn't there yesterday (when I got the bike!). Took the fairing off and discovered the rubber hose that runs from the coolant reservoir into the engine was too long and had a slight kink in it, and was also touching one of the downpipes.

It had a hole in it, and was leaking what looked like oil onto the ground. The coolant reservoir is completely empty as well.

Its going to need a new rubber hose obviously, but I'm wondering why oil would be coming out of it too. I'm not very mechanically minded at all, but a mate reckons that possibly the head gasket has blown (perhaps because of not enough coolant getting through) and will need replacing.

Can anyone explain why there might be oil in it, and offer any thoughts of how much its gonna cost to fix it? Also, I guess its not going to be a very good idea to try and ride the bike to the shop? And also, had I taken the bike out for a long blast this morning might I have been looking at a much worse scenario??

Cheers
fatneck

It does sound like a head gasket. Check the oil, does it look milky?

No, don't ride it. It could make things a lot worse.

If the head has overheated because of low or no coolant, the head could have warped. A compression test should help determine if the gasket has blown.

Once the head is off you need to get a straight edge that is as least as long as the diagonal of the head. It must be perfectly straight and rigid. You need to measure the clearance between the straight edge and the surface of the cylinder head using feeler gauges. Do both diagonals and the centre line along is length.

You need to check your measurements against the manufactuers tolerances. If the clearance is too high you will need to get the head skimmed to bring back to within tolerance again.

Tim

I don't suppose you have warranty?

Hmmn, I think I'll just get the shop to come and pick it up and sort it out. How much is it gonna cost, anyone got any guesstimates for me ?!!

Sorry mate but no . Wouldnt say itll be cheap tbh!

Hang on a second, before we condemn the bike here...

A number of things could cause this, not just the head gasket.

As said previously, if the oil is milky through the sight glass then potentially it is that.

However there are a couple of other options i can think of off the top of my head (im sure someone more capable will come along with other suggestions).

You said there was a hole in the the coolant overflow pipe, now its possible its just picked up some oily crud on the way down (maybe even around the pipe).

Also there is a seal (on my triumph at least, this maybe different on the SV) in between the water pump (coolant side) and the engine (oil side) now its possible that this may of failed.

Theres also any number of breather and/or overflow pipes depending on the bike for different things connected to both the cooling and oil systems.

If this was my machine I would replace the hose, make sure the coolant system was working and get someone to check it over if your not too sure.

I hope that gives some (limited) hope.

Dan

Thanks, that does give me some hope! The oily mess on the floor looks like golden syrup, so it might actually not be oil and possibly just crud its picked up whilst dripping down the downpipe. (Its on a ZX6R not an SV, but these are the best forums!).

What I'll do is replace the hose, fill it up again with coolant and see what happens. One end of the hose seems to disappear into a horrible mess of scary looking engine type stuff, that I may not be able to reach. Is it ok to chop the hose and somehow (jubilee clips?) attach another hose onto it, at least to get it to the bike shop and get it looked over.

If the bike was bought in a shop I'd get onto them asap to get it sorted, whatever it is. Even if it wasn't sold with a warranty you still have rights.

Have been to a bike shop and bought some coolant.
Will top up the radiator and any left over will go in the coolant reservoir. Then I'll gaffer tape the hole in the hose and ride it to the bike shop and they can sort it out from there.

The stuff that may or may not be oil is probably just old coolant according to the shop, and that makes sense - there didn't seem to be anything else leaking anywhere other than the hole in the hose.

Thanks for your replies people.

PS - the oil through the sight glass isn't milky at all - does that mean the head gasket is probably allright then? Fingers crossed!!