Oil Gauge on Ninja 250R

martomcg

Hey,

So this morning on the way to work i noticed that there wasnt much response acceleration wise in 2nd gear.

When i got in I checked my oil gauge and while i expected to see a dark brown coloured substance in the gauge, instead was a clear almost water-like substance that filled the glass.

Any ideas what this may be? I'm a little worried someone has tampered with the bike and put water ot something else in with the oil?

Only had the bike fully serviced (with a filter and oil change) just after christmas. I checked it after the service and oil appeared as expected.

Bike is a Ninja 250R, only been riding under a year.
Trip to work is only 10-15mins.

BrokenArrows

Ya definitely not good that its got a clear substance in there.

Ideally you should do a complete oil and filter change. It could however be that the "window" of the oil viewer just has some water in it and its not actually in the oil system.

If you don't want to do a complete oil change you could take the oil cap off after every ride for a few minutes and let any moisture in there evaporate.

rat_race

martomcg wrote: »

Hey,

So this morning on the way to work i noticed that there wasnt much response acceleration wise in 2nd gear.

When i got in I checked my oil gauge and while i expected to see a dark brown coloured substance in the gauge, instead was a clear almost water-like substance that filled the glass.

Any ideas what this may be? I'm a little worried someone has tampered with the bike and put water ot something else in with the oil?

Only had the bike fully serviced (with a filter and oil change) just after christmas. I checked it after the service and oil appeared as expected.

Bike is a Ninja 250R, only been riding under a year.
Trip to work is only 10-15mins.

Well, you know that new/clean oil is almost clear? Certainly should not be DARK brown, but a nice light coloured transparent-ish brown. Dark brown is old/dirty oil.

If there was water in your oil, I'd expect you'd see a whiteness/milkyness/rustyness colour in the oil glass. Coolant can leak into the engine if there is a gasket leak. Though, water/coolant in the oil is bad, I doubt it is your problem here.

Also, sometimes after a ride, you can see some bubbles on top of the oil, through the oil glass. This is usually okay/normal, and goes away -- just FYI. Though that isn't your problem here.

Take a look at this: http://www.sunandski.net/Service%20Tips/Service%20Pictures/Dirty%20oil1.jpg

Does it look like the one on the left?

Can you take a picture, maybe? Also, what year/mileage is bike?

Wossack

hows your coolant level?

rat_race

rat_race wrote: »

Well, you know that new/clean oil is almost clear? Certainly should not be DARK brown, but a nice light coloured transparent-ish brown. Dark brown is old/dirty oil.

If there was water in your oil, I'd expect you'd see a whiteness/milkyness/rustyness colour in the oil glass. Coolant can leak into the engine if there is a gasket leak. Though, water/coolant in the oil is bad, I doubt it is your problem here.

Also, sometimes after a ride, you can see some bubbles on top of the oil, through the oil glass. This is usually okay/normal, and goes away -- just FYI. Though that isn't your problem here.

Take a look at this: http://www.sunandski.net/Service%20Tips/Service%20Pictures/Dirty%20oil1.jpg

Does it look like the one on the left?

Can you take a picture, maybe? Also, what year/mileage is bike?

Also, did you give the bike 5 minutes after stopping, before checking? Takes a few minutes for the oil to drip back down before you see the level. I own a Ninja 250 so I've noticed that a few times. When there's no oil there it almost looks like there could be water behind it. Best time to check oil level is 5 minutes after the bike has been warmed up and stopped. And remember to straighten the bike up (sorry if all this is obvious to you)...

rat_race

rat_race wrote: »

Also, did you give the bike 5 minutes after stopping, before checking? Takes a few minutes for the oil to drip back down before you see the level. I own a Ninja 250 so I've noticed that a few times. When there's no oil there it almost looks like there could be water behind it. Best time to check oil level is 5 minutes after the bike has been warmed up and stopped. And remember to straighten the bike up (sorry if all this is obvious to you)...

Finally, check out http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/How_do_I_check_my_oil%3F ... notice how clear the oil is there?

martomcg

rat_race wrote: »

Well, you know that new/clean oil is almost clear? Certainly should not be DARK brown, but a nice light coloured transparent-ish brown. Dark brown is old/dirty oil.

If there was water in your oil, I'd expect you'd see a whiteness/milkyness/rustyness colour in the oil glass. Coolant can leak into the engine if there is a gasket leak. Though, water/coolant in the oil is bad, I doubt it is your problem here.

Also, sometimes after a ride, you can see some bubbles on top of the oil, through the oil glass. This is usually okay/normal, and goes away -- just FYI. Though that isn't your problem here.

Take a look at this: http://www.sunandski.net/Service%20Tips/Service%20Pictures/Dirty%20oil1.jpg

Does it look like the one on the left?

Can you take a picture, maybe? Also, what year/mileage is bike?

Usually the oil looks like the one on the left. At the moment it seems to be that colour underneath with this 'water-like' fluid on top. Its not foamy or white-ish but clear in colour. I'll try get a picture on my lunch and post it.

I'll check the coolant level after work.

I've done some googling and found similar issues (i think) where its a build up of condensate due to cold weather and repeated short trips.

They recommend a long trip (greater than 30mins) and to open oil cap to let moisture vapor out?

All my journeys to/from work are only about 15mins (2x a day) and rarely get out for longer spins. Its stored in an underground car-park.

Bike is a 2008, 11,000km on it, only custom piece is yoshi exhaust (which came on it).

rat_race

martomcg wrote: »

Usually the oil looks like the one on the left. At the moment it seems to be that colour underneath with this 'water-like' fluid on top. Its not foamy or white-ish but clear in colour. I'll try get a picture on my lunch and post it.

I'll check the coolant level after work.

I've done some googling and found similar issues (i think) where its a build up of condensate due to cold weather and repeated short trips.

They recommend a long trip (greater than 30mins) and to open oil cap to let moisture vapor out?

All my journeys to/from work are only about 15mins (2x a day) and rarely get out for longer spins. Its stored in an underground car-park.

Bike is a 2008, 11,000km on it, only custom piece is yoshi exhaust (which came on it).

Probably just your short journeys. Take the bike for one 30+ min speedy ride once a week. That'll burn off condensation enough to keep your engine happy. Condensation builds up and sits around in your crankcase as water and if not burned off will just keep increasing...

martomcg

rat_race wrote: »

Probably just your short journeys. Take the bike for one 30+ min speedy ride once a week. That'll burn off condensation enough to keep your engine happy. Condensation builds up and sits around in your crankcase as water and if not burned off will just keep increasing...

Just drove it home there and brought it the long way while keeping revs and speed pretty high.

Checked the oil when I stopped and it looked normal, popped the oil tank lid off and let it sit. Checked it again after 10mins and the oil looks normal. So I'm guessing it was just condensate build up.

I noticed that there was a strange white substance on the lid, any ideas about this? (See attached image)

rat_race

martomcg wrote: »

Just drove it home there and brought it the long way while keeping revs and speed pretty high.

Checked the oil when I stopped and it looked normal, popped the oil tank lid off and let it sit. Checked it again after 10mins and the oil looks normal. So I'm guessing it was just condensate build up.

I noticed that there was a strange white substance on the lid, any ideas about this? (See attached image)

Same thing, due to the condensation. Clean it off and don't worry...

That kinda thing can be caused by coolant getting into the engine too, but I really doubt that is the case here. There'd be other tell tale signs if that was happening...

Just keep an eye on it and make sure to keep doing 1 or 2 long journeys a week...

martomcg

Thanks for the comments, still learning and overreacting!