Surely that can't be right?

[fuzzyfazer]

On changing the oil on my 98 there was 6 litres plus in the sump, level was obviously well over the marks on the sightglass, what csme out was a greeny/brown colour and had a whiff of petrol about it. Ive done about 300 miles now since the oil change and I notice the level is slowly creeping up again,  the bike has also been flooding up, with idle, overrun and hot start problems and today, for the first time the fan cut in while riding normally on an A road, no traffic. And stayed on til I shut the engine down about 10 minutes later at this point the it must have overcome the pressure cap as it dumped about 25ml of water out of the overflow.
Anyone have any ideas? I know I need to get the carbs off and cleaned and balanced but is my engine going to be a write off? I'm thinking head gasket or worse atm

[Timbollew]

I'm no expert but I'd agree with you in head gasket.

My bike often dumps a bit of fluid from the overflow. Is it not normal then :S

[Dave48]

Head gasket or could it be failed water pump seal ?
DONT continue to ride.
Other more knowledgeable foccers will be along shortly to advise.

[red98]

yep +1 for head gasket....check the condition of the plugs (post a picture on here if your a bit unsure )...are you using much coolant ?.

[darrsi]

Bearing in mind you're meant to have 2.5 litres of oil, and about 1.95 litres of coolant, where the foc are you getting 6 litres from???
To the average rider the bike must be running like shite.


The fact it's dumping fluid means for starters your coolant system is not a closed system.


My guess is it's never ever had a Radflush and it's decided to find alternative routes to expel fluid elsewhere, or it's dumped liquid and overheated whilst dry.


Any way you wanna look at it, your bike is not well at all. 

[fuzzyfazer]

The bike is actually not running all that badly. Just occasionally flooding at low revs or on overrun while using engine breaking, a little delayed pick up then she's off. Perhaps 6 litres maybe an exaggeration but it was certainly quite a bit more than the 3 ltrs the manual quotes for oil and filter change.

[fuzzyfazer]

Also, at the oil change the, lers call it oil, wasn't a mix of oil and water, to my mind it was oil/petrol mix as oil and water would not mix together but oil and petrol would. The fluid I drained out was left in the workshop for a good week before I disposed of it and it didn't seemed to have separated at all. I'm wondering if there is/was something sticking ie. Float needle in one carb that's allowing the engine to flood massively while switched off,  which it has done twice that I initially attributed to the kids giving it a fistful as they walked past, and this has dumped fuel down the bores and into the sump?

[fuzzyfazer]

Ok more curious by the minute.
Just been out and dropped the oil. 2.4 litres out looks cleaner than last time (obviously) maybe a drop or two of water. Nothing major. Topped the cooling system off that took 30mls of water. Strange.

[TonyW]

I'd do a compression test and a cooling system pressure test before anything else.

[fuzzyfazer]

Compression is within values given and all within 10% of each other. Cooling system was fine. But had a small tear in the cap rubber preventing it sealing properly.