Oil on spark plug electrodes

[HarryHornby]

Hi All,  I've been burying my head in the sand, not wanting to post this because I'm sure it's another big bill heading my way, but I think it should be addressed so here goes.


I noticed that my bike is using oil and that I'm having to top it up on a regular basis.  There is no sign of an oil leak where I park my bike though.


I took my plugs out the other month and the electrodes had a small amount of oil on them so I'm taking it that oil is leaking inside the engine.


A quick google on this subject in general and all sorts of nasty words come up like head gaskets etc


Is it an engine out kind of diagnosis/fix or is there hope that it could be a relatively "cheap" fix?  Is there anything common on a Fazer that leads to this situation?


Piss taking and helpful comments all gratefully received as always 


PS if it is expensive, I'm blaming you regardless, Red98 !!!

[red98]

morning harry  ......worst case....worn piston rings,but ive never heard of this on a fazer.....valve guides ?, possible but again ive not heard of this on a fazer...head gasket ? ,maybe....blown between cylinder and oil way...again not a common problem but could be.......have you got access to a compression tester ?....this will rule out rings and valves with a simple quick test...is the bike running ok otherwise ?




head gasket is doable with engine in bike and is a good time to do a few other jobs while your in there..gasket about £30......if your first time,your going to learn lots very quickly....haynes manual , gallons of tea and foc-u and you can do it......as always,iam happy to help  [size=78%] [/size]

[His Dudeness]

Are you 100% certain it was oil on the plugs and how is the bike running? What mileage is on the engine? How much oil is it using? They can get black from carbon and wet from petrol. If it is oil you should do a compression test as Red98 said. That'll tell you what condition the cylinders are in. Oil can only get into the cylinder two ways either past the piston rings or past the valves. If you do a compression test and it's low, repeat the test again with a little oil added to the cylinder and if the compression goes up you'll know it's the rings that are the problem

[red98]

how much oil are you using per mile ?....as dudeness has said,oil can get in the bores via rings or valves.....or can be drawn in via faulty head gasket on intake stroke of piston cycle.....hope that makes sense.....compression tester has got to be your first port of call 

[Paul]

I noticed mine using oil a couple of years ago. 
And it didn't leak a drop... still doesn't.


It's now clocked 78,000 miles, but still seems to run o.k.
So I reckon if it still runs o.k. don't worry too much about it.

[HarryHornby]

Bike runs fine, but can take a bit to get going first thing.  It fires fine but then chugs for about 5 seconds before roaring away (much to the neighbours delight).
I don't know how much it uses (but I will start to keep a record) I don't ride the bike on a regular basis anymore, I just know that everynow and again (prob every 300 miles) the oil light comes on, I check the oil the next day and it's at the bottom of the glass, I then top.
With regards to electrodes getting black, yeah, I know that (not being smug there) but I know the blackness was a wet blackness when I tested them.  Will have them out again this week to double check.
And no, I don't have a compression tester, I'm really no mechanic, I just about have spanners because when I touch stuff I'm not confident about it all goes tits up and ends up costing me double (see my posts about exhaust studs LOL).
Red, do you have one?  I'll make you tea one weekend..........

[red98]

Hi harry.yes I have one, very good tool, might be doing the ring of red on sunday, see what the weathers doing, could bring it with me and test your bike, only takes a few minutes........reguards  the starting of your bike, are you using choke ?...the fouled plugs could be causing the sluggish starting, try cleaning them when you put the bike away the night before and then see what its like.......how many miles has the bike done ?

[JoeRock]

Bike runs fine, but can take a bit to get going first thing.  It fires fine but then chugs for about 5 seconds before roaring away (much to the neighbours delight).
I don't know how much it uses (but I will start to keep a record) I don't ride the bike on a regular basis anymore, I just know that everynow and again (prob every 300 miles) the oil light comes on, I check the oil the next day and it's at the bottom of the glass, I then top.
With regards to electrodes getting black, yeah, I know that (not being smug there) but I know the blackness was a wet blackness when I tested them.  Will have them out again this week to double check.
And no, I don't have a compression tester, I'm really no mechanic, I just about have spanners because when I touch stuff I'm not confident about it all goes tits up and ends up costing me double (see my posts about exhaust studs LOL).
Red, do you have one?  I'll make you tea one weekend..........

If you're having to top the oil up every 300 miles you have an issue. Is the exhaust black and oily/kicking out black smoke?

[Deefer666]

Valve stem oil seals..... Quite common now that these bikes are getting older, especially on the low mileage ones that have been sat around for extended periods of time.

[unfazed]

Valve stem oil seals..... Quite common now that these bikes are getting older, especially on the low mileage ones that have been sat around for extended periods of time.

+1 

[His Dudeness]

Valve stem oil seals..... Quite common now that these bikes are getting older, especially on the low mileage ones that have been sat around for extended periods of time.

+1 

That would explain why it's running fine even though it's burning oil. Is replacing valve stem seals a difficult job? I've never done it

[red98]

Easy job...head off, tool needed to compress valve spring and remove valve, replacd seal and back together again...but....while the heads off you might as well regrind the valves and check/adjust the velve clearences 

[unfazed]

Has anyone every tried to do it with the head on, I had the valve seals done on a Mazda 6 under warranty years ago and they used compressed air to keep the valves closed, but then they had more space to work.

[red98]

Done it once.......fed some rope into the cylinder via the plug hole untill its full this holds the valve shut while you press down on the top of the valve spring, remove the collets and then release the presure on the spring.......this method does work but take extereme care......wouldn't want to do all  sixteen this way....if you on a really tight budget its doable.....me...new gasket every time and a great time to increase compression by regrinding the valve seats   

[Deefer666]

Has anyone every tried to do it with the head on, I had the valve seals done on a Mazda 6 under warranty years ago and they used compressed air to keep the valves closed, but then they had more space to work.

I dont think I would even attempt to do the job without taking the head off, It only takes one dropped collet......

[HarryHornby]

That sounds does sound very promising, the bike is quite low mileage (17k) and had sat around for a while (several years) when it was owned by the previous owner.......  thanks for the info :-)