Oil Level Glass - White Substance

PyroboyUK

PyroboyUK

PyroboyUK

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Joined
19 Apr 2006
Posts
1,646
Hello,

Well since I now have a car the bike was parked up most of this winter. Throughout this time I tended to a few jobs and also stripped it down for a good clean. One of these jobs was fitting the Arrow can back onto the Gladius and I think because I have started it a couple of times I have introduced a good amount of moisture into the oil sump as the glass now looks like this -
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The bike is not far from requiring an oil change that I was hoping to do quite soon before the summer hits in and in this state I couldnt even fathom what level the oil is at!
I know from previous experience with the Gladius that when the bike is started the oil level drops, so leaving it idling to burn away the colloid does work. After reading a few forums (Ducati Monster Forum came up with the most result) people say that it will just burn away but it doesnt even appear to get better. Im just wondering if the oil level drops when the engine is running is the inspection glass even getting splashed with Hot Oil when im riding along, im starting to think this is not the case.

All I can seem to do at the moment is leave the bike on the Paddock stand to try and let the hot oil after a ride eat away at it but no such luck!

Can anyone shed any light on this subject as its getting to the point where i feel like taking the casing off during the oil change and just wiping the crap off! Although this may be easier said than done as I have never accessed an area like that on the bike before.

Cheers
 
Probably condensation due to there being a little bit of water in your oil.

Usually i'd say take it for a ride and it should evaporate very quickly.

Do your oil change and then take it for a ride.
 
arctine said:
Probably condensation due to there being a little bit of water in your oil.

Take it for a ride and it'll evaporate very quickly. Do an oil change first if you want to be sure.
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I would change the oil but I am very hesitant as I couldnt guarantee the level. The only way i could think of doing the change would be to measure the volume of used oil that comes out and try to match that as close as I can.
 
What bike is it mate? It should say in your manual how much oil is required. If you don't have a manual then the information will almost certainly be online somewhere.

Failing that, take your oil and the bike to a garage and pay them to do it for you? Or you could just ask them how much oil to put in tbf.
 
arctine said:
What bike is it mate? It should say in your manual how much oil is required. If you don't have a manual then the information will almost certainly be online somewhere.

Failing that, take your oil and the bike to a garage and pay them to do it for you? Or you could just ask them how much oil to put in tbf.
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Its a 2011 Suzuki Gladius, i have both the manual and a service manual I acquired online! I will take a look at both to see if it indicates how much is a nominal value. On the size of the bike it states 2400ml but I guess thats the total volume of the sump? Or have is misunderstood that?

andy_mk3 said:
Take her for a nice long ride, get it good and hot and it should all clear.
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Out of interest how long is long?:) I read that a lot on the Ducati forum. In the last few weeks I have been taking the bike back and forth to work which is about a 20min journey and most of it on main roads at 60mph. When people say long is it a Sunday out for about 3 hours?

Cheers guys for the input
 
I wouldn't like to say as I'm not a biker :P

But I get this 'mayo' in the cam cover on my car after lots of 20 minute journeys, yet if I go somewhere over an hour away it all completely clears, it is just condensation mixing in with the oil, so it needs a while to get hot enough to evaporate all the water out pretty much.
 
just have sumone hold the bike upright on a level ground and fill up with new oil a bit at a time checking the level

its due to standing imo,always go for a run and get engine hot before you drain the oil and put new in,change the oil filter at the same time

i wouldnt worry too much,just needs a good run
 
Cheers for the input guys,

I will get the bike out for a good run and see how that goes, if this doesnt work I will look at doing an oil change. But if the glass is still cloudy I will look in the manual/service guide to see if I can change it by measuring by volume or just measure what comes out and replace that like for like with new oil.
 
Measuring what comes out isn't a brilliant idea tbh. Usually, depending on how many miles you've done since the last oil change, a substantial ammount of oil is burnt away between oil changes.

If you went off what was left in the bike every time you changed the oil then you'd end up putting less and less oil in each time.

Like I said, it should definitely be in either the owners manual or the service manual.

It might worth changing your oil filter as well btw. From your picture it doesn't look like it's encased so it's an easy enough job to do.
 
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arctine said:
Measuring what comes out isn't a brilliant idea tbh. Usually depending on how many miles you've done since the last oil change, a substantial ammount of oil is burnt away.

If you went off what was left in the bike every time you changed the oil then you'd end up putting less and less oil in each time.

Like I said, it should definitely be in either the owners manual or the service manual.

It might worth changing your oil filter as well btw.
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Thats true I never thought about the burning of oil etc, maybe a phone call to Suzuki or the Service Manual will be more effective. Sounds like keeping fingers crossed for it to be burnt away is the best soloution!

Yea, the filter will be changes too mate. For the price that even the K&N costs (Last time it was about £10) its worth doing it anyway. The money it costs me to change the oil/filter is about £90 cheaper than any dealer has quoted in the past for most of my bikes!
 
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Like the Haynes manual says, and I paraphrase

"regular oil and filter changes are the single most important bit of maintenance you can do on your bike"

I've decided, having done an oil and filter change 2 days ago, I shall change them every 3 months at least dependant on mileage. Motul 5100 and a K&N filter costs around £20 - £25 per change so £80 - £100 a year seems good value to me.
 
My bike is due one. I've done about 2.5 k miles since I bought her. No idea how many miles were done with that oil before then.

I'm reluctant to do it now as I'm changing the down pipes next month so I'd rather do it all at once.

Oil light hasn't come on yet, dunno how reliable that is though.
 
Has your coolant level dropped at all?

If you move the bike left and right to slop the oil over the glass, it should still be black-ish. From your photos it looks foamy but its difficult to tell.

Whilst the oil is cold, poke the end of a clean cable tie into the oil through the filler cap. Tug it out and have a butchers, if its foamy and white-ish then get to the garage quick as if it is not condensation then you may have a blown gasket causing coolant to leak into the oil and making it go foamy and white. Too much riding like this and it could be terminal. eek. :(
 
Lt_Red said:
Has your coolant level dropped at all?

If you move the bike left and right to slop the oil over the glass, it should still be black-ish. From your photos it looks foamy but its difficult to tell.

Whilst the oil is cold, poke the end of a clean cable tie into the oil through the filler cap. Tug it out and have a butchers, if its foamy and white-ish then get to the garage quick as if it is not condensation then you may have a blown gasket causing coolant to leak into the oil and making it go foamy and white. Too much riding like this and it could be terminal. eek. :(
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what he said. check coolant level.
 
Lt_Red said:
Has your coolant level dropped at all?

If you move the bike left and right to slop the oil over the glass, it should still be black-ish. From your photos it looks foamy but its difficult to tell.

Whilst the oil is cold, poke the end of a clean cable tie into the oil through the filler cap. Tug it out and have a butchers, if its foamy and white-ish then get to the garage quick as if it is not condensation then you may have a blown gasket causing coolant to leak into the oil and making it go foamy and white. Too much riding like this and it could be terminal. eek. :(
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helpimcrap said:
what he said. check coolant level.
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Its something I have observed since I bought bike mid last year, the coolant has not dropped even a touch. When I saw the white appearance for the first time I was worried it may be a leak between coolant and oil but so far this doesnt seem to be the case. Sometimes when you can see the bottom section of the oil glass as clear you can clearly see that the oil is a dark colouring.
 
I would not ride the bike like that . get it changed.. infact i would dump that .. then do a flush then a proper change . It costs so little you would be daft to run it like that
 
PyroboyUK said:
Its something I have observed since I bought bike mid last year, the coolant has not dropped even a touch. When I saw the white appearance for the first time I was worried it may be a leak between coolant and oil but so far this doesnt seem to be the case. Sometimes when you can see the bottom section of the oil glass as clear you can clearly see that the oil is a dark colouring.
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Take it for a long run (20miles+) then and allow the engine to get properly warm. Short journeys never warm the engine up enough to get rid of the condensation in the oil. Also short journeys kill other engine parts.

Double check the engine oil level to make sure the misting up isn't clouding the fact the oil is low.
 
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