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Oil contamination

chuck hahn

chuck hahn

Forum LongTimer
Past Site Supporter
I dont do a lot of liquid cooled engines so i have to ask if my hypothesis is correct.
Im refreshing my goldwing and oils milky which tells me coolant leak. My question is if i do a compression check will that tell me which holes leaking if head gaskets the culprit? Im assuming thats what would have to leak for oil to get coolant in it. Same principal as a car right?
 
chuck hahn said:
I dont do a lot of liquid cooled engines so i have to ask if my hypothesis is correct.
Im refreshing my goldwing and oils milky which tells me coolant leak. My question is if i do a compression check will that tell me which holes leaking if head gaskets the culprit? Im assuming thats what would have to leak for oil to get coolant in it. Same principal as a car right?
Click to expand...

Well hell yes. Time for a relaxing tear down.
one or more low numbers might point to a head gasket.
 
Leakage from water jacket to engine oil, may or may not, affect cylinder compression. Inconclusive.

If the oil looks like a milkshake, you have big problems.
 
Nessism said:
Leakage from water jacket to engine oil, may or may not, affect cylinder compression. Inconclusive.

If the oil looks like a milkshake, you have big problems.
Click to expand...

Yep
BITD, my 95 Caravan blew a head gasket from the water passage to the outside
Compression was good, ran good, just left a stream of coolant when n the ground when running
 
Does the water pump drive off the engine (like the transmission) and have a shaft that goes from the pump into a engine oil side of things?

I have had dirt bikes that had the water pump shaft seal fail and bleed coolant into the engine/trans oil.
 
First Timer..
According to the fiche the water pump apparently drives off the transmission and has a smaller oring and a bigger one that seals to the transmission cover. I ordered them and will replace them, Cant hurt anything.. 20 and 24 here. Number 1 is the trans cover the pump goes into

Click image for larger version Name: SAM_2272.jpg Views: 0 Size: 63.9 KB ID: 1778201
 
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If there is a leak between the cylinder and coolant passages causing low compression you might see some fouling of the spark plugs but more than likely you would see combustion gases forcing their way into the coolant passages (combustion pressure is much higher than coolant pressure) which would push coolant out into the overflow tank. Milky oil is your give away to which way it's leaking.
 
Im gonna block off the water hose fittings and use the air hose to pressurize the water jacket while listening for air through the oil fill hole. If its not cracked there shouldnt be any noise. I doubt it is cracked but ill do this to easy my mind. I have new pump orings on the way to replace those.
Im a member on the naked wing forum and guys there are saying run it after doing checks a few heat cycles then check the plugs. They say if the head gaskets bad the plug in a bad cylinder will be steam cleaned from the leak.
I came here with it because you guys also have had water buffalos and other water cooled bikes. yhis from wing forum..............

If the bike runs … warm it up … then pull the plugs … the bad cylinder will 'steam clean' its plug
 
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The most obvious sign of leaking head gasket is a steam cloud coming out of the tailpipe, in cold weather.
You can smell ethyl glycol when the engine is running.
 
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Blocked off the water pump nipple and too the air hose and taped the air nozzle to the thermostat nipple . Ran line pressure at 15 PSI and took oil fill cap off. Pressurized the system and did not hear any air leaking into the crankcase so thats a good thing. When i get radiator and carbs on ill start it with plain water and see if i get water vapor out of the pipes and recheck the oil for milk.
Hopefully it was nothing more than condensation over the years of setting that made the milky color. It doesnt take much liquid to tint the oil. I will also check the plugs as guys on the naked wing forum say, looking for nice steam cleaned looking plugs.
 
SECOND run of oil drained out clean so im considering it all good. No steam cleaned plugs either so the head gaskets arent leaking. Must have been 10 years of condensation got mixed in the oil when i first started it. Wont make the mistake again. Just automatically changing oil on a long setting bike is easier and cheaper in the greater scheme of things.
 
It sounds like you're covered with just the oil change, Hopefully, it will continue to look good. If it's been sitting a while, consider changing the timing belts, I used the parts store gates belts and hoses, you can get genuine Honda but they're more expensive and probably gates anyway. I also did a new water pump and the Hyundai timing belt idler modification on mine. It still smokes a little on start-up if I've left it on the side stand for a while. Normal, I guess. Running strong at 70K miles.
 
I'd come here to ask how long since it's been run & to suggest condensation could be a thing... I'm glad you figured it out. Good tip from First Timer too. I've not experienced that but read of it being a thing. The KLR's can do that too as well as have their impeller spin on the shaft... :)
 
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