Overheating Oil in Crankcase

[n780]

Scared myself today.

Went for a ride to see how the bike felt after some downtime (put GS500E carbs on my 83 400E, details here: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=216554)

Since I finally had the carbs feeling right I wanted to see how the bike pulled. In the city for a 30 minute ride I didn't notice anything off at all. Eventually I got to where I wanted - a red light that leads onto a highway. I worked it pretty hard and, worse yet, my tach cable is broken so I had no tach readings.

I pushed it hard, accelerating to 80 in second and probably 110 in third seeing how it felt wide open. Which, at the time felt fine. From there I moved up to six for the rest of the highway and, maybe 10 minutes after that pulled into a neighborhood and parked. That's when I smelt burning plastic and looked down to see a reasonable amount of smoke. Hard to catch the smoke in the picture but here's the best I could do with my phone:

Freaked out and checked my oil. Level is good, doesn't smell like gas. It's 10w40, non-synthetic, changed about 1k ago.

Crankcase is too hot to hold my hand against, never felt it this hot. The smoke is from the shielding around the gear indicator and stator wires. How the poor stator is doing in that deep frier is still unknown...

So, I was 30 km from home and after waiting for about 45 minutes the case was still massively hot and there was still some smouldering coming from the the wire opening. I had no tools on hand and just gave up and got a ride home.

I won't be able to make it back to my bike for at least another day or two. I think it's parked in a safe enough place.

So, what the hell? Was I just too mean to my bike or is there something else that can heat the oil so terribly? I won't know until I sheepishly try to ride my bike home later (if it starts...) but do you think I've done something terrible to it?

Thanks, as always.

 

[bbjumper]

I would be concerned too, that bike has a top speed of somewhere below 95 mph in top gear based on the research that I have read. 110 in third would definitely be flogging it hard and not something it was designed for, I don't even know if that is possible.

I would check her over real well before riding again. I wouldn't think the excessive heat would be as a result of running hard though, running for an extended time above redline could have done something to the top end, I would start there. You need more info though.

Good luck

 

[tkent02]

He's talking Kmph.

There's not much that can overheat an air cooled four stroke. Cooling fins blocked with mud, retarded timing, lean mixture. Problem with the oil cooler if your bike has one. A constantly slipping clutch might heat up the oil, dunno. That's abut it.

If you have been messing with the carbs then that's the best bet.

 

[bbjumper]

Oops, missed that.

 

[GSX1000E]

I would be thinking more around the lines of a hot lead (stator) that is grounded and heating the case. Battery is now fried and it might barely "click" if at all when you get back to it.

 

[n780]

Right, should have mentioned km/h.

Some more info:
The top end felt normal; neither too hot nor too cold.
The bottom case stayed hot forever in 5*C air, making me believe it was the oil making the case hot and not the other way around.

Can running lean really produce this much heat?

 

[tkent02]

Not without the head and cylinders getting hot. Maybe GSX1000E is onto something.

 

[Guest]

maybe gsx1000e is onto something

+1-------------------

 

[n780]

I'll be putting fresh oil in and I'll be able to take a look at the stator. Not too concerned about the gear indicator leads (don't use them) so long as neutral is ok. From what I could see while the smouldering was at its worst was that the black wrap was melting but, at least then, the individual wire shieldings were ok.

I'll run down the leads from the stator to see if something was grounding out. However, my concern is this: Should I find that the shielding is gone on one or more of the leads I don't know whether to treat that as a cause or an effect. Was the oil too hot and it melted the shielding or did the shielding fail somewhere, short out and heat the oil? And do you guys really think there's enough energy coming out of the stator to cook over three quarts of oil?

 

[eil]

You seem pretty certain that your oil overheated, but there's nothing so far mentioned in your description of the symptoms which really supports that... the smoke could not have come from the oil, and you said the oil didn't smell like gas.. did it smell burnt?

At any rate, you won't get any better answers until you drain the oil and check on the condition of the stator.

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

You smoked the stator or the reg !!!!!

 

[GSX1000E]

You will want to see which other wires are also now melted as you have basically grounded the hot lead to all of your grounds.
Ever watched someone weld with electricity before? Does that metal stay cold? Understand now?

 

[n780]

I'm worried about the oil temp because I've never seen it that hot. The case was almost scalding to the touch. Is that normal?

I'll be getting at the stator for sure. I know there's a lot of amperage in there but it still seems a bit crazy to me that a shorting stator could generate that much heat (assuming that much heat is abnormal.)

Regardless, I'll find out soon enough.

 

[posplayr]

I'm worried about the oil temp because I've never seen it that hot. The case was almost scalding to the touch. Is that normal?

I'll be getting at the stator for sure. I know there's a lot of amperage in there but it still seems a bit crazy to me that a shorting stator could generate that much heat (assuming that much heat is abnormal.)

Regardless, I'll find out soon enough.

If you shorted the stator wires together somehow under the cover, it would certainly get very hot when running the engine.

 

[tkent02]

I'm worried about the oil temp because I've never seen it that hot. The case was almost scalding to the touch. Is that normal?

Which case was hot? Left side stator cover? Or the whole thing?
They do get hot after running quite a while. I burn myself all the time reaching in to fiddle with the carburetors on a hot engine.

 

[n780]

The whole thing.

I never feel the urge to touch the case after riding, maybe it's always this hot and it's just by coincidence that I blew a stator lead? Don't know.

I was riding with two friends, one on a 2010 Enfield (500 single) and the other on an 85(?) KZ 250 single. Neither of their bottom ends were near the temp of mine.


Oh well, I won't know anything until I get into the thing. I'll report back when I do.

 

[n780]

I was riding hard for a brief bit. Maybe the oil just gets that hot and redlining it cooks the stator?

 

[tkent02]

I was riding hard for a brief bit. Maybe the oil just gets that hot and redlining it cooks the stator?

If that were the problem I would have smoked thousands of stators.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Looks like yah got a drop or two on the exhaust and it wafted up.

 

[n780]

Looks like yah got a drop or two on the exhaust and it wafted up.

The smoke is from the black shielding around the stator and/or gear indicator leads. It was hard to capture with my phone but the smoke was coming form the wire opening and it was definitely the smell of burnt plastic.

If that were the problem I would have smoked thousands of stators.

Well, damn....