Oil

Never owned a bike before three months ago so I no nothing about what oil should or should not look like after its been in an engine for a while. I was expecting it to be dark with a slightly gritty feel between my fingers, telling me it was past its best and really needed replacing.
Image my surprise when I retract my dipstick and find that, instead of a sample of the blackgold that sent the world loopy a few generations ago, there was a covering of beige-grey froth wrapped around my probe.
My question is, is this what motorcycle engine oil should look like?
When rubbed between your fingers it feels smooth with no grit in it and it smells like oil should, but why is it frothy and beige-grey?
Is that a transformation that occurs with fully synthetic oil? ( I have a Manual that states the best oil to use is Mobil 1 4T)
Assuming my engine has not been filled with spray cream and will need rebuilding, what is the best (Multigrade) replacement for a 1999 tiger that's done 60,000 miles and isn't used that much?

 

That starts to piece together a picture of what could be happening.
The bike is only used for a short journey twice a week, so the engine is never really heated up.
Its stored outdoors in the cold under a cover for all the rest of the time.
The oil should have been the first thing I changed, but I started to visualise what else could be checked once the engine was empty and never did anything except look at the level through the window on the tank.
The coolant hasn't been changed either, but I have been checking its level ever since owning it and its never changed, so that bodes with the condensation theory. I'm glad someone mentioned that because I'd never have thought of it.
My plan now is to drain the oil and reuse what can be reused for the sake of flushing the emulsified rubbish out, before doing as you suggested and running it on some cheap oil to see if it manifests itself again.
Over what sort of time frame does that process take place?

What are the facts about the head gasket?
If water was entering the engine via the head gasket would that water have to come from the radiator?
And would it necessarily be the case that you would notice a difference in the level of coolant in the reservoir?

 

My greatest concern is getting all of the contaminated residue out of the engine. Its so different in density to the oil that's supposed to lubricate it, my fear is that its congregated above the oil level, on the engines ceiling. (I don't know what happens to the oil once the engines turned on. I imagine its similar to a food blender, where there are parts of the chamber that will, by the nature of the design, never come into contact with what's being pushed around) This was the reasoning behind the idea of reusing the old oil. Leave the filter in, drop the oil, separate the liquid from the froth, (using tissue or rag) then refill with what liquid was left over, run the engine for a bit and then when its cooled down again, undo the oil drain plug and see how much more of the froth comes out with the next drop.
Then the cheap semi synthetic goes in with a new filter to check that the mixing doesn't occur again.

I had plans to change the coolant, I'll check for oil in what comes out.

 

marvellous, priceless nuggets of information. Is this additive safe to use with fully-synthetic or semi-synthetic oil? The engines done 60000, so although I don't detect an ominous tapping noise coming from the engine, mixing some of that in with the final lubricant cant be a bad thing.
I'm actually out of work at the moment so this is squeezing me already, I need to find four litres of rubbish and then another four litres of quality oil.
(gasp_! is this right? can I not just use, say, two litres of rubbish to flush the system and then three litres of Mobil 1 4T + one litre of The Marvel to use properly?)
That is, of course, once I've determined there's nothing too drastically wrong with the chambers and the head gasket isn't leaking.
I was hoping I could get some tips on what 'rubbish' is safe to use? At the bottom end of the market there's stuff called 'motorway oil'
URL="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMMA-MOTORWAY-MINERAL-OIL-20W50-20-50-4-5L-/221282969306?pt=UK_Vehicle_Oils_Lubricants_Fluids&hash=item33857e26da"
It says its for high mileage petrol or diesel engines that are not Turbo Charged. What is the script when it comes to the difference between Motorcycle and Car/lorry oil?
The bike has an injection system to consider as well, could even a brief encounter with some oils effect components associated with that?

 

I go along with what your saying RichardH, you've obviously had many years experience with these machines and sometimes cutting corners just isn't worth the aggravation. I'm quietly confident the Head Gasket isn't the issue, only because my coolant level hasn't changed in three months.
It was interesting reading more about the Marvel fuel additive and I must again eat my hat, because I now discover you can use it in oil as well as fuel, incredible.

 

I like the long adjective Stavros, I'm convinced that is what was up with the oil in my Tiger, turns out that when I dropped the oil it wasn't as bad I had first feared. there wasn't the level of contamination I had anticipated. There was no oil in the coolant either, allaying my worries that a seal may have perished. If the bike doesn't get hot when used condensation occurs in the engine. It feels ten times better now its had a change of oil, the gear changes are that much more cushioned, there's not the same abrasiveness under foot. :wink: