Thunderbird 900 Spitting Out Its Coolant

Drained the oil today. It was definitely due for a change but not the creamy emulsion I feared. When I took the cap off the other day it has emulsified oil in it. I assumed the worst. Now I am not so sure.

I am getting grey smoke at start up.
The oil is not emulsified.
I was getting over heating issues but not now.
The plugs used to foul with black sooty deposits, but not now.

Replacing the coil packs has definitely helped.

I will see how she runs over the next few days.

 

New air filter fitted recently. When I replaced it there was some emulsified oil that had made it way into the airbox via the breather hose. Maybe two table spoons worth. I've not checked it since it all went back in but no sign of oil oozing out..

Interesting you should mention the Crank case breather hose. It was a bit ropey. I wanted to replace it but it seems jammed behind the starter motor so I just taped it up a small split. Maybe I should run a fresh hose with a small pod on top, or I even read people just feed to a small plastic bottle, which would allow me to see if it was oozing out gunge.

Bike is running better but was hard starting after a couple of days. Not much smoke ATM. Not over heating. Put three new plugs in today. The old ones were not sooty like I have posted earlier in this thread. Seems to start a lot better. She is popping a fair bit on the over run, which she always has, and there bikes are known for it. Maybe she is running rich, but the plugs were not badly sorted up.
It's not clear that it is gasket failure either. Coolent water level is not going down. Not much smoke from exhaust. Ill keep an eye on the oil. So... Basically I'm still confused.

 

Bike is stored outside , in a tent basically. Pram hood storm shelter type arrangement. I do ride her in the winter but not as much. Maybe every three weeks. Much more recently, because the car had a timing chain failure. Don't even ask. Bike still starting much better. Does not sound quite right and, very occasionally, stalls for no obvious reason. I'm going to change the oil again this weekend, check fluids and have a look at the plugs.

 

Changed the oil again today. Last did this 2 weeks ago. Completely emulsified! I would say "gasket failure".
But if I turn over the engine with the coolant cap off, it does not sploosh water out. This suggests there is no failure between combustion chamber and water jackets.

Couple of questions.
Is it conceivable that there is a leak between the coolant and oil, but not the combustion chamber?
What else, other than gasket failure, could cause oil to become emulsified?

Thanks

S

 

Yes. I've replaced it. Pipe just vents to air, rather than the box. It's transparent so I can see if gung is exiting the crankcase. Nothing so far.

 

Yes. I've replaced it. Pipe just vents to air, rather than the box. It's transparent so I can see if gung is exiting the crankcase. Nothing so far.

 

Coolant level has not dropped either so I am very confused as to where water is getting into the oil.

 

I was racking my brain to see how oil could emusify, other than via gasket failure. I did order the co2 gasket tester bubble kit, but it turned out to be a bugus supplier. I've ordered again so maybe that will confirm, or otherwise, a failed gasket.

I wondered if the water pump might be leaking water to the oil. I removed it today. Looks fine. Rotates as should. Seals look undamaged.
No obvious sign of leaking from the weep hole.

Is it possible the seals could be bad, but not visibly knackered?

 

Im always up for a learning experience but my fear is snapped bolts. I don't have the tools or the knowledge. The cost to get it done by a pro is over 2k. If you're telling me it's do'able I'm all ears. But that's not what I've been hearing.

On balance it probably is gasket failure, but I'm not 100% sure. If I turn the engine over with the cap off no bubbling is visible from radiator cap. Cookent level has been pretty stable. I have ordered a bubble test kit.

Believe me, I'm tired of the time spent, and reliability issues. At this point I'm a bit done with the damned thing and am ready to sell it on, but I can't even do that until its a bit more sorted.