Kawasaki 650R 09 consuming a lot of oil?

[Kawazaki650R]

13 minutes ago, Madgee said:

If you're lucky it's a blown head gasket and not a cracked casing. It's definitely coolant mixing with oil.  

As others have said 'get it checked' and fixed asap.

I'll ask the mechanic if he checked the head gasket and or the casing. Thank you. 

 

[Simple Jack]

1 hour ago, Kawazaki650R said:

I'll ask the mechanic if he checked the head gasket and or the casing. Thank you. 

 

I thought that was the whole point of the exercise?

Edited October 30, 2022 by Simple Jack

[kickstart]

I would   say , piston rings worn ,or a broken ring ,cylinder bore worn ,valve guides worn ,not necessary clouds of blue smoke .

If the head gasket had gone on water cooled engine they would be white smoke ,water mixing with the oil,most certainly was on a old car I had some years ago. 

As has been said those engines are bulletproof,but if the OP brought it second hand ,it might have had some abuse from a past  owner, or lack of maintenance.

Get the top end taken apart and get it all checked. 

[LS24]

13 hours ago, Simple Jack said:

The guy at NakonSawan certainly was not :D.

So are you saying that they didn't have workshop manuals? They weren't aware of tolerances for Kawa bikes? You may have come across an incompetent mechanic or mechanic's offsider but the Kawa dealers are the specialists for Kawasaki bikes by their very nature.

Are yuou suggesting that going to soi flat tire and finding a guy who repairs Honda Clicks all day will have a deeper understanding of Kawas in general?

 

[Kawazaki650R]

13 hours ago, Simple Jack said:

I thought that was the whole point of the exercise?

Yes it was but I haven't picked it up yet and he's yet to answer my message... My friend said they're good but now I don't know. 

[Kawazaki650R]

4 hours ago, LS24 said:

So are you saying that they didn't have workshop manuals? They weren't aware of tolerances for Kawa bikes? You may have come across an incompetent mechanic or mechanic's offsider but the Kawa dealers are the specialists for Kawasaki bikes by their very nature.

Are yuou suggesting that going to soi flat tire and finding a guy who repairs Honda Clicks all day will have a deeper understanding of Kawas in general?

 

This guy owns big bike kawasaki and my friend has had his bike repaired there so I thought they could do a check up first and if not I'll take it to kawasaki. 

[Kawazaki650R]

13 hours ago, kickstart said:

I would   say , piston rings worn ,or a broken ring ,cylinder bore worn ,valve guides worn ,not necessary clouds of blue smoke .

If the head gasket had gone on water cooled engine they would be white smoke ,water mixing with the oil,most certainly was on a old car I had some years ago. 

As has been said those engines are bulletproof,but if the OP brought it second hand ,it might have had some abuse from a past  owner, or lack of maintenance.

Get the top end taken apart and get it all checked. 

If "my" mechanic didn't say anything do what I asked him to then what would that cost if taken to the kawasaki dealership? I mean just to get it checked and not necessarily fixed. 

[Kawazaki650R]

13 hours ago, kickstart said:

I would   say , piston rings worn ,or a broken ring ,cylinder bore worn ,valve guides worn ,not necessary clouds of blue smoke .

If the head gasket had gone on water cooled engine they would be white smoke ,water mixing with the oil,most certainly was on a old car I had some years ago. 

As has been said those engines are bulletproof,but if the OP brought it second hand ,it might have had some abuse from a past  owner, or lack of maintenance.

Get the top end taken apart and get it all checked. 

As always trying to cut corners tend to get more expensive in the end. My mechanic says he looked and did not notice any leaks in any of the seals etc. But might have to take it to Kawa in the end. 

[seedy]

28 minutes ago, Kawazaki650R said:

If "my" mechanic didn't say anything do what I asked him to then what would that cost if taken to the kawasaki dealership? I mean just to get it checked and not necessarily fixed. 

Broken piston rings or a scored cylinder will show up on a simple compression test or cylinder leakdown test.

Remove spark plugs, connect gauge, crank over engine.

 

[Kawazaki650R]

So the mechanic said he checked everything. Seals look fine. No water in the system. Changed oil. 

[Kawazaki650R]

31 minutes ago, Kawazaki650R said:

So the mechanic said he checked everything. Seals look fine. No water in the system. Changed oil. 

Went to kawasaki now. He said they can't check what's the problem because oil just recently changed. He recommended me to keep driving and see if it becomes milky again. He said it might be the water pump? But that it wouldn't damage the engine. 

[Simple Jack]

1 hour ago, Kawazaki650R said:

He recommended me to keep driving and see if it becomes milky again. He said it might be the water pump? But that it wouldn't damage the engine. 

Well this can't end in disaster. The guy must have x-ray vision to know the seals are alright.

 

1 hour ago, Kawazaki650R said:

Went to kawasaki now. He said they can't check what's the problem because oil just recently changed.

That has got to be the most bullshizer excuse ever.  You know you have to pay to get work done right?

 

Well i'm out. Goodluck pal.

[Kawazaki650R]

8 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Well this can't end in disaster. The guy must have x-ray vision to know the seals are alright.

 

That has got to be the most bullshizer excuse ever.  You know you have to pay to get work done right?

 

Well i'm out. Goodluck pal.

The previous shop checked the engine and said all the seals look fine and no water in the engine. 

 

I know I know. I just didn't have time today. Will go back and ask them to check. But he said it's most likely the waterpump because on this model it often breaks down around 30k km? But that it wouldn't damage the engine lol. This is kinda why I didn't wanna go to Kawa in Bangkok they don't seem professional. 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Kawazaki650R

[kickstart]

Sounds if the mechanics do not know themselves ,a broken water pump would not cause an engine to use oil ,if it was a water pump problem yore engine would be over heating ,needle on the gauge would be well up .

Looking at the engine diagram for this modal they are an oil seal and a water seal in the water pump ,water would have to get though both  to get into the engine very unlikely.

Also ,they are oil seals on the valve stems ,they should be checked. 

 

As Seedy said, get them to do a compression test,that should show the problem.

[JeffersLos]

[Kawazaki650R]

Oil and everything changed. Color looks the same after having driven less than 15 km. It works completely fine. Could it be the glass itself? Should I take it to Kawa just to be sure? 

[In the jungle]

I would just run it and keep an eye on the oil to see if any milkiness returns.

 

Do you do a lot of short journeys on the bike?

[kickstart]

The title of this post Kawasaki 650R 09,I take it that 09 is the year of registration,if so that makes it 13 years old ,no spring chicken ,if it has been laid up for a period during that time ie in a dealer's showroom ,the rings or a ring could be stuck in the piston ,valves seals perished .

You are going to have and bite the bullet and get that top end stripped down. 

[Kawazaki650R]

8 hours ago, In the jungle said:

I would just run it and keep an eye on the oil to see if any milkiness returns.

 

Do you do a lot of short journeys on the bike?

Mostly too and from work about 6 km each way. 

[Kawazaki650R]

2 hours ago, kickstart said:

The title of this post Kawasaki 650R 09,I take it that 09 is the year of registration,if so that makes it 13 years old ,no spring chicken ,if it has been laid up for a period during that time ie in a dealer's showroom ,the rings or a ring could be stuck in the piston ,valves seals perished .

You are going to have and bite the bullet and get that top end stripped down. 

They did a check at my friends mechanic but I'm guessing they didn't really take a super close look. They said everything looked fine. What would it cost to have it looked at by kawasaki you reckon? It's old and I really don't want to spend even more money on it. 

[marcusb]

Buy a litre of oil. Top it up when needed. Take it for a good long ride open it up a couple times. keep an eye on it. Oils cheap, do some testing yourself, find the problem.  Even if you sacrifice a whole litre you should be able to narrow down the problem. 

 

You seem to be missing bits of info like did you inspect and feel the old oil that came out of it.  If you didn't do that you are wasting your time.   It takes very little water to destroy oil, I'm guessing thats not your problem.  

As someone else said do a wet dry compression test, takes 10 minutes. 100 baht.  Get your numbers, go home figure out if thats the problem. 

[Kawazaki650R]

7 minutes ago, marcusb said:

Buy a litre of oil. Top it up when needed. Take it for a good long ride open it up a couple times. keep an eye on it. Oils cheap, do some testing yourself, find the problem.  Even if you sacrifice a whole litre you should be able to narrow down the problem. 

 

You seem to be missing bits of info like did you inspect and feel the old oil that came out of it.  If you didn't do that you are wasting your time.   It takes very little water to destroy oil, I'm guessing thats not your problem.  

As someone else said do a wet dry compression test, takes 10 minutes. 100 baht.  Get your numbers, go home figure out if thats the problem. 

The mechanic said no water in the engine. Everything looked OK. Then he changed the oil. They deal with big bikes too but I'm not too sure how careful they checked. The oil color looking through the glass is already that milky brown colour you see in the photo even though I've only ridden 15 km. The level is fine for now. But as I said before it seemed to have dipped almost below minimum level even after topping or up at kawasaki a month ago. Will it really cost 100 baht at Kawa? I don't really know where else to go. 

[In the jungle]

It may be the fact that you do a lot of relatively short journeys that is causing the slight milkiness of the oil.

 

 

[seedy]

For the oil to turn 'milky' it needs to be contaminated with water.

If your cooling system has coolant in it the coolant is not good for the engine oil.

If the cooling system contains straight water - very common here as coolant (for example I use Toyota branded coolant at over 900 THB for 4 liters) then it very well may be caused by your short journeys. 6KM is hardly enuf time to warm up the oil and evaporate the water in the oil.

A good long ride - one to two hours - and check oil then thru the sight glass.

If the 'milky' disappears - you have the cause.

If it persists - then water (coolant) is leaking from the cooling system into the engine.

By the BY - do you have to add water (coolant) ever ?

[In the jungle]

1 hour ago, seedy said:

For the oil to turn 'milky' it needs to be contaminated with water.

If your cooling system has coolant in it the coolant is not good for the engine oil.

If the cooling system contains straight water - very common here as coolant (for example I use Toyota branded coolant at over 900 THB for 4 liters) then it very well may be caused by your short journeys. 6KM is hardly enuf time to warm up the oil and evaporate the water in the oil.

A good long ride - one to two hours - and check oil then thru the sight glass.

If the 'milky' disappears - you have the cause.

If it persists - then water (coolant) is leaking from the cooling system into the engine.

By the BY - do you have to add water (coolant) ever ?

Those are not the only ways in which you can get water contamination in the oil.  It is reasonably well known that a succession of short journeys can result in a build up of condensation inside an engine.

[seedy]

27 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

Those are not the only ways in which you can get water contamination in the oil.  It is reasonably well known that a succession of short journeys can result in a build up of condensation inside an engine.

Read my post again. I said the same thing.

[seedy]

6 hours ago, seedy said:

 (for example I use Toyota branded coolant at over 900 THB for 4 liters)

Correction - 450 THB each !!! 555

[Kawazaki650R]

6 hours ago, seedy said:

For the oil to turn 'milky' it needs to be contaminated with water.

If your cooling system has coolant in it the coolant is not good for the engine oil.

If the cooling system contains straight water - very common here as coolant (for example I use Toyota branded coolant at over 900 THB for 4 liters) then it very well may be caused by your short journeys. 6KM is hardly enuf time to warm up the oil and evaporate the water in the oil.

A good long ride - one to two hours - and check oil then thru the sight glass.

If the 'milky' disappears - you have the cause.

If it persists - then water (coolant) is leaking from the cooling system into the engine.

By the BY - do you have to add water (coolant) ever ?

OK I'll do that. Then the only remaining fact is that it uses alot of oil. Or is that to be expected with such an old bike? 

[seedy]

1 hour ago, Kawazaki650R said:

OK I'll do that. Then the only remaining fact is that it uses alot of oil. Or is that to be expected with such an old bike? 

If it is burning oil - with no visible leaks - then the oil is getting thru the valve seals and/or up past the piston rings.

If you intend to keep it for a while, it is not a big deal to replace rings and service the cylinder head.

I have 6 bikes. My latest service - at a local shop in CNX who specializes in CRF250, removed the head and cylinder. Rings were ok, so they replaced the valve seals (might as well as the head is off) and reassembled.

Cost 2030 THB - which included a new RH rear signal light which cost 750 THB.

Labor 500 THB for the whole job.

This shop has a wall full of trophies of their wins with CRF250's

[Kawazaki650R]

I've taken the bike on a longer ride now and I think the oil looks better. It's running fine as well. But one thing is worrying me. Around the chain in the front is very greasy. It looks like oil is leaking? I'm pretty sure the mechanic cleaned this area 2 weeks ago. I'll attach a picture. Not a good one but will take a better one later. 

Edited November 16, 2022 by Kawazaki650R