engine problems

kc7dji

kc7dji

Registered
Luckily the Busa is fine... However the BLVD all of a sudden has anti-freeze in the oil ???


Can someone clue me in on what might cause this? I'm thinking a cracked block :(
 
gasket...warped head...you put antifreeze in the oil..LOL its a boulevard...all guesses...good luck
 
Unless it froze or overheated, probably just a head gasket.
Keep your fingers crossed and start looking.
 
I would pull the spark plugs and look at them, run a compression check 'cause the leak might show up in one of the cylinders Does the coolant look alright, any bubbles?
 
It runs fine. I noticed because when I stop at a stoplight I smell antifreeze, however, there is no leak. After watching for a bit I noticed oil was leaking. I had my son stand the bike up to check the oil level and it's way over full and very thin :rofl:

I've drained the oil out and yes there it more than there should be but like I said it runs without any problem. :laugh:


I will tear her apart and :please:


I'm kinda broke and I'd sure hate to hock the busa to fix the blvd. :banghead:



mike1180 said:
Unless it froze or overheated, probably just a head gasket.
Keep your fingers crossed and start looking.
Click to expand...
 
Could be a number of things. I would start at the water pump. You could have a bad water pump/seal. If anti-freeze is getting past a bad seal it can go in the block. If not, I would say a cracked water jacket in the block.
 
I would not run it anymore while I was looking.
You will get in way more trouble, and cause way more damage if there is antifreeze in the oil.
 
Is the oil like a creamy white color? From my experience in cars anyway when the oil and antifreeze mix it turns to a milky white color, I would think it's the same on a bike, and I would say the head gasket but could be the water pump seal I guess.
 
Ok I'm feeling a little foolish on this but here is what I've found so far.

The oil is not discolored (except for being black). There is no creamy mixture as I would also expect.

I've put the oil in a glass container and there is no separation indicating that there is anything other than oil.

So maybe, JUST maybe I might be lucky here and find out that there is no water/antifreeze in the oil after all. Maybe I have a tiny antifreeze leak that was evaporating on the hot engine which caused me to smell it when I stop.
Since the oil has cooled down, it has returned to it's thick state and not watery as I was thinking.

Tomorrow when I get home from work I will remove the tank (so I can get to the freaking radiator cap) and check the antifreeze level. If I still have a full radiator then I'll decide that I'm just stupid, having nightmares, and jumped to conclusion. :whistle:

I'll put in some nice synthetic and a new oil filter and see where I land.

Feel free to keep leaving advise. Dammit if this thing had a freaking turbine engine in it I would have no problems fixing it but the piston engine isn't very far up my knowledge path :rofl:






chrisrod said:
Is the oil like a creamy white color? From my experience in cars anyway when the oil and antifreeze mix it turns to a milky white color, I would think it's the same on a bike, and I would say the head gasket but could be the water pump seal I guess.
Click to expand...
 
You said the oil was way over full.
It may be blowing out somewhere due to being over full.
If it was a busa it could get sucked into the air filter area and could run out from there.
 
Here is what you also need to look at. On the Boulevard there is a block drain bolt located on the right side of the engine down in the V-Portion of the case. It will appear to be a simple bolt in appearance. That bolt is actually a long bolt that goes into the water jacket to drain the engine completely on anti-freeze changes. That bolt has a washer or O-Ring depending on the model. That leaks onto the block at small enough rate that it burns off as the engine is running, and it is hardly ever leaking if there is no pressure as in the engine sits there not running.

How do I know? THis one drove me CRAZY for about 4 months. I knew I was losing coolant, knew there was no steam coming out of the exhaust (meaning no water in the cylinder), yet I could smell it and knew it was loosing it. You look all over the place looking for loose hoses etc. I finally found it and even my bike mechanic was giving me props for finding it. It's a cheap fix but a maddening troubleshoot.

So look at that area and see if that helps ya. If I didn't do a good enough job of describing it is because it is 6:40 AM ad I haven't had my coffee yet.
 
Man that is outstanding to know :thumbsup:

I will look for it. Today did a complete oil change and everything looked normal. I removed the tank (why did they put the damn radiator cap under the freaking tank). ???

I opened the cap and looked down with a flashlight and I could see the antifreeze. It was a further down than my finger could reach, but I could see it. I got a cup of water to fill it back up and I can say it took VERY little. Maybe a mouthful.

I think at this point I could be possibly loosing some but it would have to be very little. Like I said in my original post, I only smell it when I stop. This was the first ride of the season also.

As soon as the weather allows, I'm going to take it back out and see if I'm still smelling it.

Thanks for the info! :bowdown:




TallTom said:
Here is what you also need to look at. On the Boulevard there is a block drain bolt located on the right side of the engine down in the V-Portion of the case. It will appear to be a simple bolt in appearance. That bolt is actually a long bolt that goes into the water jacket to drain the engine completely on anti-freeze changes. That bolt has a washer or O-Ring depending on the model. That leaks onto the block at small enough rate that it burns off as the engine is running, and it is hardly ever leaking if there is no pressure as in the engine sits there not running.

How do I know? THis one drove me CRAZY for about 4 months. I knew I was losing coolant, knew there was no steam coming out of the exhaust (meaning no water in the cylinder), yet I could smell it and knew it was loosing it. You look all over the place looking for loose hoses etc. I finally found it and even my bike mechanic was giving me props for finding it. It's a cheap fix but a maddening troubleshoot.

So look at that area and see if that helps ya. If I didn't do a good enough job of describing it is because it is 6:40 AM ad I haven't had my coffee yet.
Click to expand...
 
kc7dji said:
Man that is outstanding to know :thumbsup:

I will look for it. Today did a complete oil change and everything looked normal. I removed the tank (why did they put the damn radiator cap under the freaking tank). ???

I opened the cap and looked down with a flashlight and I could see the antifreeze. It was a further down than my finger could reach, but I could see it. I got a cup of water to fill it back up and I can say it took VERY little. Maybe a mouthful.

I think at this point I could be possibly loosing some but it would have to be very little. Like I said in my original post, I only smell it when I stop. This was the first ride of the season also.

As soon as the weather allows, I'm going to take it back out and see if I'm still smelling it.

Thanks for the info! :bowdown:
Click to expand...

No problem man. I know how maddening this was. Yes lifting the tank to get to the radiator cap is like WTF. Here is an easier and more accurate way to check coolant level. On the left side under the lower cover is your overflow tank. Even though it took only a mouthful in the radiator, I bet your overflow tank is either low or empty. It will take in the water into the radiator via of that little black tube that goes to nowhere when you look around that overflow tank. One is the vent line that dumps off the bike and the other is the one that goes nowhere when you look at it....lol.

Again how do I know this? Dude I took that bike all apart tracing down every possible line looking for this pissy little leak.

My initial clues were, my fan started coming on with more frequency than I remembered. I just figured it was hotter conditions etc. And like you mention you smell something faintly when you come to a stop. Then I finally got an overtemp light at highway very briefly. Overflow tank was empty. That was my first clue all was not well. I always sssumed that slight coolant smell I was smelling must have been something else, someone else or somewhere else becaue I never saw any wetness anywhere.

This one drove me nuts so I feel your pain.

I finally discovered it by having NOT washed the bike in some time and it got dirty and I suddenly found this little green trail (dried up coolant) trailing about an inch down the case that went right to the head of that bolt. THEN I would stare at that bolt only at speed because it NEVER leaked at idle or with no engine running. Finally I saw a drip of water drip off and immediately steam off. I was like YOU LITTLE SOB there you have been all this time. Keep in mind you do all this in traffic.....lol. Everytime I washed the bike I washed away the evidence of the dried up anti-freeze.

Oh and to top it off, there is NOTHING that even discusses the existence of this friggin bolt in your cooling system portion of the manual.

Aside from this, the bike has been absolutely trouble-free.
 
Update:


Well LUCK or something is on my side. Turns out there is nothing wrong with the engine. I do have a VERY tiny static leak of fluid when it sits in the cold garage.

I've had the bike out, cleaned up, and driving around with not issues at all.

While I'm speaking of bikes and maintenance, I changed the plugs in my busa yesterday. Next time I might just buy a new busa :rofl:
 
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