HELP!!!!!
#1
03-21-2008, 05:27 AM
HELP!!!!!
i have a 2001 zx9r and the coolant turned black! it looks like motor oil. i have no idea what to do. brought it to the stealer, and they said it could be a head gasket. but the bike runs and acts fine. it was serviced last year. is it possible old owner put the wrong coolant in? im out of ideas and dont know what to do. i ran water through the coolant system to clean it, then filled it with the green stuff.
#2
03-21-2008, 05:37 AM
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Washington
Posts: 21,060
RE: HELP!!!!!
Keep an eye on it, its possible that your water pump is letting oil in. Check the oil and water often, in fact I don't think I would ride it anymore until you get this thing figured out. No light colored smoke out of the exhaust? Let us know what you find out, plus I'm sure there will be someone on here soon that will have better ideas than I do.
#3
03-21-2008, 07:43 AM
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: terrorizing southeastern norf carolina
Posts: 2,092
RE: HELP!!!!!
perfect, deej! you beat me.
i 100% agree on this.
my 600 did this same thing.
about 32k on the clock when the innermost bearing failed. theres 2 seals. bothmechanical, but 2 different type.. the first is at the end of the bearing housing and is a rubber, "o-spring" seal for the shaft, to seal oil out..
the second is a graphite mechanical seal in the pump behind the impeller.
when the bearing fails, the resulting vibration let oil past the rubber seal. this goes past the water seal as well, due to the impeller not spinning true inside the pump housing.
there should be a small weep/vent hole on the bottom of the pump shaft bearing housing.. about a .040" hole.. between the inner and outer bearings. if there is, there will be oil coming out of this, if its not clogged with bits of fragged bearing cage and rubber.
you can test the head gasket theory in a few ways.. 1 is a compresion check.
mainly a wet test..
do a normal dry test and note the numbers.
thn, pour a CAPFUL of ATF or motor oil in each cylinder and re-test. the numbers WILL be higher.. if the numbers are way, way, way higher, i'd look at new rings.
thenumbers should NOT change tho across the board.. the wet test will not seal the gasket.. just the rings.. also good for detecting a stuck valve.
another way is to remove te coolant cap, withthe bike off, and cold, and start it up. if the coolant shoots out like it was hot, its 100% a head gasket.
reasoning is that the compression is leaking past the gasket into the water jacket, and pressurizing the coolant passages.
keep us posted there, mr. nissan man!
very tired. sorry i can't spell
i 100% agree on this.
my 600 did this same thing.
about 32k on the clock when the innermost bearing failed. theres 2 seals. bothmechanical, but 2 different type.. the first is at the end of the bearing housing and is a rubber, "o-spring" seal for the shaft, to seal oil out..
the second is a graphite mechanical seal in the pump behind the impeller.
when the bearing fails, the resulting vibration let oil past the rubber seal. this goes past the water seal as well, due to the impeller not spinning true inside the pump housing.
there should be a small weep/vent hole on the bottom of the pump shaft bearing housing.. about a .040" hole.. between the inner and outer bearings. if there is, there will be oil coming out of this, if its not clogged with bits of fragged bearing cage and rubber.
you can test the head gasket theory in a few ways.. 1 is a compresion check.
mainly a wet test..
do a normal dry test and note the numbers.
thn, pour a CAPFUL of ATF or motor oil in each cylinder and re-test. the numbers WILL be higher.. if the numbers are way, way, way higher, i'd look at new rings.
thenumbers should NOT change tho across the board.. the wet test will not seal the gasket.. just the rings.. also good for detecting a stuck valve.
another way is to remove te coolant cap, withthe bike off, and cold, and start it up. if the coolant shoots out like it was hot, its 100% a head gasket.
reasoning is that the compression is leaking past the gasket into the water jacket, and pressurizing the coolant passages.
keep us posted there, mr. nissan man!
very tired. sorry i can't spell
#4
03-21-2008, 01:56 PM
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Washington
Posts: 21,060
RE: HELP!!!!!
Yea what he said
We had a big Allis-Chalmer engine 20 years ago that did that exact same thing. The water pump has like WH said two bearings, one that keeps water out of the oil, and one that keeps oil out of the water. The weep hole is there for the sole purpose of letting you know that a problem is developing. Oil in water not good, but water in the oil, is 10 times worse. Antifreeze will eat up bearings faster than Rossie O'Donnell at an all you can eat buffet. Let us know what you find out.
We had a big Allis-Chalmer engine 20 years ago that did that exact same thing. The water pump has like WH said two bearings, one that keeps water out of the oil, and one that keeps oil out of the water. The weep hole is there for the sole purpose of letting you know that a problem is developing. Oil in water not good, but water in the oil, is 10 times worse. Antifreeze will eat up bearings faster than Rossie O'Donnell at an all you can eat buffet. Let us know what you find out.
#5
03-22-2008, 03:37 PM
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Roswell, NM
Posts: 5,432
RE: HELP!!!!!
ORIGINAL: deej
Antifreeze will eat up bearings faster than Rossie O'Donnell at an all you can eat buffet.
Antifreeze will eat up bearings faster than Rossie O'Donnell at an all you can eat buffet.
#6
03-22-2008, 06:32 PM
RE: HELP!!!!!
well...i was def. not aware of the waterpump issue. i tryied turning it on with the radiator cap off and the coolant stays put. it does not jump at all. i looked at the oil, but i did not see a problem. then again im new at this. im hoping its not a head gasket, but i had an 05 636 that had a bad water pump. that one leaked coolant everywhere.
