Color of oil

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 3:22 pm

What color is the oil going to be when you change it. What does it mean if it is brown.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 3:27 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:What color is the oil going to be when you change it. What does it mean if it is brown.

your oil should be, depending on how long its been between changes should be clear to light dark black, to dark black. brown would suggest, (to me anyway) that there is rust inside the motor, or worse case, water in the engine, but if that were the latter, the color would be sort of a grayish color. you might want to ask wingadmin about this. it might be nothing, or it could be the beginnings of an engine problem.

stuart.

f1xrupr · Post by **f1xrupr** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:23 pm

I had a chevy 350 dump about 2 quarts of coolant in its oil within about 60 miles after me checking it (intake gasket), and it was kinda brown. It was due for a change, so it was dirty, and that may have been the reason for the odd color, because, often, coolant in oil turns oil kinda "milky" so it's said. If there is coolant in the oil, there may be other signs such as-milky on under side of oil cap-milky in bottom crevice of breather box (air box)-milky or water in collection canister down by center stand-loss of coolant (even slight coolant loss). You may closely moniter new oil for dislocation. If bike has been exposed to drastic temperature changes, or used forsshort trips, and/or seldom brought up to operating temperature (ie thurmostat removed and run in cold weather) and prolonged oil change intervals, it might build up enough moisture to do that. I think coolant level is key, remove spark plugs and look for stains in cylinder (don't panic if you see some), compression test,...by then you should know....Head gasket is culprit.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:33 pm

f1xrupr wrote:I had a chevy 350 dump about 2 quarts of coolant in its oil within about 60 miles after me checking it (intake gasket), and it was kinda brown. It was due for a change, so it was dirty, and that may have been the reason for the odd color, because, often, coolant in oil turns oil kinda "milky" so it's said. If there is coolant in the oil, there may be other signs such as-milky on under side of oil cap-milky in bottom crevice of breather box (air box)-milky or water in collection canister down by center stand-loss of coolant (even slight coolant loss). You may closely moniter new oil for dislocation. If bike has been exposed to drastic temperature changes, or used forsshort trips, and/or seldom brought up to operating temperature (ie thurmostat removed and run in cold weather) and prolonged oil change intervals, it might build up enough moisture to do that. I think coolant level is key, remove spark plugs and look for stains in cylinder (don't panic if you see some), compression test,...by then you should know....Head gasket is culprit.

hey f1x, he is a new user and not yet familiar on how to reply to posts. I've been sending him pvt messages on how to reply to his or any other postings, IE: "post reply" or the quote mark ". like me with my first time in here, it will take him a few tries to get used to it lol.

stuart.

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:39 pm

Thanks for that info. The bike does not run hot. And the brown color I am talking about is nowhere near a milky color. I am very familiar with cars and trucks just a newbie when it comes to motorcycles.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:41 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:Thanks for that info. The bike does not run hot. And the brown color I am talking about is nowhere near a milky color. I am very familiar with cars and trucks just a newbie when it comes to motorcycles.

there ya go, see? I knew you would get the hang of it. don't feel bad, I was a "newbie" once too and this is my first g/w.

stuart.

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:44 pm

It will take a minute to get it but I will get it thanks for the pointer I needed it Lol

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:45 pm

not to worry, you'll get the hang of it. its pretty easy and welcome to the wonderful world of Goldwings.

stuart.

YouTube · Post by **WingAdmin** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:54 pm

Next we'll just need to get you to take a picture of your brown oil and post it.

To me, brown oil is not a good color. If the oil is reasonably fresh, it should be gold or honey colored. As it ages and absorbs more and more carbon from piston blow-by, it turns solid black.

Brown indicates a foreign substance, and the most common one is coolant.

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:57 pm

It is not using any coolant that is what has me lost. How do I post a picture. I am new to computers. I am on my phone

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:59 pm

Would adding new oil on top of old oil make it brown.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:04 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:Would adding new oil on top of old oil make it brown.

It might depending on how dirty the old oil is. I wouldn't recommend it, but I've done it before and yes, it will turn the new oil a little darker depending on how dark the old oil is. if the old oil is black, and depending on how much fresh oil you put in it, you wont see the fresh color of the new oil.

stuart.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:05 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:It is not using any coolant that is what has me lost. How do I post a picture. I am new to computers. I am on my phone

I can tell you how to post pics from your computer, but sorry, not from your phone. I cant post them from my phone either lol. right now im gonna take a break, its time to feed my 2 cats and myself.

stuart.

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:09 pm

Well I think you have answered my question. I put two quarts on top of what was in it , because I cold not see any in the little window. So now I will change the oil and filter and go from there. Thank you so much this forum is the best on these goldwings. Great place for info

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:33 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:Well I think you have answered my question. I put two quarts on top of what was in it , because I cold not see any in the little window. So now I will change the oil and filter and go from there. Thank you so much this forum is the best on these goldwings. Great place for info

wow, 2 qt's? that engine was very low on oil. be careful not to over fill the motor, it will smoke up like crazy and it wont do any good for the valve seals. the GL1100 takes 3.5 qts of oil to fill including the oil filter.

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 6:40 pm

No it was actually full and I did not know it. It was apparently so black you could not see it. So that's why I added the two quarts. But I will find out Monday what's going on for sure.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 6:58 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:No it was actually full and I did not know it. It was apparently so black you could not see it. So that's why I added the two quarts. But I will find out Monday what's going on for sure.

well, now you have 5.5 qts of oil in it. don't try to start it with 2 extra qts of oil in it. you'll have to drain all of it including what's in the filter before you even think about firing it up. drain it all and add 3.5 qts total with the fresh oil and a fresh filter. listen, don't feel bad about it.

last time I went to change my oil, I wasn't thinking right and I drained the oil from where the filter goes, put a new filter in and refilled it with 3.5 qts and forgot to open the oil drain plug to drain the oil out of the engine. when I started the bike up

, it looked like I set off a smoke bomb in my garage. there was so much smoke I couldn't see my hand in front of my face

. I had to redrain all that fresh oil and filter and go out and buy more oil and another new filter. it took about a an hour of letting the bike sit there and run before all that excess oil ran out of the motor.

stuart.

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:03 pm

Yeah I started it up got lucky and it did not smoke just smelled funny. But I am going to drain it all out with new stuff.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:06 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:Yeah I started it up got lucky and it did not smoke just smelled funny. But I am going to drain it all out with new stuff.

smelled funny? what kind of a smell, not an anti-freeze smell I hope.

stuart.

Newgoldrider2015 · Post by **Newgoldrider2015** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:10 pm

It's hard to explain more like new gasket smell when it gets hot. When I drained some of the oil out today I stuck my finger in it and it did not smell like any antifreeze.

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 7:52 pm

Newgoldrider2015 wrote:It's hard to explain more like new gasket smell when it gets hot. When I drained some of the oil out today I stuck my finger in it and it did not smell like any antifreeze.

well, that's a good thing. that's an od smell, but I know that smell on a car or trucks motor. could the PO have done some engine work to it and your smelling the new gaskets heating themselves up?

stuart.

spiralout · Post by **spiralout** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 8:39 pm

Doesn't brown come between honey colored fresh oil and dirty black oil? Could just be normal...

roadwanderer2 · Post by **roadwanderer2** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 8:48 pm

spiralout wrote:Doesn't brown come between honey colored fresh oil and dirty black oil? Could just be normal...

honey colored oil is fresh and clean, brown would be a little dirty, black is definitely dirty. could be normal depending on when it was changed last and how many miles ago it was changed.

stuart.

4wred · Post by **4wred** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:45 am

roadwanderer2 wrote:
Newgoldrider2015 wrote:It is not using any coolant that is what has me lost. How do I post a picture. I am new to computers. I am on my phone
I can tell you how to post pics from your computer, but sorry, not from your phone. I cant post them from my phone either lol. right now im gonna take a break, its time to feed my 2 cats and myself.

stuart.

If you know how to do this,email the pictures on your phone to yourself.Then open the mail on your computer then save them on your computer(to your desktop or anywhere you normally do).Then you have access to them,that's how I do it!!

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