Topic: Another F%$&*(&**^ Oil thread

[faux fiddy]

Okay, so the bike involved  is literally a black bomber, daily rider. I run the 10-40 it called for just because it calls for it.

At about 8-9,000 miles It developed a leak in the head gasket that wept when running 100% of the time, typically left a drip or two anytime it made a three point landing and sat.  Tried tightening a head bolt, didn't get aggressive to pull motor mounts and get them all.  Still it leaked a bit just enough to be messy, add oil  every few hundred miles and it doesn't go without oil.  Knowing that ultimately the head would have to come off anyway , I thought I would try (risk)  an additive a friend told me about, but never got around to it.

I overfilled it a couple times, it blows it all over and drips everywhere, no surprise.

I found some 20-50 synthetic oil closeout, special for MC's at Atwoods.  I figured I'd pick it up and use it next time,  lost it, found it again , finally used it.  It could be coincidence instead of oil viscosity/quality/brand/juju, but since the change I noticed it quit dripping and  stays full. I do not see the brand available anymore, by the way.

I decided I would go ahead and pressure wash the mess from the last 2k or so, and now as it approaches 12k it hasn't started to leak again, and is remaining clean. It has been taken on several 50-80 mph (hour or more one way) trips since the wash, and shows no sign of leaking from where it did, or anywhere.

1) What the heck is going on?

2)What can I do to help  make sure  the leak does not come back?

I figure some of the rides it got a good hot throughout and maybe corrected some .00001 warp somewhere on the head that was causing it.

[Don R]

 I don't know, but lets not look that gift horse in the mouth. either it's what you thought or some sludge got stuck in the leak hole.

[RAFster122s]

What brand of 10w40? Havoline is a high detergent oil. Castrol is a paraffin based oil. Quaker State has high ash content and I think Pennzoil as well.  Valvoline is a petroleum oil and not high detergent.
Some synthetic oils are being packaged with seal conditioners and a stop leak like  product that works on seals but not bearings.
Castrol will require regular oil changes or it will build up sludge in the motor.  Generally a good oil if your good about maintenance, but bad if you are not.


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[Duke McDukiedook]

I thought Pennzoil was the wax oil, not Castrol.
Am I wrong?

[faux fiddy]

What brand of 10w40? Havoline is a high detergent oil. Castrol is a paraffin based oil. Quaker State has high ash content and I think Pennzoil as well.  Valvoline is a petroleum oil and not high detergent.
Some synthetic oils are being packaged with seal conditioners and a stop leak like  product that works on seals but not bearings.
Castrol will require regular oil changes or it will build up sludge in the motor.  Generally a good oil if your good about maintenance, but bad if you are not.


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The last 10-40 I used was penzoil but I have no brand loyalty. I have used some cheap oil marketed under the "peak" brand that does coolant.

I don't know, but lets not look that gift horse in the mouth. either it's what you thought or some sludge got stuck in the leak hole.

+1 on the gift horse. I have another motor, piston kit and gaskets just waiting for the time and  effort already.

The oil in it now, the synthetic is staying remarkably clean, so I assume the motor is fairly clean, too. Maybe a chip of sludge fell of the oil slinger (filter as it were).

I have been putting off other maintainence issues because of the leak- tires and fork seals, etc. I would call  the bike  "rat rod" other than black primer (parts came that way) it is 99% stock. Now I am thinking I will put on nicer stock tank and  tins I have had in storage, rust free fork ears and fenders. It could be a really nice looking bike soon, with little effort, and  no $ outlay.

[RAFster122s]

Oil is either a napatha or paraffin base stock. The paraffin is not necessarily waxy oil, as the wax is valuable and they dewax the oil to gather that wax to sell. The base stock they use is refined to give the grade of stock they need. The paraffin base stock oils are premium oils. Pennzoil uses a paraffin based oil as does Castrol but they have had a higher ash content the last I had researched it. The Castrol GTX is the motor oil I'm referring to.... in the 80s and 90s it was one of the best oils you could buy and could outperform many of the synthetics. If you do regular maintenance it will be good, but an oil will coke and build up deposits if neglected. My wife and I separated and we used Castrol. She neglected her Volvo that I had bought her to use and drive and to protect her and the kids when they were growing up. She complained about it but it rarely left her stranded and if it did it normally was because I didn't drive it enough to discover the problems she wasn't telling me about. She would not tell me about issues until they were getting critical. Doing stupid things when it had an issue. With some basic maintenance and regular oil changes and some care they were overengineered and ran well and were dependable. After we separated it was less than two years before she had neglected it to the point of it having issues and becoming unreliable. It had not helped that our daughter had wrecked it and did front end damage I only partially fixed.
Treat a car or bike like crap and it will crap on you eventually.

David

[faux fiddy]

IK wouldn't really say I've been treating the bike like crap, but I have been putting some  miles on it. It has been running well, too.

With the head gasket issue the only other option was pull the top end off, and I figure that I could run it by just adding oil and keeping a close watch until it became a winter project.

[RAFster122s]

Sorry,  wasn't directing that at anyone.  Just sometimes people can be stupid and not take care of what they have and spend money on entertainment but complain they don't have the money for 5 qt jug of oil for their car and a filter already in the garage or spend another $7 or less on a decent filter.  They would have to give up time to do the job or take it to Wal-Mart to have it done.  Too many excuses why they can't when the put it lower on their priority. They make poor choices causing them to have expensive problems when a bit of self discipline and denial of that pleasure could prevent a more expensive negative outcome. 
Track to the penny how you spend your money and then look at it critically at the end of the month where your spending time and money.  It will surprise many. It is a good exercise to do because you can waste a lot of money easy on things that have little benefit or you don't realize how much you're spending on coffee or something else.

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[faux fiddy]

I hear that, pinching pennies actually meant getting some synthetic oil because I think I got it for $2 a quart.  Not even sure what the brand is now, but I think there is still a half quart around in the bottle somewhere.

As a matter of fact, I have run it for the last few months on hi-beam because the lower burned out. I have an extra, just pushing my luck that I'm not 50 miles from home at dark when the hi-beam finally goes. Lazy and cheap.

And one good thing leads to another, I have figured rat bike is fine with me for a daily rider, and like all these old bikes I get people come up and ask about it even though it looks every bit of 41 years of wear and tear and PO's. 

I have had  pairs of rust free fork ears,  and fenders, and a 9 of 10 quality clean  Polynesian blue tank like the one I the bike came with.  I'm just one Poly blue side cover short of a complete set of tins.

When I was still running the leaky tank it came with people would say "Wow that's beautiful" as soon as they saw it.  Now that it wont have a constant mist of oil I might put those back on.

[RAFster122s]

I'm fond of that blue and the blue they used on the 82 C70 Passports as well as the ice/electric blue BMW Mini first used on their cars when they came out.

Yellow bikes with plenty of chrome look good too if the shade of yellow is right. The orange-yellow that GMC used on some of their trucks is nice too. Not a fan of red bikes unless they are bright red or apple red. Most black bikes do nothing for me... I really like the sunrise orange flake on the 550s.
Even the freedom green 550 is cool in its nonconformist vibe.

David

[faux fiddy]

I love the particular shade of blue, I heard it was called Polynesian blue metallic, but other people call this one  Polynesian blue.

[faux fiddy]

Here's another name for it.  I'll go with that.

http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Honda_CL450

The CL450K6 Scrambler 450 was sold in 1974 and came in just one color: Candy Sapphire Blue Flake. The gas tank stripes were white and black. The "450 DOHC" side cover emblem was white and red. The gas tank shape went back to the shape of the K1 to K4 models. The seat surface was pleated. Behind the seat was a chrome grip pipe. The instruments were tilted toward the rider. The exhaust system had a 3-piece head shield and a 2-piece black muffler. The engine was a 444cc 4-stroke DOHC parallel twin with two CV carburetors. The transmission was a 5-speed. The serial number began CL450-6000011.