Oil sight glass cloudy?

[stratblue]

Hi All.

Just been to check the oil level and I can't see anything through the glass. I've added about 300ml and had the bike on its sidestand on sloping ground so it's tipped well over. The bike had its oil changed not very long ago so either the level has plummeted or the sight glass is cloudy. When looking at it with a bright torch, the glass looks brown with a sort of cream background visible through it, is this how it should look?

Thanks.

 

[Slipperyeel]

Did you just put the oil in and then lean it over? Not that'll show much as it won't be able to fully run into the dump, especially if it's all cold, which sounds about right if it's looking a bit murky. I'd get it ridden, up to temp, then check it. Unless there's a puddle on the floor, you can be sure there's enough oil in the - assuming you've put the right amount of oil in at the oil change, at least more than half the bottle

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[Tractors are go]

Hi All.

Just been to check the oil level and I can't see anything through the glass. I've added about 300ml and had the bike on its sidestand on sloping ground so it's tipped well over. The bike had its oil changed not very long ago so either the level has plummeted or the sight glass is cloudy. When looking at it with a bright torch, the glass looks brown with a sort of cream background visible through it, is this how it should look?

Thanks.

But did you use the CORRECT oil ?

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[g.s.john]

STOP IT.

 

[stratblue]

But did you use the CORRECT oil ?

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Mate, I don't give a shit about oil, don't even know if it was oil, now you mention it. I just chucked it in and spanked the bitch to the red line.

 

[stratblue]

Did you just put the oil in and then lean it over? Not that'll show much as it won't be able to fully run into the dump, especially if it's all cold, which sounds about right if it's looking a bit murky. I'd get it ridden, up to temp, then check it. Unless there's a puddle on the floor, you can be sure there's enough oil in the - assuming you've put the right amount of oil in at the oil change, at least more than half the bottle

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I checked it when hot on the centre stand, checked it cold leaning well over to the left, added some and checked again, the sight glass looked identical at all times. I didn't do the last service so I have to assume the guy put the right amount in....Do these sight glasses mist over or anything?

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

Hi All.

Just been to check the oil level and I can't see anything through the glass. I've added about 300ml and had the bike on its sidestand on sloping ground so it's tipped well over. The bike had its oil changed not very long ago so either the level has plummeted or the sight glass is cloudy. When looking at it with a bright torch, the glass looks brown with a sort of cream background visible through it, is this how it should look?

Thanks.

Why don't you just put the bike on its main stand ?

Did you check the oil when the engine is hot after a run ?

 

[Tractors are go]

Mate, I don't give a shit about oil, don't even know if it was oil, now you mention it. I just chucked it in and spanked the bitch to the red line.

Excellent, I can think of some who will burn you as a heretic.

Get bike warm, put on centre stand, switch off, check level after 5 minutes.

Giving it a good thrashing should get any gung evaporated away.

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[Two wheels good]

Maybe it's overfilled and you're looking at a glass full of fresh oil.
Lean the bike to the right and check for the level appearing.

 

[Slipperyeel]

I checked it when hot on the centre stand, checked it cold leaning well over to the left, added some and checked again, the sight glass looked identical at all times. I didn't do the last service so I have to assume the guy put the right amount in....Do these sight glasses mist over or anything?

Ok. Clearer . Yes, those windows can become a bit obscured, but to be honest it would suggest some oil change(s) were left and long overdue. Maybe I'm wrong. But I don't think it will 'self clean'. You'd have to get it out, which I suspect means replacement. I haven't looked closely at how the sight glass is fixed in on the 1200 - even though I own one! But in the 1150 it's only replacement as you have to destroy the existing to get it out. Saying that, it's a 5min job.

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[adventuredon]

cloudiness is caused by condensation / water in oil. A good run should clear it. Otherwise change the oil..

 

[fink]

Take the bike out for a decent run. That way any condensation in the crankcases will be burnt off. Usual causes of misting, short journeys.

 

[stratblue]

Maybe it's overfilled and you're looking at a glass full of fresh oil.
Lean the bike to the right and check for the level appearing.

Yes, next on the list but it's just me here at the moment. Will recruit SWMBO.

 

[Slipperyeel]

Maybe it's overfilled and you're looking at a glass full of fresh oil.
Lean the bike to the right and check for the level appearing.

That's a good suggestion actually.

I was also thinking, when the warm up was done, was it done just at a standstill or did you go out and get it to temp? The latter is really the only way. But you definitely need to get it to normal temp otherwise the oil cooler valve stays shut and you lose a bit of oil from the sight glass as it's up there waiting to go through the cooler rad.



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[Santa-2512]

Run the bike till hot,

Park and remove the oil filler cap, the sight glass will clear due to the condensation burning off .

Howver at next run it will go misty again

As the other have said. change the oil

 

[botus]

BM seem to recco castrol these days and use a 10 50 !!! on the air cooled GS that's harder to get hold off.... its a dark red and far harder to see in the sight glass

the 10 50 is great it doesn't vanish like a 0 40, 5 40 or 10 40 on long motorway runs, its all I use in the air cooled k25 I have. When changing with the filter I always get 4 litres in the bike. Pretty sure the manual says 3.5 then it doesn't come up the sight glass, 4 litres is brimmed at the very top

as we should be on air cooled bikes in this part of the forum.... we don't need to go on about head gaskets failure and coolant in the oil..... but we can sure (especially at this time of year) talk about water in the oil... which will mist up the sight glass / level window. Never start any internal combustion engine unless you get the engine oil to 80 c or above for 20 minutes.... so start stop crap on cars is clearly to sell more vehicles / engines and not save the planet (turn it off) and continuous short duration (under 3 mile) rides will fill the oil with unburnt fuel from cold start enrichment, various corrosive compounds and lots of water from condensation

TPMS gets you an oil level warning on the IC (dash), you can also enable with a clever tool, oil temp, oil level reading and tyre temp, as others option to toggle round

 

[NicD]

Have had what may be the same issue in the past - white / pink gunk inside oil filler cap and sight glass obscured so that I could make out some oil at edges with bike on sidestand, but not what I see when sump empty or when oil topped up.

Solution as per others is to run the bike up to operating temp, park up and take filler cap off. In past I have had to clean inside of cap a couple of times and let moisture burn off after riding.

May not be this, but might be worth a go. I have not changed the oil specifically for this issue, as once corrected oil is normal colour and sight glass clear. A symptom of winter running around London I think.

 

[Slipperyeel]

TPMS gets you an oil level warning on the IC (dash), you can also enable with a clever tool, oil temp, oil level reading and tyre temp, as others option to toggle round

Can you give more detail on this. Do you mean TC dash? Just wondered what this 'clever tool' is.

Cheers

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[Steptoe]

Look at the oil sight glass while you start the engine.

You should see the oil drop in the sight glass.

That'll let you know if the sight glass has gone opaque or not.

 

[botus]

Can you give more detail on this. Do you mean TC dash? Just wondered what this 'clever tool' is.

Cheers

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instrument cluster = IC in most tech's world. BMW like to call it the "kombi"

clever tool is motoscan app using a decent BT adaptor and the full version to code stuff

Not all ELM adaptors are suitable to programme you need ones that communicate fully, their recco one does

"OBD-2 Protocols: ISO9141-2, KWP2000 slow init, KWP2000 fast init, CAN 11bit/250kB, CAN 11bit/500kB, CAN 29bit/250kB, CAN 29bit/500kB BMW Protocol: KWP2000, KWP2000*, D-CAN und UDS."

as it supports the sending of long messages over the CAN bus via K-Line, it completely copyies the segmentation of the CAN messages during transmission, so that you do not have any problems with timings when coding long messages or other special functions it needs to send. By default ELM327 and compatible adapters can only send 8 bytes. UniCarScan, on the other hand, has a full length of 255 bytes

BMW dealer tools allegedly can't enable those "preset options" in the cluster.....