Is this normal?
 

The expansion tank was filled above the high level mark. I started to reduce the level the liquid in looks like this:
http://www.xt660.com/<a href=&quot;<a hre...pg&quot;/></a> http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...1/IMG_1129.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...1/IMG_1130.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...1/IMG_1131.jpg

The liquid isn't oil, doesn't smell like coolant but has a viscous texture.

Any idea's?


http://www.xt660.com/<a href=http://...1/IMG_1129.jpg http://www.xt660.com/<a href=&quot;<a hre...pg&quot;/></a>

Have you checked your oil level?

That doesn't look normal to me. Looks like a cooling fluid/olie/flues mixture. Maybe a little leak in the head gasket ??

That's what I thought Dutch

If it was oil wouldn't it just emulsify with the coolant?


I forgot to mention.......the bike is new with 500 miles on the clock!

It certainly looks like oil. The only two places oil and coolant could realistically get mixed up are at the head gasket and at the water pump.

What's the oil level like? Has it gone down by the same amount as the coolant has gone up? What does the oil colour/texture look like?

Is there anything leaking out of the drain hole on the underside of the water pump housing - either oil, water or both?

However...

So I'd take it straight back to the dealer and let them work it out! ;)

Just checked the oil level and its at the full mark on the dipstick, looks & feels like 500 mile oil - still clear (brown) and no bits in it.

The bike has had a slight weep of coolant from the top of the rad since I collected the bike. The (leaking) rad fluid is the typical bright green colour. However the level in the expansion tank was slightly above the high level (and not green coolant but the brown stuff)

I have phoned the dealer twice now about the leaking coolant too be told that this is normal if the expansion tank is full ( should be mid way between the full & low).

I questioned the dealer that if the coolant leak was because the tank was too full then surely the rad system drain would vent under the bike, not down the front of the rad!
I suspect there is a small leak from a rad seam. so, rather than take it in for it's first service and the dealer lower the coolant level and palm me off, I decided to reduce the level myself. Then if it still drips (it does) I know there's a problem.
However, that's when I found the weired liquid in the expansion tank.

Which ever way you look at it, it ain't right and needs to go back. Period.

I second that, with 500 miles on the clock and being brand new something is VERY VERY wrong....

That shouldn't happen to any bike at any point in its life EVER.

Take it back to the dealer, park it in the shop, give him the keys and ask for the manager.

When the manager arrives hand him the tube of GUNK and ask him if he has any YTS scheme people on at the moment and walk out.

I would suspect that you either have some pipes mixed up somehow (very unlikely) or someone has put something somewhere they shouldn't have done....

Curious...

Perhaps someone has put some radweld or similar in the expansion tank in an attempt to fix the weep from the radiator.

Whatever, take it back and insist on an xt660 as a service bike while they replace the rad under warranty and flush and replace the coolant. While you have the service bike try and do thousands of miles on it.

Good luck with this. It's a right ball ache when a new bike goes wrong and you are dealing with a bull****ting dealer.


Sent from my iPhone with a smile :)

Well, finally after 3 weeks of telling me that it's normal and keep on riding the bike, the dealer has finally responded telling me that they want to collect the bike by van. So reading between the lines I'm guessing the message from them is that the bike shouldn't be ridden.
Out of the country at the moment so an update in 2 weeks.

Which dealer is it going to? Bill Smiths?

Wigan Yamaha

Hey Foggy,

What happened, any answers yet to what caused this ????

Got the bike back yesterday but not managed to ride it today as it's p*ssed down all day.

The Mechanic checked it over, changed the rad cap, gave it a 1st service, changed the oil & filter (no water in the oil), flushed, cleaned & re-filled the rad & waterways. Nothing found and a bit mistified!

The Manager said he thinks someone topped the coolant bottle up with oil....whilst giving me a suspicious look.

I friend of mine who's a Mechanic thinks it's the start of a blown head gasket that's just started weeping, hence the bit's in the coolant tank.

So, I need to get out on a decent ride to see if they have magically cured the problem, or if it's the start of head gasket gasket failure. If it is a head gasket, it would have to have been a faulty fitting at the factory as I have been running it in like a saint!

Problem is, I'm a fair weather rider, with winter coming, I may be left wondering until next spring.

good god man the first frost is more than a month and a half away - get out there ! :)

I stand to be corrected here, but isn't the oil feed to the overhead gear external? if so, it's hard to see how oil would get into the coolant via the head gasket. More likely, imo, that coolant would leak into the oil if there was a problem in that area. Which, in your case, it hasn't done.

Just my 5 pennys worth:
a. If a head gasket goes or even starts to go, the engine still runs but there is soooooo much steam from the exhaust you can hardly see through your mirrors.
b. The oil becomes white and creamy, and when you remove the dipstick you can see this straight away.
I have no idea what caused the muck in your radiator water but I dont think it is too serious.

Bloody hell mate , take it back and demand ANOTHER BIKE !!! it's not like you payed tupence for it.
I'd be kicking off big time !!!

I have to agree with you on this one.....

Brand new bike should equal no issues whatsoever.

Did you keep a sample of the gunk?

I would go straight to Yamaha Customer services and bypass the dealer altogether and tell them what is going on.

There is a simple test (in fact a few simple tests) that can prove if a head gasket is going or gone, all of which the dealer should have performed...

Don't leave it 'til next spring as they won't entertain you at all as there will be too much water or oil under the bridge lol...

strike now....

I've seen this before on several bikes and i was the cause.

A long time ago i did my work experience at a bike dealer in the workshop. My job was to go around and fill the new bikes up with oil. So i did this.

but nobody told me...i was 15...that bikes have places for opil and places for water/coolant.

I filled the coolant bottles of ten bikes with engine oil.

What you are seeing looks 100% to me like somebody at predelivery filled it with the wrong stuff.

When did you get it? Was it in the spring when the school kids do work experience?

The stuff you are getting out is not oil with water in it but coolant with a little bit of oil in it.

Mike

Great one Mike, we all have to learn......
So please lets hear the outcome!!!

Went for a decent ride today & the new Rad cap seems to have stopped the leak.
Coolant in the coolant bottle still looks normal, so looks like all is well with the world:bounce016:

The dealer seems to agree with Mike101, somebody topped the coolant bottle up with oil.

Only thing I didn't understand from the Mechanics job sheet was the note "CO value re-set to 6.0 was 2.5

Was Mike's younger brother working in that dealership by chance??????? Hehehehe

Just re-read my old post and thought I would finish the tale....

To pick up the tale at the end of September 2013....
Another weekend ride and I find that the Rad cap replaced by the dealer didn't fix the leak and following a 60 mile ride, I found coolant running down the front of the Rad and down the side of the bike and a puddle under the bike in the garage.

So we move into October and the bike is again collected by Wigan Yamaha. A week or so later it's dropped back off after finally having had a new rad fitted!

I managed one ride in early November and the new radiator seems to have fixed the leak.

As way of an apology, the dealer knocked 10% of the price of some Yamaha handguards........

One ride in 2014, completely fed up with Yamaha and disillusioned with the bike. And I'm Still wondering about the mystery oil in the coolant that was never solved.

So, the bikes now been traded in.
XT bit's are currently listed on ebay (gromitt2000) and I'm going to see if BMW's Customer Service is any better than Yamaha.

Cheers Guy's, ride safe.

Gary

Check the coolant:icon_confused: in the rad,see what colour that is.