Oil Frothing

[kulbiker]

Okay so I changed the oil in the ol Kat in February end after moving to my new place. Its been about 1000 miles since and yesterday I was riding some inner roads and at a slow turn when I used my clutch to gear down at a turn and the bike slowed down the engine quit on me and the red oil light came on. I dont ride often just occasionally on weekends and a couple weekdays. This happened twice. I rode back home because a nice storm was brewing and had a look at my oil window and saw that the oil was frothing a lot and it was way above the Full mark on center stand. Now I remember distinctly not overfilling the thing and so far I have never had a problem in the last 1000 miles.

My question: Is the frothing bad? Will it cause the engine to quit? I am thinking of changing the oil again.......I know its just 1000 miles...but is it okay? any suggestions.

[trinc]

frothing is bad - it usually means water intrusion. on an air cooled bike that would point to condensation.

change the oil & look how it's being stored. If you start the bike make sure the motor gets hot enough to burn off the condensation. after your done riding don't put a cover over it until it cool.

tim

[The CyberPoet]

Tim had one of the primary causes correct... Frothing is also highly dependent on the type of oil formulation used.
I don't know what kind of oil you were using, but I am ready to bet that it wasn't JASO-MA rated, which has a very tight specifications on formulation to prevent frothing under all conditions (part of the standard is a frothing test, and is significantly tighter than the API's standard).

I'll ditto his advice:
Change the oil, use good motorcycle-specific oil that's rated both API SF/SG rated AND JASO-MA. When you fire up the bike in storage, let it heat up quite a bit before shutting down -- at least enough that any water in the oil can boil off.
Finally: drain your airbox tube. If there was a lot of water in the oil, it probably recondensed in your airbox.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[the wind]

don't you guys check your oil level without a stand?and can't low oil make it floth but sounds like that was not the problem,just curios.

[The CyberPoet]

don't you guys check your oil level without a stand?and can't low oil make it floth but sounds like that was not the problem,just curios.

(A) I check mine on the centerstand.
(B) Low oil levels will not normally make it froth. Frothing is normally a side-effect of an oil behind whipped (think whipped cream) combined with a formulation that permits the froth to remain (rather than immediately breaking down), or the presence of water/steam in the oil (think cappacino milk froth) combined with a formulation that permits the froth to remain (rather than immediately breaking down). It's the second one you tend to notice in the oil window if you see it...

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[BobKat2002]

Full

Over filling causes whipping of the oil too.

It's a simple and cheap fix.

[kulbiker]

Thanks for the info guys....I am guess I might have overfilled.....dang....I am sure I calculated 4 quarts but i always buy one extra just in case and i think I put that in too.........I will change the oil and filter just to be sure this weekend.

[WildKat]

You put 5 quarts in? OUCH!!

[skasner]

I dont think you could even fit 5 quarts in there... if i remember right 4qts is even too much.

[AkBigN]

It will fit, trust me.
Just remember to not fill the bike when it leaning (such as on the kick stand). I made that mistake with my first oil change.

[The CyberPoet]

I dont think you could even fit 5 quarts in there... if i remember right 4qts is even too much.

You can easily get 5 quarts in there with a filter change... it will bring the oil past the full mark, but it will readily fit in there... For that matter, you can get 7 or 8 in there without any leaking -- but you'll feel the difference as the crank tries to go sloshing through it each rotation.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet