4 stroke oil turned grey...bad???

[zongshen fury]

hello, i have just recently brought a new engine for my bike,(zongshen 250cc pushrod air cooled) i have just sorta gone thrugh the run in prosess and changed the oil ect but last oil change i noticed the oil was greyish colour, it was quiet noticably grey to...what does that mean??? im using castrol activ 4t oil 15W-50...

story behind getting the new 250cc pushrod motor is i brought a atomik fury($200) off a guy and the motor had no compression so i pulled it apart and found that the timing chain had streched and skipped some teeth and screwed it all up and bent the inlet valve...so instead of hunting down a new T chain and inlet valve i just decided to buy a new zongshen PUSHROD engine so i wont have the problem of the timing chain streching again(hense why going PUSHROD), aparently its a common problem to happen...so i really hope the greyish oil in my new motor doesent mean problems..

 

[Hillz]

do you have any pics of said oil?

was it like sparkly grey or washing machine grey?

 

[Hillz]

do you have any pics of said oil?

was it like sparkly grey or washing machine grey?

 

[zongshen fury]

no sorry i dont, i just dumped it... it was like washing mashine grey...slight milkyness i guess.....but definitly 100% gray
Just thought grey oil may have been some sort of common problem..but i have cahnged the oil since but only have ran the bike for like 2 mins since that oil change but ill go for a ride this arvo after work and see if it goes grey again and if it does i will take a pic....

 

[sean01]

sounds like water mixed in the oil..

have you swamped the bike before or is the engine case breather hanging lower than normal..?
have you ever stalled it in a big ass puddle?

 

[zongshen fury]

nope havent been thrugh any water at all... well the smallest puddle maby but nothing major at all... the breather is tucked away out of harm and water....water in the oil was what i thought but there is no way that it could have got in there..the engine is new...havent been thrugh any water YET...

 

[MiniFighter]

i know you mentioned Activ4T is that what you dumped out or was it the cheap shipping oil they used from new?

 

[zongshen fury]

nah i dropped the shitty oil that comes in it right out before doing anything... maby water might have got in there when i washed the bike...well i got new oil in there now and i havent washed the bike as yet so ill go for a ride later and see what happends...if it goes grey again then i know its not water..
great website this... alot of good help! thanx again

 

[Cactus Jack]

Fine aluminium particles in the oil can turn it grey ...

 

[josh95]

it also could be the factory standard oil when you first got it...or did you change the oil when you got it?

 

[Nuts 4 50s]

Ok when you first put oil in the color is a clear lubricant, after a while it turns brownish grey and after that its just get darker and darker. After a while it gets a very glossy black color you should never let it get to this color, because when it turns glossy all the lubricateing properties of the oil have gone.

And just remember if you leave your bike for long periods of time unstarted, the oil separates and all the bad bits settle at the bottom of the sump, meaning that the color on your dipstick will look ok but when it is bad at the bottom.

This is why you check your oil after a ride.

Now getting back to my point, you can buy different colors of oil, and different color oil will give a different color when the oil turns dirty. You probably just have a color of oil that when mixed with dirt and any other things that get into your oil, it makes your oil look grey.

If you oil is destinctively metallic and you can phisically see that there are flakes or bits of metal in your oil i would have to say that your motor is wearing. This means that there might be a block in one of the oil galleys, so oil cant get to a certain part of the engine;therefore causing it to wear.

You can check this buy using a torch and shining it on your oil, you will know right away if this is the case.

Hope this helps.

 

[zongshen fury]

went for another ride and the oil is ok, i think it was water(in the oil) coz i realised i had the breather pipe just above the rear wheel so when i washed the bike i would have got water down the pipe and also water in the exhust, now i have moved the breater pipe and plug the muffler when i wash the bike and it seems all good, but yeh i did drop the "transportation oil" out of the bike before i started it for the first time, i change the oil every time i go riding so the motor SHOULD live long and well...anyone know where to get brake pads F & B for the atomik fury in qld??
thanx heaps for all your help!!

 

[MiniFighter]

Glad you got it sorted mate.

Without seeing a pic of the pads, im not 100% but im almost certain eBay would have them though.

 

[zongshen fury]

yeh all sorted thanx again for all your help!
i have 2 bikes that i need pads for, The pads are ok for now but i would like to have a set on standby for when i need them coz i think they might be somewhat hard to find, i went to the chinese bike shop at briby island(qld) but they couldent help me, they took a photocopy of the pads and said they were putting an order in from china so they would see if they could get them but i highly doubt they will even try get my pads so i will have to try elsewhere but i will get a pic of all the pads i need and see if they ring any bells on where i could find them,The last chinese bike i had i ran out of pad on them and couldent find any replacment pads anywhere so i couldent use the bike, was a bit of a waste of a bike all just coz i couldent get the pads so thats why im looking around prior to needing them now so the same thing doesent happen again..
i sorta thought the atokik fury was a somewhat popular chinese bike so parts would be easy to sorce..but the other bike i have im not even really sure what bike it is so i would say there going to be a hassle to buy for...
sorry for the long story but i know there will be some help out there somewhere!...
thanx again guys

 

[sean01]

try these ppl mate. they have a full range of brake pads..

eBay Australia Store: Search results for engine performance parts.