Valve cover schmutz

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Hey Ghetto peeps,I was doing my initial valve adjustment today thanks to the most excellent Ropertech valve adjustment procedure. When I pulled the covers, this milky goo was on the inside. The 2016 GRiSO had 883 miles on it and I’ve owned it for just over 2 months. It had just over 200 miles on It when I bought it.
The good news is it cleaned up ok. Valves were tweaked as needed. Runs good as ever.
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Maybe I got the GRiSO with the built in cappuchino maker?

The dreaded mayo. Water condenses and mixes with the oil. You're not getting the engine hot enough.

Give it the berries!

Will do, I bought it used in December of last year. She’s been run hard and put away wet since then. Great bikes, these!

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I'd imagine the ambient temps in Portland are quite low in winter? Try blanking off the oil cooler intake until spring.

Pete

Thanks, For the tip on the oil cooler Pete!
Yes they say it gets cool and wet here. I think it could be residue from the previous (and local) owners not riding her enough. Cleaned it all up and did a fresh oil and filter change. I’ll pop the covers off in 6 months or so and see how more frequent and longer rides are working! Thanks again!

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Had the tank off today (well, somebody did it for me) to replace the perished oil breather hoses. Also replaced the black rubber condenser cap that protrudes from the box behind the steering head. The old cap was full of the same mayo in your pics. Really surprised me, as I never do short trips on the bike, although it can go for many weeks without being ridden, especially in winter.

Maybe the mayo is an effect of infrequent riding as much as not letting the engine get sufficiently hot?

No, it's an effect of the motor never getting hot enough. It's grotesquely overcooled.

Is it even possible to get the engine hot enough during winter with subzero temperatures? Aside from riding on the highway in permanent second gear, which I assume is worse than the mayo.

No.

The emulsion usually extends out from the cover, through the oil mist separator under headstock, down the carryover oil return pipe & then flows across the bottom of the oil pan.... ...doesn't seem to block anything despite emulsions are supposed to have higher viscosity than the oil itself, so maybe they sized it right !

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I have two sizes of plastic designed to partially shut off the amount of air going to the oil cooler when the temperatures are cold.  I have installed a thermometer in place of the dipstick and so can observe the oil temperature.

My goal is to get the temperature to 100-120°C before I  change out to the smaller plastic shield or remove it altogether.  Often it never gets that high, despite New Zealand's relatively mild winters.

Good tip!  Thanks Dave!

(Northern Wis) I have 1200 GRiSO and 1400 California both will display this milky water content when drained of oil "IF???"  If bikes engine is not warmed to where you can not hold your hand on cylinder it is to low in temp yet! Cylinders not Valve cover!  These air-cooled engines have abundant mass where bringing them to adequate operating temperatures takes a warm up time.  This is specially true when bike is left outside in cool temps??? Best way to monitor engine warm up is with a dip stick dial thermometer.

Thanks been looking for a source on the thermometer. Any tips for vendors? 2016 GRiSO here.

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MG Cycle Black thermometer dipstick $75.00 US  http://www.mgcycle.com

GRiSO Head wrote:

MG Cycle Black thermometer dipstick $75.00 US  http://www.mgcycle.com

I believe those are essentially the same as sold by Stein-Dinse for €59,50 (the picture is slightly different, but they both show the exact same 'instructions' document). However those MG Cycle/Stein-Dinse thermometers apparently don't fit 2015 and later GRiSO's. At least it says so in the description on MG Cycle. Perhaps they changed something oil-sump related for the later years?

Thanks for the info! Great group here!

2015 and on Grisos use the Cali 1400 sump which is shallower than the earlier sump and spacer arrangement hence the need for a different stick. Oil temp dipsticks are available in several lengths. Measure your original stick and then enquire of supplier's if there is a suitable one available. My guess is there will be, or just look for one to fit a Cali 1400.

Pete

With the oil dipstick thermometer what would be considered a tempreture to look for as ideal operating reading ?

Kiwi Dave says his target is 100-120 deg. C in post #11 above. When I get the thermometer (just ordered yesterday) , I’ll get a baseline reading without doing anything to my cooler, then step it up with a blocking device on the cooler (some corrugated cardboard?)- to stay warm in the Kiwi Dave range. If anyone else has some temp targets I’d welcome them.

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Stromgriso wrote:

Kiwi Dave says his target is 100-120 deg. C in post #11 above.

Purely speculative on my part. My thinking is the oil temperature should be high enough to boil off any oil contaminants.

I'd welcome any ideas for a different target, but higher might be hard to achieve in wintertime.

I was asking cos the engine temperature may not be what the oil dipstick is reading in the bottom of the sump.

Any clarification?

Nobleswood wrote:

I was asking cos the engine temperature may not be what the oil dipstick is reading in the bottom of the sump.

Probably not. I imagine the exhaust ports will be a lot hotter, for instance.

Since oil is used as a coolant in this motor, I reckon it's the cooler component.

That’s what I was thinking. Guzzidiag will give you an engine temp figure, but what the variation between it and the oil temperature reading on the oil sump dipstick is...