Oil Analysis

[katflap]

No I've not come across that before

As far as I know the EFI electronics and wiring are not linked to the indicator circuits.
I will have a closer look to see if it could be anything else other than water ingress.

[Lee R]

Katflap,

I'd been thinking it may be tempurature related as well. I've been riding this bike in mostly 35-60 degree (F) weather and 2 bars on the temp guage, that would make sense that the fuel isn't evaporating well from the oil in cooler temps.

Joes blog post helps, I'm glad they posted that. I'll post the results of the latest sample and then another from hot weather use and see if a difference exists, if so the simple answer may just be to cycle the oil more if your riding in colder temperatures or block a radiator like you've done.

[madsocial]

Did you guys get this much stuff on your drain plug? It was really thick stuff. The paper filter had very little stuff in it. Also, I smelled a bit of fuel, I want to say I noticed it when I pulled the paper filter and the strainer out. I took a sample and mailed it out today to Blackston. The oil change was at about 202 miles. The oil looked like it was starting to get dark. Not quite black, but about 75% there.

[rjmorel]

My first few oil changes had white gasket sealer rtv stuff in the filters. More then the grung stuck on the magnetic drain plug. I did have some dark stuff caught by the magnet but nothing that really stood out to cause me alarm, rj

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by madsocial

Did you guys get this much stuff on your drain plug? It was really thick stuff. The paper filter had very little stuff in it. Also, I smelled a bit of fuel, I want to say I noticed it when I pulled the paper filter and the strainer out. I took a sample and mailed it out today to Blackston. The oil change was at about 202 miles. The oil looked like it was starting to get dark. Not quite black, but about 75% there.

Don't worry; that black gunk on the end of the magnetic drain plug is normal. The grey RTV is also normal for the first few oil changes.

[pyoungbl]

OK, got my second analysis back from Blackstone. 6.8% fuel in the oil. Total miles 1358, miles on this sample 673. Viscosity is crap. All other indicators are getting better as the engine breaks in. I'm contacting CSC in the AM.

[jbfla]

Originally Posted by pyoungbl

OK, got my second analysis back from Blackstone. 6.8% fuel in the oil. Total miles 1358, miles on this sample 673. Viscosity is crap. All other indicators are getting better as the engine breaks in. I'm contacting CSC in the AM.

Hi P,

Did the note along with the report mention the percent of fuel in the oil?

My latest oil analysis had 3.8 % fuel in the oil at 3,500 miles, with 1,100 miles on the oil.

The first analysis, at 2,400 miles had only 1% fuel in the oil.

The comments section of the report noted concern for this amount of fuel.

I also had continued high amounts of aluminum in the oil.

jb

[pyoungbl]

In July-August timeframe I installed a hotter thermostat in order to get the oil hot enough to burn off water and fuel. Recently I finally put some miles on the bike and sent another oil sample to Blackstone. This time the results are much more promising....0.5% fuel in the oil. The previous sample had 6.8% fuel! The thermostat was the only change. I only had 400 miles on this sample vice 673 miles on the previous one. Now I'm ready to go 1K miles before changing oil. FWIW, lead and copper are still a bit high. That tells me these engines are still breaking-in at 1800 miles.

[fjmartin]

That's really great. Can you provide any details on the thermostat that you put in?

[jbfla]

Originally Posted by pyoungbl

In July-August timeframe I installed a hotter thermostat in order to get the oil hot enough to burn off water and fuel. Recently I finally put some miles on the bike and sent another oil sample to Blackstone. This time the results are much more promising....0.5% fuel in the oil. The previous sample had 6.8% fuel! The thermostat was the only change. I only had 400 miles on this sample vice 673 miles on the previous one. Now I'm ready to go 1K miles before changing oil. FWIW, lead and copper are still a bit high. That tells me these engines are still breaking-in at 1800 miles.

Great news on your oil analysis report, Peter.

Another few hundred miles before my next oil analysis.

Then will return the OSC configuration to stock, and install the 90C thermostat.

jb

[pyoungbl]

Originally Posted by fjmartin

That's really great. Can you provide any details on the thermostat that you put in?

I got a 90C thermostat from Wattman (Look at Thermobob web site). The thermostat housing in our RX3 is such that only a pretty small thermostat will fit. In fact, you need to machine out a bit of metal to make this fit. As I recall, the OEM thermostat is only 70C so the engine is grossly over cooled and the oil never gets up to 212F to burn off water or fuel vapor. This does not seem to be a problem with most owners. Maybe I'm just anal enough to have an oil analysis...and see what I think is a problem. Obviously these engines operate all over the world with no issues so the 90C thermostat is probably overkill. At any rate, I'm a happy camper.

[fjmartin]

That's excellent to know though and I'll watch mine when it comes in and maybe do that as needed. Since I live in the Great NorthWet it's very possible I'll need it. Yeah, the S is missing on purpose :-)