Oil in coolant reservoir

[akkadian]

Hi there. Just got a 1996 zx6 and noticed the coolant reservoir was low on green coolant. Went to top it up only to find it is actually full to the brim with something that looks and smells suspiciously like engine oil. What am I seeing here? Has someone topped up the wrong thing when adding engine oil or do I have a leaking gasket/blown head? No milky residue on the oil window so am at a loss. Help!

[FJRider]

Hi there. Just got a 1996 zx6 and noticed the coolant reservoir was low on green coolant. Went to top it up only to find it is actually full to the brim with something that looks and smells suspiciously like engine oil. What am I seeing here? Has someone topped up the wrong thing when adding engine oil or do I have a leaking gasket/blown head? No milky residue on the oil window so am at a loss. Help!

Can you pressurize the entire cooling system and monitor it for any drop in pressure .. ??

Oil does float ... until the entire contents of the cooling system is drained ... you might not get a true idea of the % of oil in the system.

Not all oil leaks in such cases end up with the same symptoms ... although ... ignore it and a similar end result could occur ...

[nzspokes]

Yup sounds like head gasket or a cracked head. Get a leak down test on it.

[akkadian]

Bugger was hoping the previous owner had just put oil in the wrong hole! No bits or skills to check it so back to the workshop on Monday

[AllanB]

Draining and flushing the coolant is a easy job and should be done every 3 years max. Maybe he/she was a knob and got it wrong - me I'd drain and flush the cool and to inspect it and drain the oil to inspect it as a starter. After doing that you know for sure you were dealing with clean fluids.

[sidecar bob]

Does it have an external water cooled oil cooler? If so, an internal split in that is the most likely cause.

[akkadian]

Draining and flushing the coolant is a easy job and should be done every 3 years max. Maybe he/she was a knob and got it wrong - me I'd drain and flush the cool and to inspect it and drain the oil to inspect it as a starter. After doing that you know for sure you were dealing with clean fluids.

Thanks for that. Drained oil and coolant in the weekend. Took about half a litre of oil out of the coolant reservoir which was floating on top. Looked brand new ie. not dirty at all. Cleaned reservoir out off the bike and refilled everything. Done about 250km since then with no recurrence so hoping it was someone putting oil in the wrong place. Will keep riding and monitoring but looks good so far :)

[AllanB]

Good stuff. Sounds like some noob got the wrong hole!