Ducati Monster Forum

The other day I saw this stuff through the glass. It was during a cold and wet ride, but when I got home it was gone. Other than that the oil looks fine - only about 2,000 miles since last change. If some humidity had found its way into the engine that could react with the oil to form some white gel-like stuff, right? I can't see any leakage so I guess if no oil out = no humidity in - true?
Bike is a S2R800 '07. About 4,000 miles on it.

I used to see that stuff in the cold months here in new england. Once you get it up to temp again for a while, it'll cook off. I assumed it was water/humidity reacting with the engine oil too. If you can avoid letting it sit like that for months, that'll probably be good. Otherwise, I didn't get too worried about it.

Moisture condensing on the cool sightglass.  Perfectly normal.

Right there, another good nights sleep for a noob rider
Thanks [thumbsup]

I had the same problem over the winter months. I was told it's perfectly normal on cool, moist days. You could also unscrew the oil fill plug after a ride to let the moisture escape. Just make sure to screw it back on after a couple of hours.

YA noticed tha same thing .... When I did mt last oil change in March i used full synthetic V300 Motul;  I noticed the same thing on the sightglass; condensation;  I speculate this of from a number of things; keep in mind I'm in Vancouver BC Can so its always humid and cool in the colder months Oct to March-April (august theres actually a drought).

temperature difference - condencing
residual moisture building up in the oil from humid air combustion ...?
Water in the gas your getting from the gas station ....?

I was quite concerned about this at the time; what i found worked to get rid of this moisture was after a long ride when the bike was hot, to take off the oil plug for 2 minutes; you can actually see the moisture steaming off if your in a cold garage and wala! after doing this 3 times no more moisture ... I also noticed the same witeish film on the inside bottom of the oil plug and wiped that out with paper towel.   PS it is not recomended to preform this procedure outside during precipitation events ... ;)
 

it is a message from your bike saying "ride me more, ride me harder!"

condensate in oil is normal, just ride it longer to boil it off.

but you can't avoid it esp in a humid or wet environment. 

your intake sucks in ambient moisture just like it sucks in air and when the engine cools, it simply forms a puddle on top of your oil in the sump.

starting the engine churns the puddle into the oil, forming froth (white/yellow)..  run the engine until it is boiled off..  rinse repeat.

it is the circle of life for an engine.

+1.  Lots of us have seen this, nothing major, don't worry.

Scott

My bike does this all the time, unless the engine is able to get up to normal running temp...

There were many threads on TOB regarding this issue and they all ended the same way: Don't worry about it!!!   ;)  It's just normal condensation that usually gets burned off as you ride.....If not, no biggie

-One thing that's NOT good to do is repeatedly start your engine when it's cold out, and not let the oil + the rest of the engine properly warm up....That sorta goes without saying though...

I forgot to put it back on once... I started noticing something hot on my leg and saw oil splatters all over the place. Luckily the plug didn't fall from the place I had put it and I was able to pull over and replace it.

Don't know if I should admit this BUT ... I did exactally tha same thing ... i was in a hurry, I had the plug sitting on top of the crank case .... started her up backed out of the garage, then vrooom, as I rounded the first corner was destracted by an older squid on a motorised skateboard that went buzzing through a traffic calming barrier, cut me off (I woulda hit him, but breaked hard) went buzzing by in fornt of me on the first corner on my block, at this point I'm kinda pissed as i goosed the throttal, accellerated by him and the parked cars covering everthing with tiney spots of  synthetic oil ... as i turned the 2nd corner, making a right, I noticed this witish vapour as I looked left ... whats that?  Didn't figure it out untill 1/2 way down the 2nd block when I noticed something warm on my leg ... looked for the plug; couldn't find it; AND the closest Duciat dealer didn't have a plug in stock and wasn't accomidating enough to take one off a bike!!! ... was 1/2 hour late for my appointment ... haste makes waste, sillyest bike mistake yet.

I'll just have to find my next worry [roll]
Thanks for the support - I'm learning all the time - I hope to be able to contribute more as I accumulate knowledge.

in the meantime you can just paypal us each $10 (or better, €10   :( )