Oil is coffee & cream colored :-(

[jpilk99]

As I continue to try and bring this '06 Apex GT back into good health, I drained the oil out of the oil tank as part of trying to find any oil leak(s) in the tank or hose. Seller said it had a leak somewhere --- may have simply been overflow from him putting new oil filter on. Don't know. But, after cleaning off tank and finding now cracks/leaks, I put it and it's hose back on the sled and filled it with oil; right around 3 1/3 quarts of new Mobil 1 0W-30. After running it a few minutes - and it ran GREAT. Checked the oil level and it was a tiny bit over the "F" so I grabbed my industrial sized turkey baster and sucked out about a 1/2 a quart ....and it was coffee 'n cream colored!!!!!! I know that means water in the oil.

I will say that I checked the coolant level before I fired it for the first time and then after the multiple times running it for maybe a total of 5 minutes, the coolant level appeared to be exactly the same.

I drained the oil from the drain plug under motor and will refill tomorrow and fire it up to see what happens. But any suggestions are gladly welcome as to what might be going on. Hoping I didn't buy a lemon. Only 5k miles. Again, starts great, idles great, rev's great....

 

[Confused]

Is it possible it was just aeriated oil? It has kind of a brownish color.

 

[jpilk99]

Is it possible it was just aeriated oil? It has kind of a brownish color.

Yes, absolutely a brownish color. Kinda like my 'light' coffee & cream in the morning.

 

[STAIN]

The oil might just be aeriated. let it sit for a bit and check again.

 

[jpilk99]

Thank you! That will be a relief is that is the 'answer'. As mentioned, I am completely draining the engine as we speak and will refill with brand new oil tomorrow and give it another try.

 

[maim]

they will also build moisture in the off season when they are not running up to temp for long periods. i always have water in the chain case oil when i do my annual service's and i know all the seals are good/it didn't go swimming. i usually run my sleds up to temp every month during the off season to help keep the moisture out.

 

[Yamajon1]

If the oil you drain looks this way again let it sit and settle in a glass container. If there’s water or coolant it will separate and you will have oil floating on the water. If it’s just aeration it will look like plain old oil again after it sits.

 

[jpilk99]

Thank you!!!! Heading out soon to keep at it.

 

[jonlafon1]

they will also build moisture in the off season when they are not running up to temp for long periods. i always have water in the chain case oil when i do my annual service's and i know all the seals are good/it didn't go swimming. i usually run my sleds up to temp every month during the off season to help keep the moisture out.

I like to keep sleds up off the concrete 1-2 feet (on stand). This seems to help with moisture also

 

[jpilk99]

You lucky guys with garages

 

[jpilk99]

Soooooo. Pulled drain plug last night and let it drain overnight. Stupid me, I figured the tank would empty as well. It did not, at all. So with my 3 new quarts of $12/qt Mobil 1 ready to pour in - I used my bigass syringe to suck out as much as I could from the tank. After I got as much as I could - I poured in the new oil. Mind you, I had just added 3+ quarts of new oil the day before and after running it 4-5 minutes, my oil looked like coffee 'n cream. After adding the new oil and running a similar amount of time ----- it's still coffee time at my house. Pulled the drain plug and let a bit out, total coffee. Pulling the dipstick and sampling that oil shows the same.

Now, I'm probably an idiot for not removing the tank and draining it 100% as well as shooting carb cleaner through it to make it spotless ...but can't imagine there was more than a 1/2 a cup of leftover "coffee" oil from yesterday when I put todays fresh batch of Mobil 1 in it.

I'm stumped. Coolant level is high and hasn't changed. Oil that is drained out, after sitting for hours, has not "settled" and turned back into oil looking oil.

I don't know if previous owner rolled sled, I'll try to find out. Thoughts on what I should do next? Drain again, remove tank and clean it top to bottom. Pull plugs and drain some sort of cleaner down through cylinders?

Any thoughts/suggestions greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Jay

 

[RobX-1]

You do realize their is an oil drain plug under the oil tank (next to the pickup screen elbow) AND an oil drain plug under the motor. You do need to drain both as the Apex engine uses a dry sump oil system.

Also, did I read your post correctly in that you spayed carb cleaner into the oil tank? If so, and that hasn't been flushed thoroughly, that might be contributing to your 'coffee' oil. Although they are somewhat open inside and should be able to be flushed, I'm not sure I would have done that as I've only drained the tank and periodically remove/clean the pickup screen and that's it.

 

[maim]

i know when i sunk my atv it took about 6 oil changes before i had it all flushed out and the last 3 i ran it up to full operating temp. it needs the heat cycles to get all the water out of the casting pores. see it all the time at work with differentials.

 

[Confused]

Post a pic of the oil. I still think it's just aeriated.

 

[jpilk99]

You do realize their is an oil drain plug under the oil tank (next to the pickup screen elbow) AND an oil drain plug under the motor. You do need to drain both as the Apex engine uses a dry sump oil system.

View attachment 164377

Also, did I read your post correctly in that you spayed carb cleaner into the oil tank? If so, and that hasn't been flushed thoroughly, that might be contributing to your 'coffee' oil. Although they are somewhat open inside and should be able to be flushed, I'm not sure I would have done that as I've only drained the tank and periodically remove/clean the pickup screen and that's it.

View attachment 164378

When I first went to the seller's house (about a week ago) to check it out the sled, the oil tank was in place - as was the hose going to base of block - and we were looking for potential "oil leak" locations. I recall the oil in the tank looking gray'ish - certainly not the coffee stuff I am seeing now. After a couple of days of haggling, I bought it, brought it home, drained oil tank (I don't remember if I actually sprayed carb cleaner in it - I do a bunch of small engine repair work on the side - so I probably didn't on this tank. Just cleaned it as best I could, put it back in, added new Mobil 1 0W-30, ran it a few minutes ....and saw coffee .

I will plan to buy some cheaper oil and just plan to fully flush it, fill it, run it til warm/hot'ish, drain it - repeat.