Issues during the first maintenance - Audace (California 1400)

[Beket]

After removing head cover to check valves, I saw these:





It's only in the right cylinder, looks like oil/water emulsion???
The oil on dipstick is perfect. The old oil after change is nice and clean, no evidence of any emulsion.

Any Ideas ??

[bad Chad]

Me thinks your not running it long enough to get hot enough to burn off normal moister build up that comes from short hops.

I had it happen on a 99 Guzzi when I was only going about 4 miles one way to work.

[LowRyter]

I like to warm up my bikes and redline them a time or two whenever I ride.  Get some rpms and heat in them.  That's just me.

[moto-uno]

   If it's still cool to cold where you live and ride this time of the year , that's pretty normal . When working on bikes
in Ottawa ( mostly HD's ) during the late fall ( or early spring), it was common to see this goop over 1/2" thick in the rockers . The
early Evos were notorious for leaking rockers and had to be removed for an updated gasket or cover and this is
what I regularly saw .  Peter

[oldbike54]

 Pete believes the 1400's are over cooled .

 Dusty

[Beket]

Forgot to mention, I don't have short rides, so the engine is well warmed.

2moto-uno
I'm from Ontario. (last snow was only last week)))

[ampm7]

One thing I have noticed with Guzzi's is that you have to ride them long enough especially if it is cold to burn out any condensation. I had a customized VII and I used to ride it to work often. It was about 10 miles one way. That is not enough to burn out the condensation especially during the winter here in SoCal on the route that I took as it was in a valley and when it was wet and cold that valley was 10-15 degrees colder than my home temp. One night I was coming back and the oil pressure light went on. I still rode it home with no oil pressure. I took off the sump and lo and behold the oil was like jelly! On further inspection (if memory serves me) the oil pressure relief valve was corroded and would not open/close. I looked up in the motor and everything looked perfect (thanks Amsoil) except the jelly. I cleaned it out, refurbished the valve, checked everything and put it back together. Worked perfect. Also another observation which may be redundant, is they don't like to be lugged and need to bring them up to near redline every time you go riding. I particularly like on-ramps for this purpose.       

[usedtobefast]

We missed an opportunity to mess with the new guy and say it was a water pump leak!   

Not so sure about the "take to redline" advice ... on my my V7 and Griso, surprisingly, I have never taken either to redline and both have pristine clean inside valve covers. 

I do have several stop lights on most of my rides and my shortest ride would be like 1 hour.  Wouldn't that really warm a bike up?  Not moving, motor running, no air over cylinder fins. 

Try touching the valve covers (no gloves) at various of points, they are surprisingly cool.  I guess we could get scientific about this and figure out what temp needs to be to be goop free, use one of those temp reading guns.

[moto-uno]

  Interesting you should mention that , I used to run an oil temp guage on my Le Mans 2 , fitted into the
sump drain plug . Frequently read over 200 degrees , which pretty much kept goop at bay . Am considering
looking for a dipstick with thermometer . That would tell us .  Peter

[Moparnut72]

The valve covers on the Audace are under a decorative cover. No way to touch or measure temperature with a temp gun.
kk

[beetle]

The 8V is massively overcooled. The 1200 was bad. The 1400 is worse. I know from experience. You may not want to go to the lengths I did (added a thermostat), but I would suggest making a removable cover for the oil cooler that you could use during cooler ambient temperatures. Possibly even adding a switch to the fan, so you turn the fan on and off as required.

[LowRyter]

Just rev the crap out of it.  Run it on the highway in 3rd or 4th.  It certainly wont hurt nonthin'.  Tape some cardboard on the oil cooler?  I like to rev the piss out of them and run up and down the gearbox.  But that's just me.

Guzzis don't like to be lugged.

[Tom]

+1 on not running w/low rpm's.

[Beket]

The 8V is massively overcooled. The 1200 was bad. The 1400 is worse. I know from experience. You may not want to go to the lengths I did (added a thermostat), but I would suggest making a removable cover for the oil cooler that you could use during cooler ambient temperatures. Possibly even adding a switch to the fan, so you turn the fan on and off as required.

it's good idea, but
Do we have any oil temperature sensor.. somewhere in Audace?
Should be to start fan and shows overheat..

[Beket]

We missed an opportunity to mess with the new guy and say it was a water pump leak!   

WTF, is it really water pump leak??!?!?!

 
p.s. come on, it wouldn't work, I have engineering degree

[Beket]

+1 on not running w/low rpm's.

I love to ride with 3,5 - 4.0k rpm

[LowRyter]

+1 on not running w/low rpm's.

   

[beetle]

it's good idea, but
Do we have any oil temperature sensor.. somewhere in Audace?
Should be to start fan and shows overheat..

Yeah, there's a thermal switch in the sump. The sump oil temperature is always going to be greater than the valve covers. Maybe a cover, or a partial cover on the cooler would do the job. You'll only need it in cooler weather.

[mtwillyman]

I have 2 Guzzis, Norge 2V and 2003 Stone. My Stone does the same mayo thing all the time. I live in a cold/wet climate in NW Washington. I can ride 100 miles with the Stone in weather under 65 degrees and it will still form mayo in the valve covers. No other motorcycles I've ever owned did this. The Norge runs waaaayyyy hotter and never does the mayo thing, YMMV. I pull the valve covers a few times a year and clean them.