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Need some mechanical advice...

2K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  acelintaylor 
#1 ·
hey guys, im new to the forum and im looking for some mechanical advice. I just picked up my first cruiser, a 97 vulcan 1500 classic. I am fairly new to bikes and tight on cash, so i am looking to wrench on my own bike. I was doing an oil change and coolant change and both of them came out a milky grey color. from everything I have read so far, my head gasket needs to be replaced. before i pull the engine i wanted to see if anybody had any new insight into what the problem might be. also, if i end up pulling the engine, is there any tips or tricks i can get from somebody who has taken this project on? and is there any other preventative maintenance i should do while the engine is out? really any info that might help would be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
I wish you luck on this. How many miles have you got on the bike? How many on the bike itself? Cam chain tentioner extenders are a common update to take up slack in the cam chains. Before you tear it down, might try running it a little to see if the milkyness comes back, you may get lucky and its just condensation in the oil from setting alot, but dont count on it.
 
#8 ·
Ok, I drained oil and coolant (both looked identical milky gray). Put in new oil, and started to put in new coolant. Took over a gallon and a half and the radiator isn't full yet. From what I have read, this should only need about a half gallon to fill from empty. I assume if I drain my oil again it will be full of coolant. Im sure this means I either have a cracked head, or best case, a bad head gasket.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Possible, but that would require both crankcase and pump seal to be bad and weep hole plugged. Could be a catastrophic failure on water pump shaft, though.

Plus the gallon and a half to fill???

Sounds like the engine is filling up with coolant somehow.

Antifreeze wipes out plain bearings in pretty short order.
 
#13 ·
Ok, so here is the update if anybody is interested. Turns out the compression release mechanism on the rear cam shaft exploded and broke a big hole in the head. it was allowing coolant to travel directly through the top end and into the case. I rebuilt the top end and am in the process of putting the bike back together. Hopefully ill have time to finish it next week and everything runs well.
 
#15 ·
I'm having similar issue on my vulcan 800 25k miles. After a year riding I realized that the bike was bone dry of coolant (last summer before this point I also noticed that the P.O. sealed up the weeping hole which at the time I had no idea what it was). So I added some coolant and cleared the weeping hole and the next night all the coolant drained from that hole. After that I drained the oil from the drain plug and now I have a mixture of the two (not milky, coolant in the bottom of the tub and oil floating on top). Pulled off the right side clutch cover and found this... praying nothing serious but I did notice the mechanical seal is pretty worn out haven't got any further into the engine.


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