Or, I am an idiot...
Ok, so this morning, I f%&ked it up big time. My daily commute is about 55 miles these days. As usually on Monday, I checked and topped up engine oil before setting off. Then my phone rang - I answered, spoke a few minutes to a mate, hung up the phone, started the bike and was on my way. Got to work (27 miles, most of it motorway, so high speed), put the side stand down, stepped down and felt quite slippery on the right. WTF, I thought, so I look on the right - and see my entire right side (the bike and myself) is covered with engine oil. Turns out, when I topped up the oil, the phone rang BEFORE I put the dip-stick/cover back in - so I rode the entire 27 miles with the engine open and the oil must have been spraying all over the place.
Ok, I'm going home by train today - and back to work tomorrow as well. I'll bring the dipstick with me, which must still be lying on the utility shelf on my back porch. I'll get new oil to put it into the bike. This leaves me with two concerns.
1) What kind of long term damage could I cause and how likely is it?
2) How the hell do I get all this oil from the bike? Especially considering that the bike is now in my office underground car park.
Any help is appreciated,
Did your red oil pressure light come on during riding that you remember?.... If not then might be ok...
A little bit of oil spray goes a friggin long way!!!
They got any type of hose at your work? .. Cleaners room or something? ... Just take a cheapy pressure pak degreaser can with you... And AFTER the oil and dipstick is back in !! (See how I'm helping here?! ) ... Drench the bike in degreaser .. Wait a min or two.. Then hose off ... Or even couple buckets of water sploshed on.... Just a simple clean till you get home eh :thumb:
Thanks!
The engine pressure light didn't come on once - I would have noticed and started worrying earlier :) So, hopefully, I'll be ok. I love the bike despite everything that it threw at me - and I would hate to see it die completely.
I'm not sure about getting any water there though... so I might have to just wipe it as much as possible with paper towels or something - and ride home tomorrow, where I do have a hose and such. My bike trousers and boots are now covered in oil anyway, so won't be too much more damage.
By the way, any suggestion on cleaning the trousers? I presume the boots can be done with the same way as the bike itself: degreaser and water hose?
Ahh ok... Stingy garage regs eh! ... Not even a gerni type car wash nearby? ... Pity ... So long as no real oil on the tyres or brakes ... Slippy and or smoky!!
Oh and just add your oil little bit at a time... If its not on the dipstick when you measure BEFORE adding oil ... You don't really know how much you lost eh!
Yeah, thanks. Good point: I really have no idea how much I lost. I'll leave the bike on centre stand for the night so that the remaining oil levels nicely. Then add a bit at a time.
Plug the hole with something clean till then, like a paper towel or something... Not that it is very likely, but you don't want anything to get into that case while you are away.
- Bboy