My dipstick came unscrewed and spewed oil all over my right side of the back of the bike while I was riding the interstate.  I'm wondering if there's any advice for cleaing the bike, particularly the rear brake which unsurprisingnly doesn't work much now, hopefully just for lack of friction.  But also the rear tire (begin with kerosene?).  I was thinking about using some of that Orange Blast cleaner/degreaser stuff, but I'd hate to ruin the brake assembly if it gets in there.  I don't know how sensitive that would be to having something like that drip inside.

I figure I'll have to wash the whole bike tomorrow with usual car wash soap, and then of course relube the chain, but I'd like to tackle the brake and maybe the tire tonight.  OTOH if you all think all my troubles will come out with the wash, so to speak, I can wait until tomorrow.

Less important, is there a good secret for cleaing oil off of synthetic riding pants, besides just following the instructions for general cleaning?

Or cleaning previously perfectly good Timberland leather boots, where one is now soaked in motor oil?

If you want the whole saga:

OK I'm the real dipstick.  I was getting ready for a 180-mile round trip, checking tire pressure and oil.  Since the GS was cold, I thought I'd check again when it was warmed up a bit, so I let it idle for a short while.  After it settled I checked again and it was a little down oil both times, so I put some in, screwed down the dipstick but not hard as I was planning to check again in a few minutes just for comparison.  I guess I eventually instead took off without tightening the dipstick.  So 40 miles later I ride up to meet my fellow rider, get off to exchange pleasantries and notice my right foot and calf are wet with something.  Then we both notice so is the rear right side of the bike, sprayed nicely with oil.  Too bad the wind was perfect to help it get back on the bike after it apparently came out the dipstick hole.  

So we wiped it off as well as we could, and checked the oil  which managed a drop at the bottom of the dipstick so I think I avoided any meltdown.  (Plus I never saw the oil pressure light come on.)  We bought some oil at the local gas station, and think I probably lost about 1/2-quart.   We got some paper towels and wiped the brake disc, plastic, frame, swingarm and tire, which has some oil on the right parts of the tread, and I was real careful about leaning right too far right away, but we did our ride without further mis-hap.

Good thing he was there to not panic (seen worse), which kept me from panicing too.  Except for the brake, a little on the tire and a rather greasy frame, all seems well enough.  But again, what to clean the brake with, or does it reall matter that much?

Thanks in advance,
Mike D.

I recommend Simple Green for cleaning the grease off. It's what I use to clean/degrease my engine. I've never sprayed it onto my paint, but it's never hurt my black frame, my wheels, shock, chain, etc. I use it full strength straight from the bottle, cause I'm too lazy to dilute it.

yup simple green works pretty well. I use kerosene on my wheels though

Cool.  Thanks.  I probably bought a gallon of Simple Green too.  The orange stuff did help get grease off the floor a time or two, but I bet the green is gentler than the orange.  I'll give it a try.  Thanks again.

--Mike D.

Quote from: se7enty7yup simple green works pretty well. I use kerosene on my wheels though

Again thanks for the vote for Simple Green.  By "wheels" do you include the tires?

--Mike D.

The thing that really gets to me about it is that I was wondering why my right boot was sliding off the footpeg, but at 75mph I didn't bother to look.  I just thought, man these are lousy boots for this.  Well, yeah, when the treads and pegs are covered in oil!

Sorry to keep replying to my own post.  But thanks for the help.

--Mike D.

man, i did that exact thing a few years ago, got in too much of a hurry, had to use my shirt to wipe the oil off the rotor and pads, and i truly appreciated the tool kit, like never before or since. and yeah, i have no advice, only moral support and so, so much understanding.

Hey that's appreciated too!  Thanks.  Misery does love company.  --Mike D.

Costco sells some stuff called Oil Eater.  It works awesome.

Time for new brake pads.  They are very inexpensive.  The only other fix woule be removing them to bake them or sand them... but if you are going to remove them... why spend time on a questionable fix when you can just put new pads on?

Don't forget to clean the rotor very thourohly with brake cleaner too, or you will have to do the job twice.  (I.E.:  oil left on rotor getting on new pads).

J

OK so how low on oil did you run it and how long and how fast ...
For the Misery loves company part ...
On may 9th 1998 ... on Interstate 5 Just south of Sacramento CA My 89 GS with oil pressure guage fitted to the engine ... blew a hole in the guage and sprayed my right foot with oil ... I managed to slide the last 20 feet to a stop ... cos my right side was burning hot. My wife who was further ahead of me in our truck kept looking for me to pass her ... cos I said I will after I filled gas ... and kept driving to our destination ... Our friends stop in Livermore ... By the time I realised that might be what she did ... I had gotten a cop interested in me ... had him call them and say where I am wiht bike trouble ... but The cop didn't exactly say to me he was going to call ... So I trek 2 miles back to a farm off the previous exit and beg them for the phone, call them and they say cop said that and my wife is comming back ... I say Great and walk to the bike ... My wife sees the bike but notices I am not there ... and assumes I somehow got a ride home ... and continues ... but she sees me waling back to the bike just as she passes the exit ... and tries to take it ... and rolls the truck ... So 15 days before I was to move to Canada ... we lose the only bike I have possibly and the truck ...
So You're fine ... I have done worse ... BTW I did once take off wihtout the dipstick in and suddenly noticed the extra noise ... and shut it off and found the oil funnel still in it ...
Cool.
Srinath.

Quote from: seshadri_srinathOK so how low on oil did you run it and how long and how fast ...
For the Misery loves company part ... .
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.
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So You're fine ... I have done worse ... BTW I did once take off wihtout the dipstick in and suddenly noticed the extra noise ... and shut it off and found the oil funnel still in it ...
Cool.
Srinath.

Thanks.  To answer your questions:

I was coming off a 40-mile trip along I-40 doing maybe 75 mph (a little over 80mph indicated), then I rode around the local lots briefly looking for the fellow I would be riding with, and when I met him we noticed my oily pants and bike.  I'm pretty sure I had screwed it in, but not tightly before I left.  In fact I had stopped along the highway a couple miles outside town because I thought I was getting some fuel starvation,  You'd think I would have noticed my foot then, but maybe not.  It accelerated great to get back into traffic.  I think maybe 10 miles or so before that point I started wondering why my boot was so slippery, but I figured I had the peg on the smooth part in the middle of the peg and that was causing it.  Lately I hadn't been using that pair to ride.  Anyways I hope that little sluggishness I had outside town wasn't an OIL starvation somewhere.

On how much:  There was a drop on the bottom of the dipstick when I checked it a couple times after I stopped.  The fellow with me said he figured I was about 1/2 quart low, but he was riding an old Sportster so I wasn't sure how much he'd know about a little sportbike.  We bought some oil at the gas station we were meeting at, and I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind because as I was pouring and talking I noticed that I'd poured more than 1/2-quart (probably 3/4-quart).  We checked and it seemed to be slightly over F, but I mean ever so slightly.  So either from either dipstick measurement (dipstick can also mean ME of course) it looks like I wasn't down a fatal amount.

On the extra noise, wouldn't you know it this was the first time in a very long time I was riding with earplugs.  I'm just glad I didn't hit some nasty bump that would have thrown my dipstick somewhere along I-40.

But you're right Srinath, I can't top your story.  I don't know if this will be welcome, but Thanks!

--Mike D.

Oh 3/4 quart is nothing ... bike will be fine ... I Lost over 2 quarts or almost 2 and lived to rell ... heck Its had more miles after that incident (24K + ) than before (22K) ...
Also you lost it from a non pressure fitting ... mine was from a pressure fitting ... but I lost it in under 2-3 miles.
Cool.
Srinath.

Yow  .  I used to screw my oil cap in firmly, but I always needed pliers to get it loose again (or: I could get it loose with my fingers, but would skin a knukcle when it finally let-go).  So I started tightening it only to be "just barely finger-tight".  I'm glad mine hasn't come loose; it sounds like I'm taking a chance.  Maybe I should just put-up with needing a pliers to get it loose?

For a partial follow-up:

I gave the bike a good wash, first with Simple Green, rags and toothbrushes on the oily bits, and then a general sponge and hose "car washing" for the whole shebang.  Where I could reach with my hand, Simple Green worked like a charm.  It's very overcast today and occasionally I get a drip from the air, and the streets are dirty and wet, so I rode up and down my block a few times at about 10mph to get the chain a little warm so I could put a little lube on it, but when it gets drier on the streets I'll do that properly.  The brake seems better but still weak, but I'll also do some hard braking at higher speeds when the streets are drier, to see if I can get it worked out.  Else I guess I'll be getting new pads.  But the bike looks good!  And the pants took it well, though I went ahead and sprayed them with the Simple Green and rinsed with water.  hopefully they will be OK after they dry.

Thahks,
Mike D.

PS:  Rema1000, I'll second that about difficulty finding the right hand torque to give the plug.  I wish I could remember how tight I made it before it came off.  I was experimenting, and I know sometimes it was tighter than others, but I know I didn't torque it much at all any of those times.  I wonder if a new O-ring washer or something is called for.

Among other items, I always have a rag and an 18mm combination wrench in my tankbag.  (I used to carry my largest wrench ... a 19mm ... but then I discovered that an 18mm works to pull the spark plugs.)

Whenever I want to check the oil I put the rag over the dipstick tab (so as not to scratch the paint) and then fit the wrench over the rag.  After a quick tweak with the wrench I can easily remove the dipstick by hand.  This method is especially nice when you're on the road and the dipstick is HOT to the touch.