Low Oil Resulted In Horrible Engine Noise

[TheEmpt]

Hi Guys,

I have a Kawasaki ER6-n (2006)

Newbie to bikes as you can probably guess. I was always good at checking my oil levels between rides, although checking the window by yourself isn't easy and possibly not as accurate as I thought.

My oil light came on yesterday afternoon, I was about 3 minutes ride from home, so (stupidly?) I chanced it. After maybe 2 minutes, the engine got louder and noticeably more rattly/clunky. I also had about 40% of my usual power. So I pulled over immediately and killed the engine.

I topped her up with oil, but the level didn't seem to go up. After a while it seemed to be creeping over the lower level indicator in the window. So I started her up, she sounded like normal. I rode the remaining 1 minute gently home, but just as I got to my drive, the problem returned.

After googling, it's fair to say I may have messed up badly, and I'm worried. Answers varied from just needing an oil change, to pistons, valves and cylinder wall.

Any advice on what to do next would be extremely helpful,

Thanks in advance for reading the essay!

Ben

[Stu]

Hi ben and welcome to the forum

going by what you have described and done it sounds like you have screwed the engine!

although if you check the oil regularly then it sounds as though you had an immediate problem which caused the bike to burn oil or lose it somewhere

[TheEmpt]

Thanks Stu,

Properly screwed? So should I bite the bullet and take her to a mechanic? Do you think anything can be done?

[Stu]

without getting it looked at it will be hard to say what damage has been done

did you notice any smoke out the exhaust? was there a rumbling sound from low down in the engine?

[TheEmpt]

No I didn't notice any smoke. My friend followed me home after dropping off the oil, and they didn't notice any. The sound seemed to be quite high in the engine, which after googling, seems to be worse?

[mattycoops43]

You need to get someone who knows what they are doing to have a proper look. Its all guess work otherwise.

However, unless you were screwing the engine at the time, they can run for a short time with low engine pressure before major damage occurs.

If you're not in the know, the sound you are hearing could be something minor or it could be major, it's possible you're hearing a noise which is nothing drastic, but are paranoid about it because of what happened.

Check for oil leaks first, is it losing it in a big way?

[TheEmpt]

So just take it to a mechanic? I know a few friends who are car mechanics, but they don't really work with bikes...

Well I'm not really sure what the going rate is for using up oil. It had an oil change in December (I bought it in February). I topped it up towards the end of march. Then there the oil light came on yesterday. Does this sound like its got a leak by the amount its used?

It's garaged every night so I'd notice a patch of oil. But could it be leaking in another way?

[Guest]

As Stu says mate.. if your oil levels are dropping that quickly, you clearly have an another issue too, causing it to burn out, By the sounds of it, at a pretty fast rate too..

could be a number of things, if your not dripping oil...

head gasket, valve stem oil seals, piston rings / oil scraper ring, etc..

Hard to guess and tell you exactly what damage has been caused to your engine..

best case scenario for repairs... id say Valves from lack of oil...

worst case scenario.... destroyed your big end bearings... which will require pull engine strip, crank case splitting etc..

If you topped up your oil in march, 2 months ago, and the oil has come on due to low level..

your clearly burning it... thats assuming there is no actual leak..

good luck with it all fella..

[TheEmpt]

Thanks guys,

Any ideas on cost of just getting a mechanic to fault find?

[eastanglianbiker]

I would say there is a very good chance of being cam and cam bearing damage as well as crankshaft and bearing damage result if this is the case would be 2nd hand engine

[TheEmpt]

Hells bells. A friend just told me it would probably be a new engine now too. £££ D:

[Joeman]

i suspect the light that came on was oil pressure light not the oil level so you rode it for a couple of mins with no oil being pumped around.

I also suspect the damage is terminal... RIP.

[TheEmpt]

Thanks for all your help guys!

I guess I'll get her into a mechanic

[Bonniebird]

I've always been told not to rely on the oil light on a bike as you could probably get away with in a car as it is oil pressure not oil level.

Basically if your oil light comes on then its possible the damage is already done - sorry

[Ricky]

Most likely shagged, not even worth the labour trying to find what's wrong when you can pick an engine up for 550 quid with only 5700 miles

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1724871659

[TheEmpt]

Wow that's great, thanks Ricky!

[mattycoops43]

Many bikes don't have an oil pressure light, only an oil level warning light. I found this out when I changed the oil pump on my fazer and found it still flickered the light on after 'sustained acceleration' (Severn bridge drag strip, I mean tolls). It was burning a bit of oil over time and then when it got a bit low (still over minimum) it would swirl in the sump and show as low level,

Lots of bike engines burn a bit of oil through use, and have small sumps so show as low quite quickly.

Get it assessed by someone to find out. You could still be being paranoid because the light came on. A preliminary check would be free or very cheap. (it would be if you came to our garage anyway)

[Stu]

its a pressure light on the er6 and not a level light!

theres not many bikes that have the level sensor the majority have the pressure sensor

yamaha tend to use the level sensor method