Close shave with burning oil!

Dear friends and colleagues!

It's been far too long since my last posting here, for which I apologise......

And typically, I am now writing again to seek advice from the collective wisdom of this site

Today I checked my oil whilst away from home. As it seemed quite low, I topped up my trusty steed before heading homeward on the motorway. I very soon noticed some white smoke in my mirrors which I assumed was coming from the exhaust, but as the bike was purring along nicely, I thought I would wait until I got home (just 15 minutes ride away), before checking out this strange emission. However, this was not to be, as just seconds later a car driver started honking me and called out that I was spraying out oil!! I immediately pulled over onto the hard shoulder (English for emergency lane?). The reason for this disaster was immediately obvious. I had failed to screw in my dip stick (English for manual oil gauge?). Thankfully the stick itself was still hanging out of the oil sump recess, and I was able to screw it back in, but the state of the rear end of my bike was disgusting!! Everything was covered in hot smoky oil, including me rear tire and brake pads. I think I was very lucky not to have skidded, as I was doing about 90km/h when I realized what was happening.........

I continued at a much slower speed to the nearest petrol (gas) station and tried to wipe off as much of the oil as I could using water and paper towels, before making it safely home.

But what do I do next?? My plan is to buy some more oil tomorrow and top it up, as I assume I must have lost most of it on the motorway, but will it otherwise be safe to ride? Will the oil on the brake pads just work it's own way off ...................Help!

Thanks in advance for any advise you guys might be able to offer!

SteVe

Steve, I'd say a good degreaser applied liberally and rinsed off should take of most of the oil on your bike. Give it time to work before a good rinse and drying.
Jay.

Don't post during a lightning storm, this is what happens !!!!

[EDIT: Multiple duplicate posts deleted. Jeez Jay, maybe your Send finger had a spasm attack   ]

change the pads ! Degrease everywhere, bit of luck you might not have lost that much, I've had two oil filters corrode through and spray oil on back tyre, stopping on wet road with an oil soaked tyre great fun! Engine still runs ok so lots of oil looks worse than it is

Steve
Been there,seen that. As stated a good degreaser will remove the majority of the oil and washing up liquid soapy water will remove it from the rear tyre but remember it can be in the tread pattern so a toothbrush type clean won't go amiss. Keep degreaser away from tyre bead edge it can effect the seal giving the effect of a slow puncture.
Unfortunately you can "wash" the brake discs but once its on the pads it does make them less effective to useless depending how contaminated they got (but as the brakes are linked they are still usable but breaking distances will increase)
If it rains be extra careful until all by s washed/worn away particularly when cornering.
If the "oiling" is bad this is one  of those occasions a jet wash won't hurt.

PS

Haven't visited Vienna for a number of years great city

Hello Steve

Nice to hear from you after such a long absence. Sorry to hear about your crisis and glad to hear that it wasn't much worse. +1 on the advise above.

Tim

I too am grateful you weren't hurt during this! Could have been much worse. I too agree with the advice above, clean and degrease everything but the pads REPLACE them. Cheap insurance; ask me how I know this... LOL

Thanks for all your advice again guys!

Well, this morning I checked the oil level and there wasn't a drop on my dip stick! So, I took the long walk to my nearest auto shop and bought a liter of oil (just hoping this would be enough! And at €20 a liter for the best stuff, I really hoped it would be!). I also bought a can of brake cleaner spray for just €5, and walked back to my bike........ Well, the oil was just enough, with about 0.8 of a liter taking it up to the max level on my stick/gauge. So far so good...... I then took a rag and proceeded to spray and rub down the brake disc and calipers, as well as cleaning up all the other effected metal parts with the same spray. I also used soapy water to get every drop of oil off the rear tire. It was a messy job and I didn't have much time to complete it, as I had several teaching jobs to get to in town that day! Result? Well, the brakes are perhaps a little under par in their efficiency but I tried out a few emergency stops on route to my jobs, and I feel safe enough for now. There is still a little smoking going on from around the exhaust where I couldn't clean off the oil completely, but I figure that this should burn off in the next few days

I'll keep a careful watch on the braking performance into next week, and get the pads changed if I don't feel safe (at least €100 for the job here in Vienna!), but overall I think I've been pretty lucky after what could have been a very painful and expensive experience! And all as a result of simply forgetting to screw in my dip stick! Possibly a profound lesson (hopefully learned), that I won't forget in a hurry:- Always remember to fully screw in your dip stick

If you get away without replacing the brake pads I'd say luck is with you just by cleaning them while on the scoot. If you could find some perchlorethlene aka dry cleaning fluid I'd soak them a few hours then dry them in a hot location. The more the oil works to the pad surface them more likely they are to glaze.

Is it possible to change or clean the brake pads without having to change or bleed the brake fluid system?? I am useless at anything beyond using a screwdriver or topping up the oil!

Yes you can replace the brake pads without bleeding the system.
Take a thin screw driver and insert it between the pad and rotor and with a slight pressure on the piston to give a little clearance to remove the caliper. Once off you can push the piston in to make room for the new brake pads. Be careful not push to much fluid back into the reservoir.you may have to remove some to prevent the fluid from getting on to painted surfaces. Howard

It's not at all difficult. No brake bleeding required either. Here is a link to and old post from "Honda Silver" detailing the procedure along with a list of the tools required. https://www.silverwing600.com/t862-rear-wheel-brake-pad-replacement-instructions Good luck.

Tim