Hi guys, have a question for you all DS owners. Did you guys experience a white kinda foamy sludge in the oil res during the break in period? My dealer said that the white foamy stuff is the break-in oil when the oil temp gets real hot. The only other time I've seen something similiar is when you get water mixed in with the oil.

 

Remove the front shroud and check your coolant level in the radiator, if it is low and your coolant reservoir is at the right level, you may have the same problem that I had. My DS has been in the shop for seven weeks as a result of the same symptom. Is your DS hard to start when it is cold? Mine was. I am still working with Bombardier to get a determination/resolution to my problem.

My advice, take this VERY seriously. Make the dealer check your valve clearance, make them do a compression test, make them put a cooling system pressure tester on the radiator and crank the motor while watching the gauge. Good luck.

 

Sounds like a head gasket. The suggestion to check compression and coolant pressure was right on.

 

Hey KenDS, What problem are you having? Is it the same as mine? Did you have white foamy stuff in your res too? Who are you talking to @ Bombardier? Is your DS still under warranty? Did the dealer tell you it was the break in oil too?
What is a coolant pressure test? I've noticed that since I had the dealer do the first maintenace after break in period, there is less foamy sludge in the res. Now there is barely enough to see at the top of the dip stick. I do know the dealer went through the bike completely and checked everything. Now whether they did a compression test and a coolant pressure test is beyond me. I will infact ask them about it though. Sorry Ken for all the questions, but I do need to know these things. Thanks for your help.

 

If it's not broken in, it's still under warranty right? You should return it to the dealer to ask him to get pressure check coolant system & check torque on head before disassembly ,could have been improperly torqued during assembly at factory.This is what happened to my Ds,the dealer repaired it under warranty,at nocharge to me.

 

The milky oil is not related to engine break-in, it is a coolant/oil mixture. This needs to be checked out thoroughly. Most likely an incorrectly torqued head. If that is all and the head gasket is not blown, re-torquing the head and testing for a leak between the oil, coolant and/or combustion chamber, followed by a couple of oil flushes should solve the problem.

 

Scooby, thanks for the reply. I will definitley have to check into the head being torqued wrong. As for the test, how do you test for a leak between the coolant and the oil near the combustion chamber? Is that part of the pressure test? I have not ridden the bike much since last Friday when i picked it up from the dealer, but i do know that when I checked it on SUN after riding it for about 10min the oil res looked fine. There was a bit of that stuff at the top of the dipstick. Guess I'll have to ride it hard and see if it foams up again. Meanwhile I will follow up on the dealer to see what all they did. Thanks again.

 

newdsowner,

I had the same light foaming problem in my oil tank, but at the same time it developed a hard to start when cold symptom. The dealer has been unable to determine the cause, the head gasket looked fine, the combustion chamber had normal carbon deposits (no signs of coolant intrusion), there was trace amounts of coolant in the oil, and trace amounts of oil in the coolant, the valves cannot be set to spec even with the smallest shim available, and it is virtually impossible to start when cold. It should be noted that it ran awesome until one morning it wouldn’t start.

The dealer didn’t tell me it was break-in oil because I have 63 hours on it and three oil changes.

I am working with Denise at Bombardier Customer Service. They can be reached at 715-848-4957. My DS was 2 months out of warranty when it first entered the shop. Bombardier is involved because the dealer can’t determine what is going on with this quad, and so far Bombardier has been unable to determine what is going on.

A coolant pressure test involves a tester with a gauge that attaches to the radiator and allows them to pressurize the system and watch for leak down, it also can be used to check for external pressurizing thru the combustion/compression process (blown head gasket, cracked head, etc).

As I stated earlier, this is a serious situation, it is NOT break-in oil, or normal in any way. If you take it out and ride it hard, make sure you have a buddy along with a tow strap, you may need it.

 

I'll give everyone some good advice. All I know is that Honda of Tulsa in Tulsa Oklahoma doesnt know didly about DS650's. So I had them order me a $63.00 shop manual so I could do it myself! Them $5.00 mechanics dont know crap! If you want something done right and not done as fast as it can be done then my advice is do it yourself! I did. Talk about peace of mind when riding!! They may know alot about bikes that have been around awhile but the DS hasnt so they dont know anymore then us.

 

i think that the sludgy look your talky about is real tiny air bubbles in the oil.the oil is returned to the oil tank by vacuum which causes air to mix with the oil,making it look white or sludgy.at least thats what my dealer told me when i asked about the funny looking oil.i looked at it really close and i could tell that it was air,what a big relief.