[Bill B]

Hmmmm... 05 F4 with only 3700 miles. Running great. I decided to check the oil level and I saw this. What is that? Looks like cotton. I think I see an oil level at the bottom of the window. The bike was warmed up. but not run long. Obviously, this bike sits a lot. I start it and run it for a short while every few weeks. I haven't ridden it long enough to get the oil hot enough to boil off any condensation over the last couple of years. Obviously, I will do an oil change!

 

[Bill B]

I was taking it to "operating temperature" but it probably was not long enough to heat the oil enough to boil off the water over the last 2 years. I am getting ready to ride the bike more. I'm not surprised to see what should be water, but that window looked very strange to me. It will be interesting to see what drains out. Thanks.

 

[Bill B]

It didn't look like oil and water sludge. It was WHITE rather than creamy brown. If it was sludge I would be more alarmed. We'll see what drains out tomorrow.

 

[Bill B]

Definitely needs to be ridden a lot more. I have 5 bikes and at 75 years old (me, not bikes), the MV is a bit challenging. I'm so crouched over that my helmet blocks part of my forward view. Almost as bad as my Triumph Daytona 675. That one makes my neck hurt. I believe the previous 2 owners had the F4 sitting in their living rooms.

The Allen-type sump drain plug seems to be 10 mm, but my 10 mm Allen feels a bit loose. It's not 12 mm. It wouldn't be 11 mm? No.

 

[Bill B]

Ah, thanks. I was about to try a 7/16 SAE. 😏

 

[Bill B]

Drained oil looks very good. Dark brown and semi-transparent, not thin and black and no water. A tiny but visible amount of fine metal shavings and black sludge on the magnet.

 

[Bill B]

The window still looks cloudy although not as dense. You can see droplets in the middle and the apparent oil level at the bottom isn't the oil level. I don't know what the oil level was now. I never got any oil pressure warnings. Unfortunately I don't really know how much I drained as the catch basin already had some oil in it (dumb). Maybe drained 3L but it could be less.. Not sure. Hopefully I will see an oil level on refill. I can't find the fill amount for an oil change with filter, although I see 3.5L as crankcase capacity.

 

[Bill B]

That would explain it.

I am starting to think that this bike may have most recently been serviced by a habitual masturbator......
🤪

 

[Bill B]

As an aside, I found that I had the ideal oil filter wrench for this bike. Search here did not come up with it. I posted it in a thread where someone was asking, as well as here. The wrench that worked for me is:

Honda
OEM Part Number: 07HAA-PJ70100
Part: Superseded by 07AAA-PLCA100 - WRENCH, FILTER 65MM

I tried a variety of wrenches I have that tried to grip the body of the filter but none worked mostly because of the headers limiting access. This slips on the end of the filter and with a 17 mm Gearwrench or open end it removed the possibly original 2005 MV filter (Egad!) easily. There should be enough room to use it on the alternative longer (3.25") filters, although those probably can be removed with a variety of wrenches since the extra inch in length clears the headers. CORRECTION: A 3.25" length filter (Purolator PL14610) will NOT fit the bike due to hitting a front crossover pipe. Fortunately, I had a 2.5" stock size Bosh 3300.

 

[Bill B]

Back to speculating on what that white stuff clouding the oil level view window is.

 

[Bill B]

That is some useful information right there.
I have often looked at purchasing a dedicated tool for oil filter removal for a first generation F4. When I find myself looking around an automotive supplies shop I will have a look at the variety of options on display but never commit to purchasing any of them. I might drop by the local friendly Honda shop and ask about the price and availability of this tool.
Thanks.

Amazon wants $43. Partzilla $30. It appears to be readily available.

 

[Bill B]

Here's a $12 version!

Amazon.com

Reviews were almost all positive but a few bad ones said it slipped and noted that the end nut is 7/8". The weld looks skimpy. I can guarantee the Honda wrench will work and the fit is snug.

 

[Bill B]

Off to get some 10/60. I hope it will clean the spooge off the window.

 

[Bill B]

IT'S CLEAR! I haven't added oil yet. I can see now that the window has a plate behind it, so it trapped that moisture between the plate and the clear glass or plastic. It finally evaporated. I saw no water in the drained oil, so there probably was a small amount of moisture in the crankcase.

 

[Bill B]

...and this folks is why you really should not start a bike "just to circulate the oil".
If you are going to insist on intermittent running of a machine, you have to not only bring it up to Normal Operating Temp (N.O.T.) but you must maintain that temperature for several fan cycles until oil temperature has reached its NOT long enough tot drive moisture out.
This has been a Public Service Announcement.

I think I finally learned that after 60 years of owning motorcycles. If there were long periods when the bikes sat unridden I would start them occasionally and run them until they reached apparent operating temperature, BUT obviously (now) not long enough for the oil to boil off any accumulated moisture. With water/oil-cooled bikes that will take quite a while as Chuck points out. Fresh oil going in today....and then a decently long ride.

 

[Bill B]

I'll try to keep any more spooge where it belongs. 😏

 

[Bill B]

3-1/4 qts. Started, ran, stopped, sat for 5 minutes. Could use another 1/4-1/2 qt...of oil, not spooge.