Strange goo coming out of my bike

lee25racing · Feb 12, 2015

Hey Guys,

This morning I rode my bike to work and the traffic in the city was worse than its normal 'terrible'. The bike was running quite hot and got up to 115C (239f) but the thermo fans were running as they should.

After I'd pulled up to work, I noticed this strange goo coming out of the bottom of the fairing....about the consistency of a thick syrup...

Any ideas what this stuff is?? Would that be expected behavior or is there something terminal here with my new bike

I know these bikes arent built for commuting and dont like stop start traffic, but surely it should be able to handle it occasionally....

ruley · Feb 12, 2015

it's not exhaust sealing goo is it?

wilkson · Feb 12, 2015

Don't reckon it is . Strange one that one have a closer look and see where it is coming from .

lee25racing · Feb 12, 2015

It seems to be a small rubber hose (over flow of some kind???) that attaches to the bottom of the faring as I cant see the goo inside the fairing anywhere and there is a tiny hole in the bottom of the fairing that it is coming out of just below where I can see the hose.
I'm praying that its not the radiator overflow... as that would mean a major oil\water milkshake situation :-( and possibly head gasket?

Cobra700 · Feb 12, 2015

lee25racing said:
It seems to be a small rubber hose (over flow of some kind???) that attaches to the bottom of the faring as I cant see the goo inside the fairing anywhere and there is a tiny hole in the bottom of the fairing that it is coming out of just below where I can see the hose.
I'm praying that its not the radiator overflow... as that would mean a major oil\water milkshake situation :-( and possibly head gasket?

I hope not but that's what came too mind

lee25racing · Feb 12, 2015

Would a blown head gasket be covered under warranty? the bike still has 8 months left of factory warranty.

BadBoyBeltran · Feb 12, 2015

What does it smell like? Did you buy it new or used? The overflow hoses either come from the Charcoal Canister or the Radiator overfill (like someone said above).

Open up the fairings and take a closer look. Could be something minor.

If you see something that is coming from the engine, take it to the dealer since you still have warranty.

wilkson · Feb 12, 2015

lee25racing said:
It seems to be a small rubber hose (over flow of some kind???) that attaches to the bottom of the faring as I cant see the goo inside the fairing anywhere and there is a tiny hole in the bottom of the fairing that it is coming out of just below where I can see the hose.
I'm praying that its not the radiator overflow... as that would mean a major oil\water milkshake situation :-( and possibly head gasket?

May be it . The temp you ran it up is hot my bike blew a head gasket at that temp .

NOLA · Feb 12, 2015

Head gasket.

Oil and water pretty puddle.

NOLA

bp7178 · Feb 12, 2015

Ouch.

How many miles and what mods have you done? How hot was it that day?

lee25racing · Feb 12, 2015

Bike has done 6000km's. No engine mods except Termi slipons and up map. The day was around 28c this morning when I rode it in but once I got into the city the traffic was very stop start.

Neither the engine oil in the sight glass or the water in the reservoir look contaminated?

Update.... the hose that it seems to be coming out of comes from the airbox!!

wilkson · Feb 12, 2015

lee25racing said:
Bike has done 6000km's. No engine mods except Termi slipons and up map. The day was around 28c this morning when I rode it in but once I got into the city the traffic was very stop start.

Neither the engine oil in the sight glass or the water in the reservoir look contaminated?

Update.... the hose that it seems to be coming out of comes from the airbox!!

Combination of oil and water from the drainage tube from the airbox .
Don't stress if the other tell tale signs are fine your fine .

lee25racing · Feb 12, 2015

ok further update. ...

So after speaking to Arthur at Desmo HQ, who in turn has spoken to the head of Ducati Service Australia... They want to have a look at the bike ASAP. Sounds ominous.

Less than 5 days of ducati ownership and this.... :-(

wilkson · Feb 12, 2015

lee25racing said:
ok further update. ...

So after speaking to Arthur at Desmo HQ, who in turn has spoken to the head of Ducati Service Australia... They want to have a look at the bike ASAP. Sounds ominous.

Less than 5 days of ducati ownership and this.... :-(

Get him to check your bolts to the air box while he has the tank off they tend to come loose .

ruley · Feb 12, 2015

i wonder if it has a oil based air filter in it, when I first installed my MWR I had a small bit of residual come out from down there, not enough to puddle but enough to make it tacky

ruley · Feb 12, 2015

lee25racing said:
ok further update. ...

So after speaking to Arthur at Desmo HQ, who in turn has spoken to the head of Ducati Service Australia... They want to have a look at the bike ASAP. Sounds ominous.

Less than 5 days of ducati ownership and this.... :-(

that means getting it down to Byron!! Arthur needs to be in Brisbane, then we'd have one good dealer at least....

BTrain5489 · Feb 13, 2015

lee25racing said:
ok further update. ...

So after speaking to Arthur at Desmo HQ, who in turn has spoken to the head of Ducati Service Australia... They want to have a look at the bike ASAP. Sounds ominous.

Less than 5 days of ducati ownership and this.... :-(

If you showed them that picture they might have jumped to coolant and oil mixing as that milky brown color can be what you get when that happens. You said you tracked the source to the airbox so it probably isn't that and they're probably just being cautious.

lee25racing · Feb 13, 2015

ok so once I got the fairing right off and some proper light on the scene the hose is in fact from the radiator overflow bottle. So its oil in the water (although there doesn't seem to visually be water in the oil??) and a trailer job to get it looked at.....

ruley - exactly! which is exactly why I think it worth the trip to get him to do any work on my bike hahaa

konrads · Feb 13, 2015

looks like McDonalds special sauce

bretm · Feb 13, 2015

You'll tend to get oil in the water (and not the other way around) as the oil pressure is much higher than the coolant system.

It's impossible to tell the consistency from a pic, but it looks more like some sort of adhesive or sealant melted from the temperature. Usually you don't get such a perfectly homogeneous mixture when oil and coolant mix.

Wish you all the best, man. The bike shouldn't blow a head gasket from sitting in traffic provided the coolant system is well maintained.

Strange goo coming out of my bike

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