Oil turned gray

[Bmore-stunter]

Went to the track yesterday, made two passes on new oil on my 2nd pass came down the return road and the motor started knock so i drained the oil and it came out grey with metal flakes. Could it be that the head gasket was not seated properly which lead to bearing failure ? Prior to this I had a thin head gasket installed and I've made total of 14 passes since then.

[bun1t]

Sounds like it. Coolant in the oil will kill rod bearings pretty quick. Did it overheat at all?

[hellsrazor]

Damn that sucks bro,
It's definitely coolant in the oil.
Your gonna have to tear it down, hopefully its just the bearings & head gasket.
Keep us updated.
Sorry that happened to you.

[Bmore-stunter]

It never out heated

[Bmore-stunter]

Thanks hellsrazor I'm going to start tearing the motor down this week and see how bad it is and I'll give an update

[SpazOnaZX]

If the oil were a murky brown, then I'd say it was coolant in the oil... gray is usually a cam getting wiped out, clutch steels disintegrating, or bearing material. Once that fine metal/oil mixture starts getting pumped through the oil system it's pretty much game over for every friction surface or bearing it goes through. :(

Do a quick pressure test on the radiator with the oil drain bolt out to be sure. If you lose coolant pressure and water starts running out the oil pan drain then you have a gasket/head/cylinder leak issue to chase. If not, then you can look for a mechanical part failure instead. Either way, that motor has to come all the way apart. Sorry for your luck. :(

[hellsrazor]

Originally Posted by SpazOnaZX

If the oil were a murky brown, then I'd say it was coolant in the oil... gray is usually a cam getting wiped out, clutch steels disintegrating, or bearing material. Once that fine metal/oil mixture starts getting pumped through the oil system it's pretty much game over for every friction surface or bearing it goes through. :(

Do a quick pressure test on the radiator with the oil drain bolt out to be sure. If you lose coolant pressure and water starts running out the oil pan drain then you have a gasket/head/cylinder leak issue to chase. If not, then you can look for a mechanical part failure instead. Either way, that motor has to come all the way apart. Sorry for your luck. :(

I gotta disagree with ya spaz,
I have seen with my own two eyes a head gasket go on bikes and cars
where the oil is a milky white to a grayish color.
Different coolants can make different colors when mixed with oil,
because you have different color coolants.
Orange, green, pink, so on.

And the head gasket is the weakest link in the engine.
So its the most logical place to start.

[shortskimper]

every grey oil drain coupled with loud knocking HAS always been a bearing in my experience(have blown up 3 bikes, and a truck, lol). what caused the bearing to go is a different story!

[Bmore-stunter]

I use engin ice for coolant which is purple so maybe that's why the oil was gray. And how is a pressure test done and how would check to see if a cam was getting wiped out

[neverendingmods]

Gotta pull the cams to check them and look at the caps to see if scoring. Really sounds like you spun a bearing whether crank or whatever. Gotta disassemble motor man. Only way to check and know what all is screwed.
Like was stated, any metal from a badly spun bearing will likely ruin many others.