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First WR250r Issue - Water in the Oil

RoverT

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Not sure if this is the best category for my post, but hopefully it is.

Parking today I checked the sight glass on my 08 wrr. Sadly I saw about .5cm of murky water sitting above the oil. :( It's been raining a lot lately but I highly doubt that's of relevance. I changed the oil when I purchased the bike 1500 miles ago. From the sound of the previous owner, I would not be surprised if the bike sat for a while, and outside.

I'm pretty comfortable working on bikes so I will be diving in to it soon. I'm thinking it's likely a water pump gasket or something near there. Is this a common issue with wrr's and is there a usual fix? Should I look for anything first? I hope it has nothing to do with the cylinder/head.
 
I would change the oil and see if it clears up. Probably won't but it will only cost the price of the oil.
 
Well I just got home and i no longer see any water above the oil through the sight glass.
Once it cools I'll check the coolant level, and do some more digging.

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Would be odd for water to be on top of oil.
 
Water is heavier than oil, so what ever was floating on the oil in your sight glass wasn’t water.
 
Ah I had it backwards about oil floating above water then... I was thinking oil is heavier.

The only time I saw anything, the oil also looked fairly foamy so that's interesting.
As I said I'll check the coolant soon.

Sent from my Moto Z2 using Tapatalk
 
Its not uncommon for a seldom used bike to see some condensation in a sight glass window, engine temp will evaporate it away with issue.

That’s interesting. I’ve never seen condensation inside of any of my sight glasses. Are these bikes stored outside, and when you notice this condensation, do you change the oil?
 
Coolant is all the way at the top of the rad, so it definitely has not lost any. These bikes don't have coolant overflow reservoirs, do they?

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That’s interesting. I’ve never seen condensation inside of any of my sight glasses. Are these bikes stored outside, and when you notice this condensation, do you change the oil?
I have heard about it on several ZRXs over the years, only once on mine and everyone I know just rode the bike and engine heat evaporated the moisture, Mine happened on a camping trip and it was about a 50 mile ride to the nearest town with services to buy gas or oil so I rode it in and by the time I got to town all moisture was gone.

Bike had about 60,000 miles on it then and has over 160,000 miles on it now so I am going to say it was a non issue for me
 
Boat lower gear boxes I have experienced it. Oil somewhat milky change and good to go another season. Just did it. I'm not talking about whitish color but a little tan.
With chillers we had oil analysis and any acid indicated moisture in system. We would change oil and add desiccant filter driers.
Measure the amount of oil taken out of WR as an indicator. I do know a little water leak into lube system is bad news.
If I start my tractor boat or bike or mower I always try to bring it up to operating temperature before I shut it off. Ethanol fuel gathers moisture big time. My boat has a water separator on fuel line I change yearly. It is the size of a car oil filter.
My XR650 leaked gas into crankcase and my SR500 was notorious. These are carburetor bikes though. I like a manual fuel cutoff if possible.
Hope you get to bottom of it.
 
Drain the oil. If there is water in it its most likely its the water pump seal. Super easy to replace and should be done at least every 2 years anyway. Sucks to be out somewhere and have one go out far from home.
 
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