RECENT MYSTERY MESS

[GOT WOODS?]

So I went to wash my bike after a ride and noticed this oily film around the water pump/KIPS area. There is a heavy coating at the front of the crankcase as well and it is all over this side. Has anyone had this happen and know where to start looking? I could not see any signs of where an oil leak has started and the antifreeze level hasn't dropped in the tank. It was dry and dusty on the ride and while it looks like the oil was aerosolized and sprayed a film over the cases, I think it was just oil migrating through the dust that accumulated, kind of like using Speedydri on an oil spill. I scrubbed down the areas so I could see where something might be leaking so I can maybe identify it on the next ride, but wondered if anyone has had this occur with their bike?
2003 220

[Chuck78]

With it fully cleaned, puff out a mist of baby powder / talc powder all over the area and go ride it. You will return with trails / traces of the path of the mystery oil source.

[GOT WOODS?]

WELL IT'S A MYSTERY NO MORE!!!!

Sort of....

2003 KDX 220

Loading my bike back in the truck after a 5 hour ride the other day I noticed oil mixed in with the leaves and dirt on my engine and in my skid plate. When I got home I washed it all down. I suspected that it was actually antifreeze as I felt a drip under the forward radiator hose and when I looked at it up close it appeared clear and slippery and I assumed that the mess the other day was from a radiator leak. The overflow bottled looked slightly lower than it usually was by maybe 1/2". I did a pressure check on the radiator and after 3 hours under pressure, the pressure held steady and could not find any leaks. I decided to start it up and take it for a ride and as soon as I started it up oil started pumping out of the right engine cover seam right by the KIPS tower. Was a steady flow of milky oil coming out of the gasket. Maybe flowing at a rate of a tablespoon every 1-2 minutes.

Anybody have any idea what’s going on here and if this is indicative of something other than just a blown gasket? It’s odd that it is at the top of the engine cover but it’s leaking out like it has pressure behind it. It is quite a bit of oil coming out and also somehow there’s water getting into the oil as it’s milky colored. I’ve never been into these engine covers. In fact no one has as I’ve had this bike since it had roughly 4 hours of use on it, so even though I've looked at the schematics, I don’t know what’s behind there that could cause this pressure issue. I haven’t done a leak down test on it, but even if the crankcase seals are leaking wouldn’t that pressure just go out the vent tube on the crank case? And also, the engine runs incredibly strong and the plug shows a nice medium chocolate color. I have 135psi of compression.

Looking at the pictures, note that where I am pointing to is a black substance at the gasket. It is hard and I can't scrape it off. Is this a casting flaw that they "fixed" at the factory and it has finally started leaking after 23 years? I don't know if this is a common thing. But why the pressure and the strong leaking at the TOP OF THE ENGINE??

I'm at a loss and looking for some direction before I rip into this. Another question I have is that the engine is at roughly 700 hours from new. Is there anything I should be replacing when I am in there and have the cover off? I'm going to measure my clutch plates but not expecting much wear as the clutch works fine and I'm not a huge clutch slipping kind of guy. I am not a high revving guy and I ride tight technical trails.

Thanks Chuck78 for the baby powder trick! Although the oil pouring out left no question as to where it was coming from.....

Thanks in advance guys!

[Chuck78]

What does your gearbox oil look like when you change it? Behind that cover is gearbox oil and the crank primary gear as well as in the vicinity of the water pump and the power valve actuator governor centrifugal timer piece.

Picturing it off the top of my head, there are no coolant passages in the bottom end, looking at a picture of a clutch case housing, there is a built-in nipple to the clutch housing that goes to the back of the water pump area, but this does not connect to the crankcase, only has passages within the clutch case. The water pump seal could let coolant into the oil, but also, back behind the Kickstart mechanism on the inside exterior portion of the crankcase, there is a breather hose nipple for the gearbox. If the hose is not routed up to the air box height and back down, then you can get water into there from deep water and mud crossings or even power washing the bike. That can make it look like you have some sort of coolant leak into the gearbox oil.
Lastly, there could be some type of crack somewhere in the casting that is causing this to push coolant out into the oil. I'd say that's highly unlikely, a water pump seal or water getting into the crankcase from the breather hose nipple is much more likely. The clutch case housing gasket can fail, I've seen this before on several different bikes green or orange. A hard impact on the right side can shock the gasket and compress it, and then it will begin leaking afterwards.

[Chuck78]

That last picture sure shows a lot of liquid built up above the water pump area. I would say at minimum you need to pull the right side clutch case housing/cover, and look into doing a water pump rebuild with OWM parts, and new gaskets.

At 700 hours riding time on it, and 135 psi, I would say you are definitely due for a top end teardown, cylinder bore measuring with a dial bore gauge or inside calipers, take it to a shop and have them measure it properly, or better yet a machinist, automotive machine shop, or any good veteran motorcycle mechanic. Someone that has the right tools and knows how to use them. It might be time for a B-sized or C-sized piston or a replating job on the cylinder.

Before tearing the engine apart, I would also be inclined to do a pressure test on the crankcases and top end. Some lead-down is permissible, but a lot of leakedown means it's time to get out a spray bottle of soapy water to see if you see any soap bubbles forming from a pressure leak. You can rig up a pressure testing setup with hardware store fittings and a twist in rubber compression plug into the exhaust port. You will most likely find the KIPS packing seal that is no longer available to be leaking, but this can be substituted for an o-ring from Fredette or else look up the thread from the past year or more on here about suitable replacements. What you're really looking for here is if the left crank seal is leaking, or the crankcase area directly behind stator plate (this is known problem area on Kawasakis of this era and requires epoxy filling some circular slots where the casting is thin directly in front of a steel reinforcement insert that is cast in to the cases for crank bearing support).

Then when you tear into the top end, you can assess the condition of the big end connecting rod bearing on the crank. If you have any crank seal leakage or if this big end connecting rod bearing is beyond specification and a bit sloppy, you will need to split the cases to do a bottom end rebuild.