I was taking advantage of a rare break in the rubbish Northern hemishphere winter today to have the bike up on the stand and clean it and I noticed the paint has corroded away on the engine block and is oxidising. This is normal but I'd really not expect it after only one and a half winters. Its under warranty until July, should I be getting this treated under warranty ?
If that is true oxidization and not coolant weeping, and drying, to look like oxidization I doubt they would cover that, you can try though.....
It is hard to say from a picture that is what it is. Sometimes these are the things you have to see in person, to touch it, inspect it under multiple lighting, smell it, scrape off a bit and even taste it....lol joking on the taste.
Which I would think if that is coolant leak, unless airflow is pushing a droplet of coolant up to splatter like that, the pattern should be going down and not up.
Interesting that its only right there of all places......
If that is oxidization see if they will cover it, doubt they will and if they will not, just paint it with some high temp paint(exhaust or engine high temp, probably the higher rating the better) Spray it with some brake cleaner, hit it with a wire wheel after it dries, or just hit it with a wire wheel first to clean it good, then air spray it, little more brake clean, good clean rag that does not leave any fibers to wipe it. maybe even some 90%+ rubbing alcohol. tape off everything where you do not want over spray. maybe another wipe of isopropyl alcohol, another hit of air and spray paint it with the high temp black paint (found at any auto parts store or walmart) and you should be good as new
Thanks, yes its quite easilly treatable, I think my real questioning is of the quality of the engine finish. I really wouldnt expect to see the engine paint coming off after 18 months use. Whilst I dont clean it after every ride it does get cleaned at least every couple of weeks and its the faired model so the engine up where the pipe headers are doesnt get THAT much road crap on it. As the nearest dealer is about 30 miles away I guess I'll just wirebrush it next time I have the fairings off or maybe ask my local bike mechanic to do it next time I get it for service. I'm a little disappointed though as thats the sort of decay I'd expect on a 20 year old GPZ500S not an almost new bike.
I'll be honest and say it doesnt seem to me you clean the bike properly. I have mine for almost 2 years now and it's nowhere near like that. It's black "clean". I wash mine every 2/3 weeks and sometimes I take the fairings off and clean the inner of the bike with wet wipes. I may be excessive but I dont know what to say about this...
Clean is good! I do a quick wash every week and every 2,000 miles when I do an oil change, I remove all the fairings and fuel tank to clean the air filter and do a major deep clean. It's a great time to remove the wheels and re grease the bearings and get all the old chain oil off of the hidden stuff. The problem is that I do my wife's Ninja also. She cranks on the milage so between the two bikes it seems that I am removing bloody fairings every other week!
wow, that's awesome... Maybe I need to do some of this... I don't suppose you can record your process?
you do oil change every 2000 miles? I thought it was every 7000 miles (or at least once a year)!
Looks like that bike is filthy with road grime! I don’t understand how people let them get so dirty lol. Not sure what you expect from the factory engine coating/finish but the salt or magchloride they put on the roads during winter can be very corrosive. Even some of the best coatings like black DLC (diamond like coating) are not completely corrosion resistant. Just as an example I have a knife in S30V stainless steel (quite corrosion resistant steel) that is also DLC coated, and It has developed rust just from opening bags of ice melt with it. And that happened here in Colorado where it’s very dry and not humid.
Wouldn't blame you if you don't come back to this forum, those were some pretty harsh answers from some clean freaks that think they are better than others for being so clean, just glad a few did try to answer without being judgemental jerks about it. Hope you get it resolved.
Thanks. If someone has the time and inclination to clean the underside of their engine with wet wipes every time they take it out in bad weather then I can only assume they are living with their parents and have no responsibilities and girlfriend/wife/children or indeed life outside of the garage or are trolling ???? Yes I know about AC50 and have used it in the past I've been riding motorcycles in the UK for 40 years , thanks for pointing it out though, much appreciated ?.
????..... wet wipes!!!! I thought I was anal about cleaning my bikes. WOW!!! Boxcrash gave great advice. If it was my bike I would do what he said. These bikes are assembled in Thailand, nuff said. I have found some bolts that were almost finger tight and others that seems like they had lock tight on them.
It's a matter of perspective. I said I clean it once in a few months, not everytime I ride in the rain. I am 22 and yeah I do live with my parents. I paid for this bike double if not more for the price tag of 5000$ in most of the world. It's my motorcycle that I bought with my own money, so yeah, I like to keep "clean".....
Nothing wrong with any of that. Living arrangements differ all over the world. What's common in my community will probably differ from yours. Lately, it's fairly common for college grads to move back in with parents until they get can earn enough for student loans and rent. So, saving up enough to pay for pay for a $5K motorcycle, especially for a twenty-two year old, is a pretty awesome accomplishment. Well done.. Ride Safe and Enjoy.
Here you go I used lockdown to get round to taking off the fairing and spay the corroded/paint free patch on the engine block. I now realise I should have got a radiator guard as well . . I'll add that to my list.....
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