Put oil in the radiator - Moment of madness!!!

Real

Hi all. I recently bought a used Suzuki Marauder 800. In a moment of madness I accidently poured half a can of oil into the radiator ( idiot, I know )... Before realising my mistake I started the bike for a few minutes before it chuged to a halt.

Can anyone tell me how much of a problem this is? What can be done to rectify it? And is my bike completly f*cked? Can the problem be sorted out reasonably simply?

I will bring it to the local Suzuki dealers but I dont want them to flog me a bunch of new parts if its not necessary. Can the radiator be flushed out??

Besides getting myself a new brain, can anyone offer some practical, useful advice on solving the radiator the problem

madrab

wow thats an interesting one alright, but i dont think it would be that big of a deal (only an opinion), but it might involve draining the rad & flushing through some sort of cleaner to try & remove it

try searching on google if anyone has done the same & good luck

Pigeon Reaper

Probably just a case of flushing the radiator if you hadn't driven it. Not sure about it now. Did the bike overheat or was it something else that caused to it stop running?

murphaph

I'd try flushing it with loads of warm soapy water. You ran it though so the oil will be distributed throughout the engine and flushing the rad alone will not get it out. I can still see it taking multiple flushings for a few days before you can declare it oil free and refill with coolant or whatever the system takes. I'd definitely use radflush for the rad as that has the narrow passages which can easily block. It's an interesting problem but I don't think I'd be panicking about it. Just patiently flush it out repeatedly, preferably when the engine is still warm and the oil at it's highest viscosity. That's what I'd do if I poured oil into my car, though thanfully the bike is air cooled so I only have to remember not to pour it into the petrol tank!

Hotblack Desiato

I suffered a blown head gasket on a previous bike. Once any oil gets into the cooling system it will eat away at the hoses I know from experience. Flush it as best you can, hopefully this will prevent hoses popping... but it's no guarantee.