I recently purchased a Thunderbird Sport with water apparently contaminating the oil and loosing coolant from the overflow, The seller was clearly not honest in as much as he said he did not know what the problem was and did not have the time and money to fix it, Instant Gasket every where!!! The bike ran and looks in good condition so I went ahead, full of confidence with more than thirty years of working on Hinckley Triumph ,Off with the head, gasket looks us/ head and block checked for warping, appear fine, no obvious cracks within the water jacket or head, out with the liners checked and resealed, new head gasket etc, top end reassembled as per factory manual, some new hoses,New radiator cap, thermostat checked etc, Filled with coolant and bled the air from the system, Ran the bike up to temperature, had a beer checked the coolant level, it was fine, checked the oil, it was starting to look like toffee sauce and the oil filler cap has emulsified oil in it, I should add that the engine breather seal was replaced and all the engine covers removed and cleaned out including the sump! Any one have any thoughts on this problem, regards Kenny.
Can't remember exactly, but there is a seal (or two?) in the water pump which can cause this if it fails. However, I do believe that they are non-replaceable so a replacement pump is probably called for. Surely there must be a way to get a new seal in? @Dozers Dad may be able to help as he had to replace a water pump on a Trophy many moons ago if memory serves. Basically the same engine! Good luck with it.
Thanks for the reply, usually if the mechanical seal as it is termed fails coolant leaks from the drilling in the pump casting, seals are available they are common to other other makes, not expensive so that may be something else to try! cheers.
You are a brave man to have taken on a bike with issues like that, instant gasket is a dead give away that someone has tried before, hope you get it resolved soon, I have had to replace water pump seals recently on one of my bikes and you are correct seals are usually easily available.
As a follow up, today I had some more time with the Thudderbird ,checked the oil and water level both fine connected up the fuel supply and let it run until the coolant fan would kick in, It was getting rather hot and starting to spit coolant into the overflow tank, so I shorted out the fan sensor terminals to get some air moving around the motor until it cooled down a bit and switched it off and left it for a while, went back water level ok ,no sign of emulsified oil in the filler cap so things are looking up, will have to locate a sensor from somewhere but they dont come cheap!!
Kenny Durward Hope you got it sorted. I hate that instant gasket. Well not the instant gasket but the idiots let loose with it. They clary it all over the place and cause so much damage by it clogging every thing up. Regards Joe.
I know what you mean, the bloody stuff was every where, It had been used on hoses , gasket faces, o rings, It can be useful if used sparingly, but this clown went over the top, fortunately it was not near any oil ways!!.
Good point! when I removed the air box and breather pipes there was no evidence of emulsified oil in the air box or breather pipes, but I suspect the airbox had been apart and cleaned out by the previous owner, At the moment the breather is running to a catch tank as the airbox assy is still under the bench, once I get it back in one piece and fit for the road I will get a better idea of what is going on. Cheers!
Good point! when I removed the air box and breather pipes there was no evidence of emulsified oil in the air box or breather pipes, but I suspect the airbox had been apart and cleaned out by the previous owner, At the moment the breather is running to a catch tank as the airbox assy is still under the bench, once I get it back in one piece and fit for the road I will get a better idea of what is going on. Cheers!
As a follow up to the saga, the cooling fan sensor has been replaced and along with all the other work carried out all appears to be well, the bike starts and runs as it should with no overheating /coolant issues, is now with a MOT, I now need to decide what to do with it, I cant justify two Thunderbird Sport in the Garage along with my 955i Tiger.
I've no model knowledge, just general 'oh shit, I hope it's not the head gasket' experience. If it was a BMW big six I'd be confident in saying it's the gasket and you're kidding yourself by hoping it isn't On the other hand I replaced the head gasket on my golf TWICE after catastrophic 'mayo everywhere failures before diagnosing a failed oil cooler (not a conventional rad cooler, water jacket inbetween block and oil filter) So investigate anywhere where the two fluids get close to eachother and could contaminate, take note if there's a gradual seep or a temperature trigger (that was the golf giveaway) And good luck!
All seems well thanks, running up to temperature without the issues described by the previous owner, ie, dumping coolant, boiling etc.
