Kawasaki z750 (04 reg) Head gasket gone??

[ShawTee7]

Whilst out the other day, i was stopped at temporary lights for approx 5 mins or so, i happened to notice my temp.gauge was reading 100, as the lights changed i took off and the temp. went down. I drove the bike home (7/8 miles), and it seemed fine. I looked through the oil level sight glass and it was milky, as was the inside of the filler cap. Could this be simply condensation, as it has been on short journeys recently or is it the head gasket more likely? Should there be more symptoms apart from milky looking oil? TIA.

[sddsddean]

First off, let me say I know naff all about bikes, but have done my own servicing of my truck for many years. I assume its a water cooled bike (otherwise you wouldn't be asking!) and it certainly has all the symptoms of a blown head gasket. I think the only way to be sure is have a compression test done. Head gasket can't be too expensive a job on a bike can it? At least you can get at the engine!

[Toureman]

If your bike is running OK don't immediately blame the head gasket, The oil level site glass can get hazy after awhile.

Short journeys can always cause condensation which shows up in the oil cap as it does with cars.

As you said sdd, you don't know about bikes, there can be a lot more work involved with a bike engine , On some bikes the engine would have to come off the bike after stripping off a lot of body work and ancillaries.

Simple job on my Kawasaki, "renew two indicators" took most of the day !

Mainly spent stripping body work and replacing it!

A lot of high powered complex machinery goes in a little space on a bike.

[Cowtipper]

If you drain your oil cold you can typically see if it has antifreeze in it or not. You can usually detect its odor in the crankcase or see an oil film inside the radiator. If your oil just has condensate it might raise your idle temp a little. Unless you've overheated or otherwise abused the bike blowing a head gasket seems unlikely but still possible. My first step would be to drain and examine the oil and antifreeze and then borrow the tool or have the radiator system pressure tested at a shop.

[ShawTee7]

Thanks all, Touremans correct, according to a local garage it would cost either £250 if they can get access through the frame or £650 if they have to drop the engine away from the frame! Think the next course of action will be dropping the oil, i did notice tonight that the sight glass doesnt appear as cloudy as it was, so fingers crossed! Also what i thought was the temp. gauge is actually the coolant temp gauge and is not a problem until it goes in excess of 118 degrees, according to the handbook.