Acceptable oil usage?

[carlson_mn]

Bike burned up a total of about .7 quart over 3200 miles. That included two 500 mile trips in the twisties where there was a lot of high rpm activity. I'm running Rotella 15w40.

When I was running the bike WOT up through nearly redline an ST1300 rider (behind me ) said he thought I might have been running a little rich as he said my exhaust was slightly dark but only when I really got on it hard in 1st and 2nd gear. Could have been oil usage.... should I be concerned? In a way I imagine a little blow by at high rpms isn't bad for the engine, probably good actually. I could not find any other discussion of this through search. Thanks guys.

 

[SkooterG]

In about 300,000 miles of FJR usage, I have never burned/leaked/lost any oil that I am aware of. And that includes my old 226k mile FJR that was 'well worn'.

You shouldn't be losing oil. How sure are you about .7qt?

If the smoke coming out of your pipes was black, that is a fuel, not oil. Aren't you running a PCIII or something? Sounds like it is a bit rich.

 

[carlson_mn]

Those are some good ideas concerning the PC3. I will ask the guys at CFO to give me a sniff as I smack it a few times.

Never noticed any oil loss over the previous 20,000 miles but this was the first time I used Rotella non synthetic. M1 15-50 and synthetic Rotella - no noticeable oil loss.

 

[SkooterG]

For 90% of my 290,000 FJR miles I have used Rotella T non-syn 15W-40, or sometimes the Mobil Delvac1300 or Chevron Delo equivalents. If you are burning/losing it, it's not the oil.

 

[WBill]

Have you noticed a "ticking" sound from your head? Maybe your exhaust valve guides are a little large in diameter. This allows oil to blow through and out into the exhaust. It's been known happen in Gen I's, and Yamaha has been known to fix the problem at no charge to the owner. WBill

 

[Queensland Ken]

It's hard to think in imperial, but I think there may be something not quite right.

My bike is an 06 with 110K kms on it and it doesn't use a drop of oil.

Has blown a bit of exhaust gas when the PC3 was running rich, but not now.

You could get some Sabaru upper cylinder cleaner to clean up the rings and valve seats.

Used it as part of my Subaru servicing, have some for the bike, going to do it soon.

I think in the USA, Seafoam is something similar, it's used to de-carbon the upper cylinder.

 

[ionbeam]

If this has happened only once then it may simply be an aberration in the way you filled and checked your oil. I wouldn't worry until this becomes constant.

Pull the plugs and see what they look like. While you are there and have the plugs out do a compression test. It is highly likely that you have stuck rings which can be helped/cured with Seafoam or Yamaha Ring Free. The FJR engine seems to be a tiny bit prone to sticking rings.

You might have a rare ticker, an early Gen I that is susceptible to premature valve guide wear. Usually this condition is initially accompanied by a ticking or rattling sound at the valve cover that normally starts on the left side of the engine. The factory check for this is to pull the headers and look for oil. Outside of nuisance oil consumption you can run an engine a very long time with this condition. If you do indeed have a ticker it won't cause a sudden failure, just a very gradual increase in oil consumption.

 

[carlson_mn]

Thanks for the input guys. Will add some seafoam to the tank. The dealer here that has repaired quite a few tickers listened to my bike and was quite certain I did not have a ticker, as that was a slight concern of mine.

 

[Geezer]

I had a similar instance last summer. After five years and 90k miles of using no noticeable amount of oil, I stopped looking at the glass between changes. I use Rotella 15-40 dino oil. While in Knoxville for NAFO I parked on an angle in the covered parking garage, leaning to the left, on the side stand. This was the last night in Knoxville and the first time I ever parked on such an extreme angle. About a mile after pulling out of there my oil light came on. That was a real surprise!

I stopped and put it on the center stand and checked the oil level and it was at the bottom of the glass. I let it sit about 5 minutes while I selected a quart from among the car oils in the gas station. I settled on a quart of 30W non-detergent to be safe from anti-friction additives. I put in almost a whole quart before the glass was filled to near the top, which is where I normally fill it to during changes.

I have not used any oil since then. So, I think leaving the bike leaning over a lot further than normal overnight has something to do with it. I had ridden the Cherahola and dragon at fairly high RPM while in Knoxville. I do normally spin it up to the red line sometimes, but not as often as I had there, so that may also have contributed.

 

[FJRay]

My 03 #218 was a ticker. Before the fix it never burned a drop but after the fix it will use a little when running FJR nominal and above in hot weather. Might add a few ounces in a thousand miles of hot weather floging. I don't see it as a problem.

If you have black exhaust under heavy load it is just excess fuel and not a real issue.

 

[Gramps]

You need to get your bike "sniffed" & data logged by Wicked Webby.

We can talk more at CFO.

 

[Aasland]

Huh, for a moment there I thought I was back on the Audi forums.

No, your FJR shouldn't burn/lose any oil. I ran 8000 miles on my last oil change, including lots of high RPM and very hot weather, and did not burn a drop.

I think you should give it another 3500 miles (and keep an eye on it) before you panic, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke or measurement error.

 

[carlson_mn]

My 03 #218 was a ticker. Before the fix it never burned a drop but after the fix it will use a little when running FJR nominal and above in hot weather. Might add a few ounces in a thousand miles of hot weather floging. I don't see it as a problem.

If you have black exhaust under heavy load it is just excess fuel and not a real issue.

Yes, I have heard the newer valve guides allow more oil passage to keep everything lubricated and prevent the wear down/ticking.

You need to get your bike "sniffed" & data logged by Wicked Webby.

We can talk more at CFO.

Yeah it's time to do that.

Huh, for a moment there I thought I was back on the Audi forums.

No, your FJR shouldn't burn/lose any oil. I ran 8000 miles on my last oil change, including lots of high RPM and very hot weather, and did not burn a drop.

I think you should give it another 3500 miles (and keep an eye on it) before you panic, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke or measurement error.

Hopefully it is just a fluke or poor measuring by me.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Bike burned up a total of about .7 quart over 3200 miles.

If this has happened only once then it may simply be an aberration in the way you filled and checked your oil. I wouldn't worry until this becomes constant.

Hopefully it is just a fluke or poor measuring by me.

I once had a friend who bought a new Kawasaki and after a while was asking the dealer for warranty work because the engine appeared to be using oil (lowering sump levels).

Well..., Kawasaki had a procedure for determining if a motorcycle is using oil. (iirc) It required parking the bike in the same place, in the same direction, same (center or side) stand, etc. (eliminating error opportunities) and documentation.

So, I'd recco doing that for a while -- just to make sure... :blink:

 

[FJRay]

Somewhere I have a text book from a automotive tech class that states that if a V8 engine burned one drop of oil on each power stroke it would consume one quart in two miles. If that were anywhere near true then a few ounces in a thousand or more doesn' mean ****. I would rather use some and know it's getting where it needs to be than have lack of lubrication issues. Part of the daily checks is to bend over and look at the window. Just make sure Bust isn't behind you

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

...a few ounces in a thousand or more doesn' mean ****. I would rather use some and know it's getting where it needs to be than have lack of lubrication issues.

In the combustion chamber or in the exhaust pipes isn't where it needs to be.

If most FJRs use no (noticeable) oil -- then, those that do are different (for some reason)...? :huh:

 

[cruppelt]

I guess nobody else ever mentions this as possible issue, so I will.

Hook up a laptop to your Power commander and resynch your throttle. The older PCIII installations don't always remember the correct throttle correlation after sitting for a while, or after the battery was disconnected for maintenance. I don't know if that's always been the case from when they were new, or if it's because they do have an internal battery that's just getting old. I have that exact problem with my bike, which I bought with an existing PCIII on board. After having had the battery disconnected for just a couple of minutes, the bike feels a little sluggish, but if you haven't ridden it for a while anyway it's hard to notice this as seriously wrong. When the PCIII resets the throttle mapping, it condenses the fuel numbers into a smaller range; don't know if I am making sense, but the point is that especially in the upper throttle area all the way to WOT it is WAY rich and blows out very visible black exhaust.

Once you resynch the throttle you'll simply be amazed at what you were missing. Crisp response and better sound to go with it through the whole rpm range. Oh, and don't forget much better gas mileage... :dribble:

It took me a while to figure this out when I got my bike; it had been sitting for close to a year when I bought it. Imagine my grin on my first ride AFTER I resynched.

 

[carlson_mn]

thanks, I ought to do that as I haven't sync'd the throttle since I installed it. Played with a couple maps this spring and it showed 0% throttle at idle so at least that made me happy.

 

[frito1]

Bike burned up a total of about .7 quart over 3200 miles. That included two 500 mile trips in the twisties where there was a lot of high rpm activity.

If you're doing high rpm throttle chops the resulting increase in vacuum will sometimes lead to an increase in oil consumption. If the oil usage trend doesn't continue when riding at a more sedate pace, I'd not worry about it.