Oil Change On A Long Distance Trip

[galactus]

i'm leaving for a 3 week vacation this weekend and i'm planning to do about 8k miles. i mentioned this to the service manager after my recent 12k service specifically asking if i should worry about doing an oil change. he just kinda gave me a blank look (like he was wondering if i was serious) and recited the "every 4k miles" line.

i know i've read stuff, perhaps IBA related, about folks going long distances without oil changes.

what factors should go into the decision to change or not change during a trip like this?

 

[GA CYCLE RIDER]

you can easily do your own oil service while on the road. simply stop by a name brand auto parts store, such as advance, pepboys, autozone etc. you can purchase a purolator pl14610 micro screen filter and some mobile 1 15/50 full synthetic oil. all of these places have loaner tool sets available. all you need is a 17mm socket and a small oil filter wrench or channell locks to remove the filter. you get a aluminum disposable pan at a walmart or similar place first that I failed to mention. you can dispose of your used oil in the recycle tank at the parts store. It should not take you more than 10 minutes to wrap it up and your off and running.

 

[radman]

You have enough miles on the clock to change to synthetic oil. This and a quality filter would be good for the distance, as the big killer of oil is cold starts and short trip driving. If the opportunity were present itself to change during the trip, fine. If not, no harm done. It has been proven that a good synthetic in a good engine can go thousands and thousands of miles if never shut down. And I mean a long, long time.

 

[PapaUtah]

I changed oil in my '89 Venture in the parking lot of the local hardware in Cedar City , UT in about 10 minutes last summer. Gas station out front took the old oil. Used an aluminum turkey roaster pan for the job. Worked great.

 

[speedjunkie]

I took about a 5k vacation last year. About 3K on the oil change, and she started shifting poorly, so, time for an oil change. I took a crush gasket with me and had to find an auto parts store that had a filter, as the dealer had neither of these items. Once the scavenger hunt was over, back to the dealer I went with filter in hand. I would never dream of doing 8K without changing oil, synthetic or not!

Yami's website has a dealer locater. Do some looking along your route, at about 4K. Call ahead and make sure they have the parts if you don't take them with you, tell them what's going on. Call them again a day or 2 before you get there to confirm. Lessons learned. Good luck and have fun.

Mike

 

[galactus]

thanks for the input. i think i'll plan to do a change.

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

The IBA riders don't worry about a few extra thousand on the oil. You are traveling mostly freeway miles without much stop and go. Change it when you get home. Those that ride IBA put more miles on their bikes in a year than most of us do in 5 and they aren't stopping every 3000 miles to change the oil.

 

[leebunyard]

With a fresh oil filter and synthetic motor oil, I'd have no concerns about doing 8000 miles of highway mileage without an oil change. I've always used full synthetic oil in my '87 GL1200 and gone 7500 miles between oil and filter changes. At 166,000 miles, she still runs great, doesn't burn oil, shifts smooth, etc. etc.

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California B)

 

[Warchild]

With a fresh oil filter and synthetic motor oil, I'd have no concerns about doing 8000 miles of highway mileage without an oil change.

Concur. I have done this many, many times, on many different bikes.