synthetic oil sitting in the crank

[zorkler]

Synthetic oil takes alot longer to breake down ,from the little i know . Lets say you only put 5.k one the bike per year would it do the engine any damage if you changed it every 2 yeras . Yes i know how cheap it is to do . Just asking .

 

[GunMD]

I'm no oil expert, but since I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express recently I'll give my thoughts.

I wouldn't personally leave it in there anywhere NEAR that long. The first thing that came to mind was moisture (depending on your environment). (And maybe that isn't an issue at all, I have no idea.

But to me two years seems excessive. Just ride more often.

 

[odot]

And remember, folks. Used synthetic oil can be used to fertilize your lawn.

 

[Randy]

besides condensation/moisture, there are byproducts of combustion that can be harmful to engine internals over time. i would not suggest it.

 

[Geezer]

Do use ride at least once a week? Are those rides long enough to heat everything up so that condensate evaporates from the crankcase and the exhaust system? Taking short rides and leaving the bike sitting are both hard on oil.

 

[FZ/FJR Mike]

Most motorcycles are much harder on oil than most any other type vehicle. Same oil that lubricates the internals also is subjected to a lot of stress by the transmission. If you want to lessen possible oil breakdown, at least change it at the binning of every riding season. I've been using some form of synthetic oil in bikes for quite a few years but always change it in spring to remove contaniments/moisture from storage over winter.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

<snip>....would it do the engine any damage if you changed it every 2 yeras

Probably not.

I'll bet there are women minivan owners who've never had the oil changed -- or maybe once?, when they had some serious mechanical work done in the shop.

I sometimes think that they feel it's more cost-effective to have a junkyard motor installed when/if it goes bad?

Maybe it is ...?? :huh:

I once had an ATV owner tell me, when authorizing well over $1K worth of repair work on a several-year-old 'wheeler': "Oh, and change the oil while you're at it -- we've never done that." :blink:

Click & Clack were at one time running one of their cars (Dodge/Mitsubitchi?) without changing oil -- as a test. I don't know the results...

Many are quite 'anal' about this -- often I've heard someone say, "Can I have your old oil?"

 

[JasonB]

To be consistent with the current Green political environment, I would suggest an oil change interval of every 5years or 50k, which ever comes last. But then again I only buy New motorcycles, never exceed 20k miles, so no worries.

 

[03HiYoSilver]

Zorkler,

From a well known Synthetic Oil manufacturer, they suggest the oil change at the Max Mileage or 1 year. Whichever comes first. As ones said above, between moisture, oil additives breaking down, etc, this is why they don't recommend more than 1 year.

 

[Fred W]

Moisture. It only collects in old oil? So if you change it before the long winter storage that moisture won't get in there?

Any time that you start the engine and run it long enough to come up to FULL oil operating temperature (and I'm not talking about coolant temp) any moisture that was in the crankcase will have boiled off and evaporated away.

Moisture is not a reason to change oil.

Synthetic oil vs dino juice is not an issue on engines that are getting such low use that they do not need an oil change at the end of one season. Well, except that the synth buyer is wasting their money if they change it annually.