Oil dipstick question

[mondo27]

How much oil do you need to add if your oil level is at low? Incedently, I 'm pretty sure I'm losing oil at a high rate. I changed oil over a month and 1/2 ago and now it's right at the low line. I put on maybe 300-400 miles since then. I think some is burning and some from top of the engine is blowing past the gasket. Its all kinda wet around the seam but no steady drips. I added enough to put it 1/4 the way up. But how much do I need to add to get back to full?

[weaselnoze]

just add a lil at a time and check after each time till its up to the appropriate level

[treybrad]

When you changed the oil you only filled it 1/4 of the way to the "F" mark? Go ahead and fill it all the way up to the top of the hash marks, that's when it's full. I don't guess you're doing any harm by not filling it to the top, but at least you have a bigger saftey net if you fill it up to the F in case you forget to check it next time...

As far as burning the oil... If you only lost 1/4 of the dipstick in 400mi, that's not that bad. Our bikes are pretty bad about burning oil, especially if it has high miles or you've been riding it hard. I change my oil every 2k miles and I usually have to put in 1/3-1/2 a quart from oil change to oil change. You've probably only lost about 1/4 of a quart, so that's about right..

The general frame of reference on cars is it's one quart between the ADD and F mark, but I think it's a little less on our bikes. Put in 1/2 a quart and measure it again to see where you're at and go from there.

trey

[Kerry]

You probably don't need to hear this, but since we're talking about the oil level on the dipstick:

1) Make sure the bike is vertical when you check the oil.  (See the pictures in [this post].  Yes, it was slightly overfilled when I took the pics.)

2) Do NOT screw the dipstick in after you've wiped it off - just let it rest on top of the threads for a sec and check it again.

[mondo27]

I warmed the engine up then place it on the centerstand then let it sit for a while. Cool pics Kerry. It's nice to know for certain that it's not a big difference from being vertical. Only reason I'm asking how much to add from low is (knowing how impatient I can be) I 'd end up over filling cuz I didn't wait long enough for the oil to settle down. I will fill it back to the top/full line soon as I get more oil. BTW, what do you guys use in your engine?

So I'm not burning a whole lot of oil! whew! Good to know. I was worried the rings were going bad. I do get a bit of blueish/white smoke when I first start up. After a minute or 2 it goes away. Is that normal, too?

[se7enty7]

I warmed the engine up then place it on the centerstand then let it sit for a while. Cool pics Kerry. It's nice to know for certain that it's not a big difference from being vertical. Only reason I'm asking how much to add from low is (knowing how impatient I can be) I 'd end up over filling cuz I didn't wait long enough for the oil to settle down. I will fill it back to the top/full line soon as I get more oil. BTW, what do you guys use in your engine?

So I'm not burning a whole lot of oil! whew! Good to know. I was worried the rings were going bad. I do get a bit of blueish/white smoke when I first start up. After a minute or 2 it goes away. Is that normal, too?

blueish==fuel.  whitish/gray==oil.  Which is it?