huge oil usage

[dadsafrantic]

hey all,

i have used almost 2 qts in under 3k miles.  is it my rings?  there is no visible leak.   

[The Buddha]

Ride it and call me when you get to 1 qt in 300 miles ... yes 300 .... no typo, three hundred.
2qt in 3K ... man that was ~25K mark. @45K it was 1 qt in 300, and I had a bottle of oil in my backpack at all times.
Cool.
Buddha.

[dadsafrantic]

Ride it and call me when you get to 1 qt in 300 miles ... yes 300 .... no typo, three hundred.
2qt in 3K ... man that was ~25K mark. @45K it was 1 qt in 300, and I had a bottle of oil in my backpack at all times.
Cool.
Buddha.

i am at 43009.9 miles now.  what do you think i am going to have to work on?

[DoD#i]

It depends. If you take the simple (likely wrong) approach, you've got at least 20,000 miles (based on Sr*n*th's experience) before you get to 1 quart in 300, and obviously it was still riding. If you look at Jack's bike (or mine if the checkbox on the tile for "exceeds mechanical limits" was not a typo) you might have a lot longer. How you ride it and how you maintain it will also affect the life.

Don't worry about it, but do check the oil regularly. And lube the chain, check the tension, check the tire pressure, use the carb drains, change the fork oil and keep the rubber side down. But don't worry about it - you're making mountains out of molehills. Sure, you could dump the price of a used GS into rebuilding it right now so it won't use oil - but there's no need whatever to do that. Just add some oil. After it passes a quart in 500, keep an eye out for a junkyard engine in good shape, which will be a much better deal than a rebuild, and will at least let you ride the bike while you futz with a rebuild if you simply MUST rebuild to keep yourself happy (and broke).

[The Buddha]

Ride it and call me when you get to 1 qt in 300 miles ... yes 300 .... no typo, three hundred.
2qt in 3K ... man that was ~25K mark. @45K it was 1 qt in 300, and I had a bottle of oil in my backpack at all times.
Cool.
Buddha.

i am at 43009.9 miles now.  what do you think i am going to have to work on?

Craigslist ... I got a shiny nice 7 bones for mine.
Cool.
Buddha.

[jp]

Are you burning oil steadily over the 3K miles, or does your oil consumption go up after a point. I go through about 3/4 of a quart in 3K miles, but 2/3 of that comes after 2K miles. Your loss is most likely due to rings wearing; normal for an air-cooled engine. When the oil thins down, more of it will blow past the rings. I would change the oil, then track oil usage closely until the next oil change. You might solve most of your problem just by changing oil a little more frequently. Also, where are you located? If you're in one of the hotter areas of the country, you may want to switch to 20W-50 oil for the hotter months.

[newbie]

I have this same problem on my 07 with 8K miles............in town she eats no oil...........on the highway for 200 miles at 70 it will drop the oil level from the f mark down to about half way on the grids on the dip stick. I was about to post something about my concerns. I do have a hard time getting a good oil reading to and yes ive researched it in the search option.

[gsJack]

No mention how often oil is changed by either dadsafrantic or newbie?  With over 10k miles on my 02 GS back in June 04 I did 400 interstate miles at 70-80 mph indicated to get to the Smoky Mtns, rode hard there for 3 days, and then did another 400 freeway miles back home without adding oil during the 1500 mile trip which I started on fresh oil.  Two years before with about 50k miles on my 97 GS a 500 mile day to upper NY state at similar speeds brought me down to the add mark but I started that run with well over 2k miles on the oil.

Just changed my oil last Sat on the 02 GS with 2800 miles on it's 15W-40 oil and 73k miles on the bike.  It was close to the full mark and I got there on one gallon of oil.  I use 3 quarts for oil change and 1 quart for adding some after 1500 miles or so and change when the gallon is gone.     I check my oil quickly and easily with consistant results.

It's ride time now so I'll be back later with thoughts about using 20W-50 oil in a air cooled GS500, don't unless you have to.

[newbie]

Change oil every 1500 to 2000 miles.........oil change 500 miles ago with oil usage as described.............seems to eat the oil no matter what point at in opil change

[drincruz]

i've had to top off my oil a couple of times this summer. seems normal for air-cooled bikes especially in summer. not really hard riding either, just highway cruising and such.

no biggie, just ALWAYS check your oil level!

cheers,
~drin

[KasbeKZ]

did you ride that bike hard buddha? that's not how they're supposed to do is it?

[dadsafrantic]

i usually change the oil every 3000+ miles.  all of my riding is 70-75 mph for 38 miles each way except for about 2 miles on either end.

[DoD#i]

You might drop to 2500 or 2000 miles and see what happens to usage - or simply change it and then track/graph use over time to see if it does use less when the oil is fresh, and more later, and use that info to pick an oil change interval (if it's a straight line, sticking with 3000 is probably fine.)

You might also want to look at the 17 or 18 tooth front sprocket to drop high-speed RPMs with your riding pattern.

[dadsafrantic]

You might drop to 2500 or 2000 miles and see what happens to usage - or simply change it and then track/graph use over time to see if it does use less when the oil is fresh, and more later, and use that info to pick an oil change interval (if it's a straight line, sticking with 3000 is probably fine.)

You might also want to look at the 17 or 18 tooth front sprocket to drop high-speed RPMs with your riding pattern.

i haved alot of hills on both ends of my commute.  i don't think the different front sprocket is workable.

[DoD#i]

You do have a transmission - nothing says you have to stay in 6th for the hills...though you might also find that you can.

[gsJack]

This is an oil thread so opinions will vary.     The loosely fit GS500 air cooled engine will start to push oil mostly at higher rpm after it has 40k or so miles on it.  Oil consumption will be minimum with fresh oil and increase over the first 1500 miles and then level off.  This has been my experience on 2 GS500 bikes I've put 80k and now 73k so far miles on.  Both have progressed about the same.  Your bike could vary considerably depending on your usage. 

dadsafrantic's oil consumption sounds about right to me for a GS with just over 40k miles and being used for freeway commuting at higher speeds.  I'd use 15W-40 heavy duty truck oil and change it every gallon of usage which probably would be 2-2.5k mile intervals and change filter every other oil change and see how it goes.  3 quarts for change and another quart for adding and change when low again.  The smaller the viscosity range the less it will break down, a 15-40 won't break down as far as a 10-40 for example.  A 20-50 will not provide the engine cooling a 10-40 or 15-40 will.

newbie's oil consumption seems too high for a GS engine with only 8k miles on it if it's an accurate reading and I agree with newbie that it's hard to get an accurate reading.  Many years ago when my CB750K began using a lot of oil and I was getting all different measures of oil level depending on how hot it was and how long it was left to drain down hot the reading was varied too much so I began checking oil in the morning when cold and topping up as required before start up.  I've used that procedure since on 2 more Hondas after the CB750 and on both of my GS's.  I checked them hot and cold and found the reading cold taken with the dipstick screwed all the way in was about the same or close enough to the hot reading just putting the dipstick in to the threads and not screwing down.  So I put the bike on the centerstand and leave it until next day and then just unscrew and pull it out and check cold.  Gives a very consistant reading that can be compared from day to day or trip to trip.

[dadsafrantic]

dadsafrantic's oil consumption sounds about right to me for a GS with just over 40k miles and being used for freeway commuting at higher speeds.  I'd use 15W-40 heavy duty truck oil and change it every gallon of usage which probably would be 2-2.5k mile intervals and change filter every other oil change and see how it goes.  3 quarts for change and another quart for adding and change when low again.  The smaller the viscosity range the less it will break down, a 15-40 won't break down as far as a 10-40 for example.  A 20-50 will not provide the engine cooling a 10-40 or 15-40 will.

do you mean the oil in semi rigs?  where do i get heavy duty truck oil?

[dadsafrantic]

You do have a transmission - nothing says you have to stay in 6th for the hills...though you might also find that you can.

That is true enough.  I will consider the sprocket change in the near budgetary future.

Thanks.

[bill14224]

dadsafrantic's oil consumption sounds about right to me for a GS with just over 40k miles and being used for freeway commuting at higher speeds.  I'd use 15W-40 heavy duty truck oil and change it every gallon of usage which probably would be 2-2.5k mile intervals and change filter every other oil change and see how it goes.  3 quarts for change and another quart for adding and change when low again.  The smaller the viscosity range the less it will break down, a 15-40 won't break down as far as a 10-40 for example.  A 20-50 will not provide the engine cooling a 10-40 or 15-40 will.

do you mean the oil in semi rigs?  where do i get heavy duty truck oil?

Shell Rotella T 15W-40 oil.  Available at any auto parts store for about $12.69/gallon.

I took Jack's and others' advice and began using Rotella this year.  I found it reduces oil consumption over 10W-40 and makes the gears shift better and neutral is easier to find.  Super easy, in fact. 

[gsJack]

Like Bill said they are available at Walmarts and just about any auto parts store that sells oil.  I started with Mobil Delvac 1300, then Shell Rotella T, and last time I went to local Autozone they only had the Chevron Delo 400.  I just made my 2nd change with the Delo and I hesitate to say it yet but it seems to be the best so far.

See Addendum at bottom of this oil article for more info:

http://www.vfrworld.com/tex_vfr/tech/oil.htm