burned all the oil in 1,500 miles

[kristoni22]

the other day i went out to start my gs500 and it wouldn't start, after checking a couple things I found that it has NO OIL in it.  I changed the oil 1,500  miles ago and have seen no sign of oil leakage on the floor in the garage where i park it.  It's a 2002 and still under warranty.  It apparently messed up one of the barrings which will cost me about $500 to fix and the crank may be messed up which would be another $500 just for the part.  Do you think this is something that would be under warrenty.  i dont want to take it to the dealership and pay for an estimant and then end up taking it to a neighborhood machnic in the end.  any help will be greatly appreciated

[pantablo]

Did the dealer do the oil change? that would be your only savinggrace to argue the point. They put oil in it 1500 miles ago and that new a bike shouldnt burn that much oil (making it a warranty issue-I'd argue anyway). But if they didnt do the oil change they'l lfall back on the point that they dont know what you did or didnt do and probabluy tell you they're not responsible...

[Baker]

you can do your own oil changes with out worry.   Unless they can give you 100% proof that somehting you did caused the problem they have to repair it.  You don't even have to tell them you did your own oil change, I don't know what the Required interval is but its often double what most people actually change their oil at.  As long as you can prove that oil changes have been done as required yuor fine.  even reciepts from oil you purchased are proof enough.

[fuzzymemory]

Something is VERY VERY wrong here.  Either something is causing your bike to burn oil like crazy or (my bet) the bike was not given enough oil during the oil change (put back at least as much as what comes out during draining  )  If something is seriously wrong, replacing the bearing & crank won't prevent this from happening in the future.

A longshot possibility is that someone opened up your oil cap and siphoned out a ton of oil because they were hard up for the $ for new oil.

BTW, was shifting the bike rough?  Did it get progressively worse?  I've found that a little too much or too little oil in my Suzuki will alter shifting for the worse - I couldn't imagine running it with almost no oil.

[rrbarna]

My 2001 GS burned serious amounts of oil and twice I forgot to check the oil which had dropped 1.5L below the "low" mark.  I just brought it to the dealership and told them the rate at which the oil was burning and they took care of everything.  I got a free motor rebuild and after 16k km's, the burning is slowly comming back.

Barna

[yamahonkawazuki]

rrbarna, am i reading you correctly?, my gs (frankenbike, bought wrecked, re-habbed, and ((carbs cleaned etc)) doesnt use hardly any oil. i keep reading about how the gs likes the oil, but that is not good. 4119 mi. on mine, btw havn't done the 4k svc yet, no noise so not too worried. but i run it hard up to 9k or so on take-offs :mrgreen: i also check my oil religiously, and have yet to use any.) what gives?

[Baker]

after reading all of these I'm going to be sure to check my oil tomorrow

[JohNLA]

My 02 went throgh a half a qaurt over the past 3k miles.

[kristoni22]

BTW, was shifting the bike rough?  Did it get progressively worse?  I've found that a little too much or too little oil in my Suzuki will alter shifting for the worse - I couldn't imagine running it with almost no oil.

I didn't notice that my bike was running any different the last time I rode it.  I took it to the dealership and gave them a copy of the receipt of my last oil change.  I don't know that the last oil change will even really matter to them since it's suppossed to be changed every 3,000 miles and it's only at 2,600.  I have at least learn the very valuable lesson to check my oil every week... hopefully this lesson won't be that expensive.  I heard that the GS burns oil fast but I'm guessing this is extrodonarily fast.  Any tips on dealing with the dealership if they try not to cover it or claim that there's nothing wrong with it?

[JohnNS]

Forgive what is likely a silly question but, when you changed your oil did you run the bike for a few minutes after you filled it back up? I know when I do mine, I fill it up to the top line on the dipstick, run it for a couple minutes, then top it up again. After I run it the first couple minutes it's so low that it doesn't really show at all on the stick (oil circulating into the filter and such).

I would think if it was burning THAT much oil there'd be some pretty obvious smoke happening wouldn't there?  

John

[kristoni22]

I didn't run it after the oil was put in and check it again.  i will do that next time though.  There was no smoke at all and the oil light didn't even ever come on.

[KevinC]

Did the engine make horrible noises before you checked the oil, or was the difficulty starting it the first problem? When you say it had no oil left, do you mean none showed on the dipstick, or that none was left in the sump? Did it eventually start, or is it seized?

If you didn't run the engine and top it up after changing the oil, you were probably down half a quart to begin with, assuming you changed the filter. For it to eat the rest of the oil in 1,500 miles, there is something wrong with the valve seals or piston rings. It could just be the rings aren't seating, which does seem to be a problem with some GS's. If you baby it too much during break-in, the rings may not seat. Or maybe Suzuki has a tolerance issue on the rings/cylinder bore.

[kristoni22]

Did the engine make horrible noises before you checked the oil, or was the difficulty starting it the first problem? When you say it had no oil left, do you mean none showed on the dipstick, or that none was left in the sump? Did it eventually start, or is it seized?

If you didn't run the engine and top it up after changing the oil, you were probably down half a quart to begin with, assuming you changed the filter. For it to eat the rest of the oil in 1,500 miles, there is something wrong with the valve seals or piston rings. It could just be the rings aren't seating, which does seem to be a problem with some GS's. If you baby it too much during break-in, the rings may not seat. Or maybe Suzuki has a tolerance issue on the rings/cylinder bore.

I tried to start it in the morning before school, it sounded like it was out of gas, it turned over but wouldn't start even with the throttle open.  Then I came home from school tried it again it started this time but if i let up on the throttle it died.  I checked the oil and there was none on the dipstick.  It's at the dealership right now, they're going to look at it and tell me if it was a problem with the bike that made it burn that much oil, then if it was they'll submit a request that suzuki cover the work under warranty.  I'm not holding my breath but hoping for the best anyways.

[rrbarna]

Without question, call the regional Suzuki customer service manager and let them know your problem and that your bike's in the shop awaiting Suzuki's reply.  Your far more likely to get a positive outcome.... trust me on this one!!!  And if the dealership does get the go-ahead, try to find out which mechanic is doing the work and show him your concern for getting your bike back in proper running order.  He'll do a little better job perhaps.

Barna

[The Buddha]

6 to 8K is where it strats to use oil...
Cool.
Srinath.

[JohNLA]

6 to 8K is where it strats to use oil...
Cool.
Srinath.

Well, at least I am typical. I am just turning 9k.

[yamahonkawazuki]

ahhhhhhhhh that would explain mine then