Could it be the oil? Not another oil thread, I promise

[rickyny]

I took the bike to the dealer for its initial service today, I mentioned to the
tech guy that it had been burning a lot of oil, more than what is expected of
an air cooled engine. He said that they can put 20w50 oil and that it would be much
better, so I told him to go ahead and use that grade of oil.
After leaving the dealer I took the GS on a nice ride (80+ miles). Everything
felt smooth until I had ridden maybe 60 miles and I was shifting from 5th to 6th, I
closed the throttle, pull in the clutch and shifted up. I felt went it went to 6th and I slowly
released the clutch as I gave it a little gas... and then it revved up is if I had pull the clutch in
again without closing the throttle, but I hadn't done that, I didn't touch the clutch at all. All of a sudden
the transmission caught 6th gear again and everything went back to normal. It did this twice and only
going from 5th to 6th gear. I was doing 65 mph and the rpm's were at 5500 when I decided to shift
up to 6th both times.
Do you think that is the oil? It has never done that before. Should I go back to 10w40?

TIA,
Ricky

[crzydood17]

could be some sort of bad lubricant in the oil, it could just be false neutrals, or it could be your tranny is about to splode into 10000 peices and you need to punch the guy at the dealership in the face... but im betting on 1 or 2.

Can we get a smiley with a guy wacking his bike instead of a computer?

[XLAR8]

false neutrals are very common on a new gs. i found a lot between 5th and 6th myself.

after 10 000k's i had to pull the front sprocket cover off and when i put it back on i made sure that the clutch rod was pushed all the way in (it was suggested to me that if the clutch rod wasn't all the way in it could cause false neutrals). i must say my clutch is way smoother and i haven't found a false neutrals since (coincident i 'am not sure?) .

[mister]

I stopped having false neutrals when I switched to Motul 5100 oil. None on Motul 300v either. Oh yeah, always between 5th and 6th. Must be a GS500 bonus, like the squeaky rear brake.

Michael

[twocool]

I took the bike to the dealer for its initial service today, I mentioned to the
tech guy that it had been burning a lot of oil, more than what is expected of
an air cooled engine. He said that they can put 20w50 oil and that it would be much
better, so I told him to go ahead and use that grade of oil.
After leaving the dealer I took the GS on a nice ride (80+ miles). Everything
felt smooth until I had ridden maybe 60 miles and I was shifting from 5th to 6th, I
closed the throttle, pull in the clutch and shifted up. I felt went it went to 6th and I slowly
released the clutch as I gave it a little gas... and then it revved up is if I had pull the clutch in
again without closing the throttle, but I hadn't done that, I didn't touch the clutch at all. All of a sudden
the transmission caught 6th gear again and everything went back to normal. It did this twice and only
going from 5th to 6th gear. I was doing 65 mph and the rpm's were at 5500 when I decided to shift
up to 6th both times.
Do you think that is the oil? It has never done that before. Should I go back to 10w40?

TIA,
Ricky

This is a new bike?

Sometimes oil consumption is high during engine break in......in fact, one indication of complete break in is that the oil consumption goes down to reasonable level.....

10-40 or 20-50 really does not make much difference if any........especially to clutch......I would use 20-50 only if the ambient temperatures are high enough to warrent it  (like in summertime) and use 10-40 in the wintertime...


High oil consumption can also be the indication of improper break in........damage to rings and or valves.....

My 09 GS used almost no oil during break in.......

My 04 honda never got proper break in and used too much oil all the time........only solution is top overhaul and re-break in..

Cookie

[ben2go]

I took the bike to the dealer for its initial service today, I mentioned to the
tech guy that it had been burning a lot of oil, more than what is expected of
an air cooled engine. He said that they can put 20w50 oil and that it would be much
better, so I told him to go ahead and use that grade of oil.
After leaving the dealer I took the GS on a nice ride (80+ miles). Everything
felt smooth until I had ridden maybe 60 miles and I was shifting from 5th to 6th, I
closed the throttle, pull in the clutch and shifted up. I felt went it went to 6th and I slowly
released the clutch as I gave it a little gas... and then it revved up is if I had pull the clutch in
again without closing the throttle, but I hadn't done that, I didn't touch the clutch at all. All of a sudden
the transmission caught 6th gear again and everything went back to normal. It did this twice and only
going from 5th to 6th gear. I was doing 65 mph and the rpm's were at 5500 when I decided to shift
up to 6th both times.
Do you think that is the oil? It has never done that before. Should I go back to 10w40?

TIA,
Ricky

I would go back to the 10-40 during the break in period.Until everything seats in,it will burn a little more oil than normal.I have run nothing but 10-40 MC specific oil in my GS's and I rarely have to add oil to them.I usually only have to add oil after I go balls to the wall through the mountains all day.Then I only add like a half of a cup.

[rickyny]

Thanks guys, I know now that is something called false neutral and that is
common on our GS. Now, I'm not too happy about having 20w50 oil and I
think I'll do what ben said, I'll go back to 10w40.