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?
just add a lil at a time and check after each time till its up to the appropriate level
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
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 (http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=11547.msg96564#msg96564)]. 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.
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?
Quote from: mondo27I 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?