Hey all, I have a question about my GS500F's oil level.

I serviced it a few months ago, new 10-w40  oil and new filter etc. After I finished the service I checked the level, and it was a little over half full.
Fine I thought, and so I went for some long rides and, a little over a week ago I did a trackday where I really pushed the bike to it's limit.
We'r talking about maybe 2-3000k's + a trackday.

So yesterday I chacked the oil level and it was bearly touching the dip-stick. 
My first thought was "oh shaZam!, how long has it been running with such a low oil amount?", but then I thought about how much I had been riding, and I have heard that GS's eat alot of oil on a trackday.

So I filled it up, a little over ½ liter of oil was put on 

Engine still sounds like it should and performes like it should, no knocking noises or anything, so I'm pretty sure the engine is okay.


But I'm still a bit conserned about how much oil it has used. A mechanic at my work told me that I should switch to a 10-w50 oil, or maybe even higher, which would be alot better for my engine.


Any thoughts on this? 

1/2 full ... you did a track day ... its now below the dip stick ...
OK ... that oil, it just slows you down, you dont need it.
Cool.
Srinath.

 

I check my oil before every second ride.  The manual says to check it before every time you ride.  It's a good habit that could end up saving you a lot of money in the long run. 

The viscosity I use depends on the season and local climate.  I live in Oklahoma --    HOT summers -- so I use 20W50 in the late spring, summer, and early fall.  I use 10W40 in the late fall, winter, and early spring.

I do notice that the bike uses more oil in really hot weather.  So you may need to consider a slightly thicker oil for those seasons.

My bike has a small oil leak around the base gasket.  I'm too lazy to change it until it gets worse, so I just check it all the time.  It doesn't take long to check the oil, and it's a good habit!

Also don't forget to check the oil when the bike is on the centerstand or when the bike is completely upright, no checking it while its on the sidestand

The faster you go the more oil it uses.

Quote from: trumpetguy on August 23, 2007, 09:07:27 AM
The viscosity I use depends on the season and local climate.  I live in Oklahoma --    HOT summers -- so I use 20W50 in the late spring, summer, and early fall.  I use 10W40 in the late fall, winter, and early spring.

I do notice that the bike uses more oil in really hot weather.  So you may need to consider a slightly thicker oil for those seasons.

My bike has a small oil leak around the base gasket.  I'm too lazy to change it until it gets worse, so I just check it all the time.  It doesn't take long to check the oil, and it's a good habit!

Yeah, it's been rather hot here aswell, and it was about 29 degrees C on the trackday.

How do you feel it runs on 20W50?

Thanks for the advice everybody. 

Quote from: Chris18 on August 23, 2007, 12:12:08 PM
How do you feel it runs on 20W50?

I've not done any dyno runs, but I haven't noticed any change in the "butt dyno."  Seems to run just as well in hot weather as the 10W40 in cooler weather. 

I'm pretty suspicious of 10W40 in temps over 90F.

Keep in mind that the dipstick is to tell you how much above nominal the engine has.

Overfilling is a bad thing.

Underfilling means there is less to burn off as your ride fast(er).

Checking at every fillup or two rides is a good idea.

10w40 is right there on the dipstick. gotta love that.

Using a thicker oil will not necessarily be a good thing.

In the terms of 10w40, we need to tackle a few things and have them understood fully.

The first number, "10" is how viscous the oil is at 0 degrees. By that, I mean, that the 10w oil will take twice as long to get to the top end of your engine than a 5w. Going to a 15w will take twice as long as 10w, and 20w will take 4 times as long to get to the top end than 10w.

The "w" stands for winter, not weight.

The "40" defines how viscous, or thick, the oil is at normal operating temperature. Again, the same rules in different weights in the second number is the same as the first number.

Thicker oil is a lot harder on your starting components (Starter, battery, and of course, in turn, your stator) at start up. Also, more metal on metal contact is happening on the higher numbered oils. Also, your oil pump has to work harder because the oil is less viscous. Synthetics are a different story, but we'll stick with just conventional dino based oils.

If you use a higher later end numbered oil, your engine will bog down for the same reasons. The oil is thicker...it takes more effort for the engine to slosh that oil around to do it's job of cleaning, lubricating and cooling the motor. And remember kids, bog down equals less torque/horsepower!

Oh, and don't forget, we all have air cooled motors...even the oil cooled mills rely heavily on air current to cool the oil so that it doesn't break down fast, and cause over heating of the engine.

Anyways, it should be that if the manufacturer of the engine says to put in 10w40 year round (Which for most motorcyclists is during the summer months primarily) that is the oil you should use. They have done EXTENSIVE testing to find the optimal oil for the design they have created.

The best idea during the hot months is to shorten the oil change intervals, to prevent viscosity breakdown. Besides, the additive package in the oil is all used up within 2000km of riding. After that, there is no more (usable) additives.


Oh yeah, one other side note...the further away the two numbers are from each other, the more additives had to be used to achieve the classification. And that is not always a good thing. Those additives may not provide your engine with enough of the primary additives that are needed for today's engines.

Short version:

Change your oil often, and check it regularly.

GS rider is pretty accurate, however thinner oil gets in the bearings and head etc quicker, but Thicker oil retains better film strength in bearings that may have higher wear.
After 15K or so I'd go 20W50, or better yet, synthetic. Yea crap will get past the rings and cost ya $$$ ...
Cool.
Srinath.

I've run 10w40 since new, and it still burns the same amount, roughly a quart every 1.5K miles.

Cheap oil makes it shift like crap, good oil makes it shift smoothly and run quieter.  I don't argue with the change it often, and check it often camp.

18,000 miles on the ticker today.

Castrol 10w40 (hellllllo dipstick!) since 'new' to me. 15,000 miles by me.

50 mpg every time.

0-60 in 4.3
50-100 in 4.3

Doesn't smoke _yet_, doesn't knock, ping, crap out or lurch --- yet.

I change mine every 2-3000 miles depending on the weather. It uses 1/2 to 1 quart between changes.

I check it at every time I fill up with gas.

Castrol 10w40.

Simple.

Oh, and I've never felt any shifting like crap syndrome either. How would I know since I don't switch brands every 3 weeks ? Dunno, duncare.

I'd go thicker as it gets older. The idea is to get the wear balanced. What I mean is, thick oil will retain better film on the bearings that are wearing, but it will take longer to get to the parts, especially the head. Your crank bearings and head should go at the same time. IMHO. No sense having a busted crank bearing with a great head, and vice versa makes a bit of sense, but not a whole lot.
Anyway, 10W40 is decent. But at the 15-20K mark, I'd go to 20W50 even if just in summer.
Cool.
Srinath.

Hope you like replacing starting components more often, and enjoy less response.

Seshadri, normally, I agree/enjoy reading your posts, but in this case, I have to respectfully disagree with your opinion.
If you're trying to balance out wear, the best idea is to do a full overhaul, not try to mask the problem.

Band aids are great for cuts, not engines.

What about a 10w50 oil?
We have some synthetic 10w50 oil at my work, special bike oil, I was thinking of trying that out for the rest of the season.
Anybody have any bad remarks about that? 

Okay, so now we get into synthetics...

To make a REAL long story short, a synthetic 10w50 is VERY close to a conventional 5w40 (If 5w40 were to be available in conventional, which it isn't) because of the way it is graded.

Balancing wear is the opposite of rebuilding your engine. You would rather have one deep motor part die much much much sooner than the others. I'd rather have the top end and bottom end need rebuild at the same time. I dont want to do a head job at 20K and motor at 40k, I'd rather do it all at 30k, atleast I get the option of throwing the motor out and sliding in another if I was lazy, or taking it out and rebuilding at my leisure while riding the other motor. That was what I meant by balancing the wear. Not a bandaid, an oil pressure guage will tell you what you need to know. 10W40 shows 0, 20W50 shows like 3 psi at idle when hot. That means, OK fine guage isn't very sensitive, but also you're leaking at the babbits and not holding pressure. Oil is no use unless you're getting pressure. 20W50 will take that tiny fraction of a second longer to get into the cam bearings at atart up, 10W40 will get there an instant quicker. However, your cam bearings will wear a lot less than the crank journal anyway, you would be much better off saving the crank. Cam journals will prolly last 2-3 cycles of the crank bearings. And if and when you lose it, machine the crank and bore the head to take ball bearings and send the oil that comes up in that bearing into the area next to the bucket. OK OK hige pain, however, cam bearings are so slow wearing, you are better off doing what the crank needs. BTW, my 48K mile GS, I ran 60Wt in the last 8K or so, and never had a problem with cam journal or crank, and I even took off the cam journals to fix an end play that was growing since 15K.
Cool.
Srinath.

No anything-50 oil in the GS500 again for me, never again !!!!

Before the GS500s, I had four air cooled Hondas that I put over 230,000 total miles on and used 10W-40 winters and 20W-50 summers.  All began to ping under load in hot summer weather as the miles piled up and I went from reg to mid grade to premiun gas to eliminate the gas knock.

I broke my 97 GS500E in on 10W-40 dino juice and went to 15W-50 Mobil 1 full synthetic for the next 50k miles.  It progressed to mid grade and then premium gas to eliminate pinging as the carbon built up in the engine as the Hondas did.  After 50k miles or so I went to the 15W-40 Delvac heavy duty truck oil and noticed it ran cooler.  Went back to reg gas with no pinging till 80k miles on bike.

Boiught my 02 GS500 with about 4k miles on it and have always run the 15W-40 Delvac or Rotella dino juice oils and it has always run ping free all summer on reg gas and now have over 52k miles on it that way.

Simply, all air cooled bikes are air/oil cooled.  They need ample oil flow to carry the heat away from the head to the sump to cool and the 10/15-40 oils flow more freely than the 15/20-50 oils to provide better cooling.

Just my opinion based on over 350,000 miles of air cooled motorcycling.