Wondering what everyone thinks of draining and filling the oil every 2500 miles and replacing the filter every 7500? I do not think that I would need to be concerned about the oil wearing out or having to much crud in it, however I am worrying about the filter becoming clogged and oil starvation? I Plan on using the cheapest 10-40 mc oil i can find, unless oil consumption increases.

The bike is also covered in oil is there anywhere specific not to spray degreaser? ie wheel bearing seals


background to my crazy idea: Short: I refuse to mess with the filter cover gasket ever again, local shop charges 70-80 bucks depending on oil selection, bike barely burns oil...
...LONG: I purchased the bike about 2 weeks ago, put 1200 miles on it(previous owner claimed oil changed 3k earlier). Today changed the grey   oil and nasty filter, had severe gasket fitment issues, and had to ride across town with a spinning tire to local motorcycle shop. Their mechanic got fed up with the gaskets they had (fram k&n) and decided to make his own,lol guess I don't totally fail at oil changes... The gs now is  covered in oil and decided to idle at 4k, tomorrows projects. Additional random not applicable info My 2001 autoxed sentra gets 5kmi change intervals with imported german castrol syntec, and burns about 3/4 of a quart in that time, and I can tell a noticeable difference between dino and the syntec in it.

Ive got no advice to offer about the frequency of oil changes, but I feel your pain regarding that gasket. I changed my oil two days ago and it was a pain in the ass getting the gasket to stay in the grove. I ended up stretching it for about half an hour. Then i had to hold it in the grove as I quickly slapped the cover back on the bike. It was quite annoying, but the bike seems to be holding oil.

Grey oil?  Grey or creamy oil is from water emulsifying with oil.  Maybe the bloke you got it froms kid decided to help daddy and top his bike up with water!!!! or grey oil CAN be caused by petrol mixing with oil and emulsifying.

Use degreaser on engine and rags with kero or diesel or 3in1/wd40 etc oil to clean the rest of the bike.  Try to keep degreaser to engine only so you do not overspray onto your rubber.

Gasket.  Little silicon to hold gasket in place long enough to slap cover on does the trick

Looking at the parking permits, and talking with the guy it had mostly been sitting the past 3-4 months, i assume that would explain the discoloration

Oh forgot the landlord is probably going to be furious at my little oil trail in the apartment parking lot, so no messing with that gasket for me...

I would say 2500 is a good amount to go before replacing the oil. You could go less, its cheap insurance for a healthy engine.
I think you should always replace the filter too, otherwise you are not replacing all the oil and you are leaving a nasty filter in there. A new filter is also cheap insurance. I've never had problems with the gasket on the oil filter cap though.

I feel your pain about the filter cover gasket.

I apply a bead (thin as possible) of black rtv in the gaskets groove and then it sticks in place and helps seal it.

Even with this method it still drips for the first day or two after an oil change.

I don't know how bad it is but I am changing the oil every 3000 miles and only changing the filter on every other oil change.

I have only changed the oil once so far on my GS and didn't have any problems with the gasket and getting the front cover back on but maybe i just got lucky.  Personally i will be changing the filter everytime i change the oil cause the filter does prevent some of the oil from draining and you are essentially mixing a decent amount of old oil with new oil.  I would say probably about half a quart or more of additional oil came out after letting everything drain out of the bottom of the bike when i pulled the filter.

Quote from: Bluesmudge on August 19, 2009, 11:55:12 PM
I would say 2500 is a good amount to go before replacing the oil. You could go less, its cheap insurance for a healthy engine.
I think you should always replace the filter too, otherwise you are not replacing all the oil and you are leaving a nasty filter in there. A new filter is also cheap insurance. I've never had problems with the gasket on the oil filter cap though.

I agree with you, but figured I'd throw this out there too...

Many manufacturer's suggested maintainence schedules don't include a filter change with each oil change.  Why argue with that.  The way I look at it, if I can fill that big oil filter full of crud in 3k miles I have bigger problems than just dirty oil.  

Have you done a valve check yet?  Only ask because there are four large pockets in the top of the head that hold oil for the cams that don't drain for an oil change which is just an example of how much oil isn't changed every time you change oil whether you change the filter or not.  Point is you change as much of the oil as possible and don't worry about the rest.

I think changing the oil every 2500 miles and the filter every other oil change is a good plan so that's the way I do it.  I must have done about 60 oil changes with about 30 filter changes during my 150k miles of GS500 riding on two bikes.  I like the heavy duty 15W-40 oils like Delvac 1300, Rotella T, Delo 400, etc for air cooled bike engines, about $12 a gallon at any Walmart or Autozone store.  I put in three quarts with a change whether I change the filter or not and use the other quart for adding later.  Works for me.

I keep a small container of all purpose grease around that I use for many things including that oil filter gasket.  Just grab a couple fingers of grease and heavily coat the gasket with it and put the gasket in the groove and smooth it down with the rest so it's well stuck in the groove.  Don't like the idea of using gasket sealers on that o-ring type seal, any little bit of grease that gets in there will wash away and mix with engine oil and not matter.

Only had one filter cover oil leak early on with my first GS and went back to the garage and changed the gasket, no problem removing the cover to change the gasket and the oil loss is minimal, not necessary to drain the oil to change that gasket.

I just leave the oring in there, unless its dryrotted, I dont see a reason to mess with it

I agree with Jack and Jeremy.  My gasket stayed in the groove and looked good, so I left it alone.  I also change my oil every 2-3 thousand miles when it starts turning dark, and I change the filter once a year.

Thanks everyone, I feel relatively safe now.