If you have rings going bad then most oil burning is going to happen under engine load, you won't notice the smoke. You are accelerating. Someone behind you on the road might see it. But you can burn a whole lot of oil without a really noticeable amount of smoke.

If the rings are COMPLETELY SHOT, that is you are burning a quart of oil every time you start up the bike and run to the corner store, then you will see the smoke even at idle when you are starting up the bike.

You probably have oil leak(s) in addition to burning oil. You may very likely have oil leaks that only manifest while the oil is under pressure (engine running) so it drips while you are going down the road and you might not see the result of it.

Quote from: Atesz792 on April 19, 2017, 10:26:31 AM

Quote from: Darkstar on April 18, 2017, 07:46:42 PM

Quote from: The Buddha on April 18, 2017, 07:28:26 PM
I was down to 300 miles per qt and never had an issue.

that's a relief, thanks man

Just read my signature
Also, IIRC Buddha used something like straight 60 grade in that particular bike.
I would be interested in startup temps though...

I did, except Only for maybe 1-2 changes. The problem wasn't the oil, it slowed usage just fine. Maybe to 75% of the 10/40, 20/50 but it cost 3X cos Valvoline was the only game in the 60wt town, and accel was like 75c a qt and available @ Walmart and rated SF (for carbs made without electronic crap in the exhaust). Valvoline 60 wt was pretty much one of those try every auto parts store and every hot rod shop in town, answer a million questions from fools who say "oh for a motorcycle - you need to go to the dealer man" and what not and I just got tired of it.
If you're changing it often, keeping it topped up and keeping the revs up (obviously the thing is a GS, without revs you get nothing from it) it wont hurt with 10w40 or 20w50.

Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on April 20, 2017, 07:49:02 AM
Cool.

The amount of knowledge and experience in this forum is incredible

Quote from: mr72 on April 20, 2017, 07:10:13 AM
If you have rings going bad then most oil burning is going to happen under engine load, you won't notice the smoke. You are accelerating. Someone behind you on the road might see it. But you can burn a whole lot of oil without a really noticeable amount of smoke.

If the rings are COMPLETELY SHOT, that is you are burning a quart of oil every time you start up the bike and run to the corner store, then you will see the smoke even at idle when you are starting up the bike.

You probably have oil leak(s) in addition to burning oil. You may very likely have oil leaks that only manifest while the oil is under pressure (engine running) so it drips while you are going down the road and you might not see the result of it.

I thought so too, but had my wife follow me with the car looking @ the exhaust - no smoke. I've had people ride my bike and followed them, again, no. I have sat the thing and revved with my hand in the exhaust stream and found black spots of oil/gas/water/soot mix. Bingo.
You're spraying liquid oil out the exhaust cos you are slobbering oil onto the cyl wall, and it never gets hot enough to burn @ the wall. It stays and accumulates on the wall till its swept out as a liquid into the exhaust stream with the revving up/down situation.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on April 20, 2017, 09:13:19 AM
revved with my hand in the exhaust stream

adding this to my todo list

Quote from: Darkstar on April 20, 2017, 06:30:55 AM

Quote from: J_Walker on April 19, 2017, 04:15:52 PM
rubbery

you've got me thinking that maybe i have an oil leak that i havent considered. i mean i dont have any smoke so where the hell is the oil going? maybe its leaking out of a gasket and burning off slowly on the front grill, or dripping out of the oil cooler when its under pressure and then onto the pavement, so i never see it?

A couple of spots it could be leaking from, the head gasket up top "big rubbery one" but you will see a steam of oil coming from that spot.. unless your engine is one of the painted black kind, but rubbing the finger on this area you will notice oil easily. you will see this spot leak when the bike is running at at REVs [when you have oil pressure]

a second easy spot that likes to leak again when you are making oil pressure. is the O-ring around the dipstick.

now the oil pan gaskets on these things normally don't leak UNTIL someone takes off the oil pan and tries to re-use the gasket, but easy enough to check.

Now another "odd" place to leak oil, is behind the rear sprocket, two places, either directly BEHIND the sprocket, or, there is a little metal pushrod behind the sprocket closer to the front of the bike on the case, normally covered in crud.. there is I believe 2 O-rings or a gasket or something.. anyway they crumble to pieces and are never seen again, oil tends to not "burst" from this area, and you probably will never see it actually drip, but it can leak from here.

http://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/2005-suzuki-gs500f/o/m16075#sch591339 look at number 20.

and a second ODD Place oil tends to escape this engine, is at the top of the engine, there's a breather/vent up there, thats suppose to let water vapor escape and all the good stuff, under the plate, there's this steel wool looking mesh block. if anyone's messed with the engine, they could of forgotten to stick the mesh block back in there, and if that breather tube that connects to the air box is clean and not filled with gunk, you will see lots of oil in the airbox.

and the 3rd odd place I've noticed GS's like to leak their oil, in the front of the bike behind the headers. there is this little "shelf" right below where it says the actual CC's of the engine.. they can leak from there, and you will know its leaking from there because all the road grime and sand is accumulating on there more then normal.

and finally my 4th odd place is actually the bolts that connect the transmission cases halves, the two halves don't use a gasket, [go ahead an try to find one, you wont...] they are stuck together with some sort of RTV silicone, sometimes the stuff fails, but normally around a one of the MANY bolts the hold it together, easy enough, just look for an oily bolt that's seeping oil, normally not much grime gets stuck to these because its upside down. To "fix" this issue, just pull the bolt, get up in the hole, and clean everything REALLY good. so there is no oil anywhere, now.. take a bunch of RTV of your own, and SLOP it around the smooth part of the bolt [not the threads] your basically trying to plug the space around the bolt and engine case. thus, it stops leaking...

Quote from: J_Walker on April 22, 2017, 12:35:08 AM
.. they can leak from there

You're right. I went out and took a closer look and I have a leak that ends at the bottom of the engine, above the oil pan. It was easy to miss because I was just looking at the bottom. A relief really as it's far better than something in the piston! So this week I'll degrease and try the foot powder test. Thanks for taking the time to explain all of this!