Question 'bout oil

[lreal]

Hi

Can you please tell me something 'bout following questions?

1) Oil brand you use

2) SAE viscosity index that you put in your domi

3) What's approx your domi's oil consumption? ( or c.c. reposition for what mileage )

Thanks for answers

Lorenzo

[Rubberchicken]

Currently Belray 10W40 semisynthetic, ideally changed every 3000 km but usually a little more. I've also used Valvoline 10W40 semisynth, with much the same results.

Oil consumption depends (heavily!) on proper change intervals and on the kind of riding I do.

Regular day to day non-motorway riding it's usually less than half a liter per oil change, or better than 1 liter per 6000 km.

But after 100 km of constant motorway speeds (120 km/h) in the "right" conditions it can take a gulp of as much as a liter which is quite a nasty shock if you don't know about it.

I'm not sure how much of this is normal and how much is special for my knackered old ride, but the problem seems to be that the engine can't keep cool enough at those speeds. I've got an oil thermometer so I can see what's going on, and whenever the oil temp gets around the 120 degrees C mark I have to be careful with the oil. Riding extended motorway stretches in summer can get the temperature up beyond 140 degrees, at which point the oil is smoking.

Anyway, sticking to the change intervals is a lot more important than using expensive top quality oil. If you keep track of when and at what mileage you did your oil changes and top-ups, you can see a pattern emerge after a while. After the oil change it's all ok, and when you get to the point where you should change the oil, you'll see it'll start using more oil. Go beyond the service interval and it'll start drinking more and more because the oil is broken down.

So always keep a logbook of what work you do on the bike.

[lreal]

Thanks rubberchicken for your reply

Reason of my question is a shuck after checking oil level after yesterday's route.

Route scheme:
1) Home - meeting point : 114 Km ; 110-125 kph
2) Off-road : 178 Km medium-high rithm
3) End.off - Home : 225 Km ; 120-130 kph

Total 517 Km

Re-filling: ¡¡¡¡ 1,1 Liters !!!!
ELF prestigrade Mineral, 10W50

Remark:::: I checked to set-up top level before route witl the oil being HOT ... Do not know if I made a mistake because of setting the level in that conditions

Thanks for comments

[nickygee]

I'D agree with our feathered prosthetic friend. Mine likes to sup the oil if im sittnig it around the 5000 rev mark for relatively prolonged periods. I use castrol 10w40 semi. i usually buy a tanker full of it when it's on promo in halfords or somewhere similar and so it doesn't feel so bad when you seem to go through a lot. i recently got 2 x 5 litres of magnatec with 10 quid cash back on each which was a scoop.
likewise if i get home and have been giving her a bit of a flogging
when i check the oil straight away, it can be literally smoking. best bet is just to keep changing it as often as you feel you can afford and pray to 'thumper', the great god of single cylinder traillies

[Rubberchicken]

Checking with the engine hot is good.

And 1.1 liter is a lot!
There's only 2 liter in there, I think it has half a liter in the engine so you should still be ok, but not by a big margin.

High speed and offroad are the most taxing on the engine, so it's not all that surprising really. I'd guess your engine was running quite hot all the time. You might want to get one of those dipstick-thermometers so you can see what's going on with the oil.

[lreal]

... best bet is just to keep changing it as often as you feel you can afford and pray to 'thumper', the great god of single cylinder traillies

[lreal]

... You might want to get one of those dipstick-thermometers so you can see what's going on with the oil.

That's good idea
I've already got a thermo ... i'll think how could I deep it in the oil

cheers

[Rubberchicken]

I've got one of these:

Which is brilliant. It just swaps in place of the normal dipstick, and it's right in front of you so you can keep an eye on things when you're riding.

They're about 50 euro for the RR and 30 for the cheap knockoff.

I've got them both (RR in the dommie, cheapo in the cow) and so far the RR has been flawless for 65000 km, and the cheap knockoff has caused me an afternoon's grief within 5000 km when the hardened out and broken o-ring fell into the engine

[Confucious]

I've got one of these:

Which is brilliant. It just swaps in place of the normal dipstick, and it's right in front of you so you can keep an eye on things when you're riding.

They're about 50 euro for the RR and 30 for the cheap knockoff.

:idea: I gotta get me one of those RR gauges - where did you get it

[Confucious]

Found this http://www.mgcycle.com/oil.html but is it the long, medium or short type ?