Loosing oil......

[Davies]

Hi All!

Don't know if I have a problem with my bike but I seem to the loosing oil at a fast rate. It has burned up about 1 litre over the past 2000 miles :shock: , but there are no visible leaks....could it be something else?

Cheers,

Paul

[Biker Biggles]

That does not sound too bad to me.Some engines do use a bit especially when they get older.The important thing is that you regularly check youir oil and keep it topped up.Failure to do so results in self destructing engine.

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

Does the exhaust smoke when it's running? If oil is getting into the combustion chamber and burnt there you should have visible smoke coming from the exhaust

Some BMW's drink that much as standard though - if the rate of oil being used up is increasing then something is definitely going wrong.

How much have you been putting in while this has been happening - just one refill or several? If it's only just been spotted it could be down to misreading the sightglass, or taking one measurement when cold and another when the engine is hot?

[Davies]

Cheers for the advice guys. This is the 2nd time I've had to refill it and I do keep a regular eye on it, and check the level when the engine is cool. The bike does smoke a tiny bit on startup, but apart from that there's no smoke visible. I first noticed the problem 2 months ago on a day trip to France.....it was a scorching hot day and I was riding the bike pretty hard. We pulled in for fuel and I had an inclin to check the oil level........and it was below the low mark :shock:

The engine has done about 25000 miles too........

[Biker Biggles]

My son's SV has done 70,000+ miles and uses about that much oil.A mate of mine had a Yam YZF 750 which regularly used twice as much after 25,000 miles.I don't think it's too much of a problem unless it gets noticeably worse.

[RandyO]

oil consumption on my SV is irregular or more dependent on what kind of riding I'm doing

high speed steady highway burns the most, as much as a quart in 500 miles
casual riding burns the least, sometimes less than a quart between oil changes (3500-4000 miles)

sometimes I see smoke on start up, or hard accelerations and decellerations but most of the time, no visible smoke

I check oil every other gas fillup

[andyaikido]

oil consumption on my SV is irregular or more dependent on what kind of riding I'm doing

high speed steady highway burns the most, as much as a quart in 500 miles
casual riding burns the least, sometimes less than a quart between oil changes (3500-4000 miles)

sometimes I see smoke on start up, or hard accelerations and decellerations but most of the time, no visible smoke

I check oil every other gas fillup

A quart is 2 pints? Or is it 2 litres? Damn our metric/imperial system. We buy oil and petrol in litres but i only know my fuel economy in miles per gallon. I know the bike's weight in kilos but my weight in stones, etc. etc. etc.

[auldyin]

what colour is your smoke after start up to see give a big short rev and you'll see?

[RandyO]

oil consumption on my SV is irregular or more dependent on what kind of riding I'm doing

high speed steady highway burns the most, as much as a quart in 500 miles
casual riding burns the least, sometimes less than a quart between oil changes (3500-4000 miles)

sometimes I see smoke on start up, or hard accelerations and decellerations but most of the time, no visible smoke

I check oil every other gas fillup

A quart is 2 pints? Or is it 2 litres? Damn our metric/imperial system. We buy oil and petrol in litres but i only know my fuel economy in miles per gallon. I know the bike's weight in kilos but my weight in stones, etc. etc. etc.

a quart is 2 pints, a little less than a litre 0.946353=1 US quart

http://www.metric-conversions.org/

[Warren]

but surely if you check the oil after a fill up, it means that your engine will be hot, therefore giving you an innacurate reading ?

[Biker Biggles]

I don't think it makes much difference hot or cold as long as the bike is level and the oil has had a minute to drain down to the sump.What is important is that you do it regularly.

[21QUEST]

but surely if you check the oil after a fill up, it means that your engine will be hot, therefore giving you an innacurate reading ?

Your engine should be hot(probably more accurate to say warm) when doing the oil check.

having just filled , assumming that was time he meant fiver or so minutes should be sufficient time to let the oil drain down to the sump before checking it.


Cheers
Ben

[Warren]

but surely if you check the oil after a fill up, it means that your engine will be hot, therefore giving you an innacurate reading ?

Your engine should be hot(probably more accurate to say warm) when doing the oil check.

having just filled , assumming that was time he meant fiver or so minutes should be sufficient time to let the oil drain down to the sump before checking it.


Cheers
Ben

ok, my honda manual says to check mine when the engine is cool.

[21QUEST]

but surely if you check the oil after a fill up, it means that your engine will be hot, therefore giving you an innacurate reading ?

Your engine should be hot(probably more accurate to say warm) when doing the oil check.

having just filled , assumming that was time he meant fiver or so minutes should be sufficient time to let the oil drain down to the sump before checking it.


Cheers
Ben

ok, my honda manual says to check mine when the engine is cool.

That's the problem with Honda. Always have to re-invent the wheel :roll: :wink: .

Cheers
Ben

[auldyin]

In the sv manual on changing oil and filter you shuold pour in about 2.3 litre start the engine for 2-3 mins and then leave for 5 then check oil level and top up if need to, or if you are checking it before a ride it should be done when engine is cold and bike is level.

[Razor]

Are you using fully synthetic oil?
That does burn off quicker than the usual semi-synth, especially if you have a little engine wear.