'99 curvy burning oil?!

I have '99 curvy and I just had the valve clearances checked and carbs re-balanced. When I went to pick it up the guy said it had burnt nearly a litre of oil... I only did the oil change about 4k miles ago. is there a reason for this? I do all my oil and filter changes myself and never had this problem. can anyone shed some light on this?

for reference its '99 curvy 650s with just over 30k miles on the clock.

thanks
NS

[jambo]

OK,
First up, you need to check your oil regularly, these engines do not suffer low oil well at all, the big end shells die and then you need a new motor. The oil should be checked weekly or so, depending on your weekly mileage.

Hopefully in this case you've got away with it.

In terms of usage it seems to depend on the motor, some burn a little due to wear in the rings/bores, sometimes a valve seal is letting some past. 1/l in 4,000 miles I'd say is acceptable.

Jambo

ah ok thanks for the info. so the litre in 4k miles is normal. I have been keeping an eye on it... will probably keep a closer eye on it. she doesn't seem to have any issues and he checked her all over so she seems ok. will keep a closer eye on it and see how she goes.

since having the valves and carbs done , she runs so much smoother and is even more of a joy to ride. at least I can rest my mind about the oil haha

thanks for the help bud I appreciate it.

NS

[johnnyrod]

Like Jambo says you would have seen it drop off the bottom of the sightglass well before a whole litre is needed. I wouldn't call that rate of usage acceptable though. I have a 99 bike with 40k on the clock and for most of its life it's done a track day or two a year as well. The only time I ever need to put oil in is when it gets changed, I can't remember the last time it needed topping up between services. I would keep a close eye on yours over the summer and see how it goes.

ok. what could be the cause if something is wrong?

like I said when it was checked there was nothing obvious that stood out to him and she's running ok. not sure what it could be but am keeping an eye on it atm.

NS

[Bibio]

can i ask what mileage your oil changes are?

every 5k miles

[Biker Biggles]

5k miles is too long an interval.I used to change mine every 3k and a new filter each time as well.As said above you need to get into the habit of checking the oil level routinely as one incident of low level running will bin your engine.Some use a bit of oil and its not a problem as long as you top it up.

been using my haynes manual and it says to change every 5k miles.

[Bibio]

biggles is right its 3.5k. the oil will be thinning right out at 5k, dont rely on Haynes shizz as most of the time they are wrong.