Question about oil changes.

This sort of follows on from the thread about how well people look after their bikes

I am a little concerend about my engine oil, and that im not changing it frequently enough - I change it between 4000 and 5000 miles, but last week when I did this the oil came out very (very) black; my dad commented on it and so did a couple of his colleuges. This got me thinking, should I change it more regularly? I do 30 miles a day, 15 each way, about an hour on the bike each way. part of the commute i let the engine sit at 5000-6000 rpm as I cruise at 50-60 mph, but there is alot of time when I am filtering in traffic, with the engine idling / getting hot and with lots of rev changes / load on the engine. I am tempted to do an engine flush to clean the engine of contaminants not removed, and I am also tempted to start changing the oil every 2000-2500 miles (with a new oil filter at 4-5000 miles).

Let the discussion begin

[Viney]

I change mine at the same intervals. Im at 60000 miles and all seems well.

[jambo]

Oil getting black isn't in itself a problem, it shows that the various containments are being held in the oil not deposited in the engine pathways.

Or as my mum once commented when I mentioned how fast my oil went black once changed in my SR125 "This shouldn't surprise anyone that knows that fire's involved in how that engine works" Cheers mum

That said, the service intervals for the SV are 3,500 miles, and town miles aren't the kindest, I'd be keeping closer to 4K then 5.

Jambo

[yorkie_chris]

RTFM. 3500 miles.

Oil goes black. I don't bother with flushing engines, it can on occasion do harm.

The only thing I do that I don't remember the manual mentioning, is I remove the spark plugs and crank the engine over after refilling the oil This reduces load on bearings etc. until the oil light has gone out and the oil system is fully refilled.
I'm not sure whether this is entirely necessary, but it can't hurt.

didn't someone mention an SV going pop at about 130k with oil changes every 5k mention it misses an oil change every so often (i think at 15k when it's due a 4th it's only had 3) so could of increased the life longer.

3500miles, as per schedule

I even change the plugs as per schedule, Its cheap really, being we only have 1/2 an engine

[embee]

I wouldn't use a flushing oil.

I always pour some fresh oil into a new filter before spinning it on, this cuts down the time to prime the system. If you're quick it doesn't spill. It's not necessary to take plugs out & crank, no harm though if you feel so inclined.

What filters do you use? If the filtering is not fine enough it will leave a lot of soot in suspension. Also if the bypass valve in the filter is not the correct value it can allow oil to bypass the filtering medium (a very undesirable situation). To be on the safe side I always use genuine Suzuki oil filters, you don't know what you're getting with alternatives.

Double check your choke plungers and cables are free and not sticking partly open at all, this will cause all sorts of issues not least of which is the oil going black with soot.

Really black oil is often a sign of running too rich (or a diesel ) or very bad blowby levels.

Originally Posted by embee

I wouldn't use a flushing oil.

I always pour some fresh oil into a new filter before spinning it on, this cuts down the time to prime the system. If you're quick it doesn't spill. It's not necessary to take plugs out & crank, no harm though if you feel so inclined.

What filters do you use? If the filtering is not fine enough it will leave a lot of soot in suspension. Also if the relief valve is not the correct value it can allow oil to bypass the filtering medium (a very undesirable situation). To be on the safe side I always use genuine Suzuki oil filters, you don't know what you're getting with alternatives.

Double check your choke plungers and cables are free and not sticking partly open at all, this will cause all sorts of issues not least of which is the oil going black with soot.

Really black oil is often a sign of running too rich (or a diesel ) or very bad blowby levels.

can you see the black oil through the level window ??

Originally Posted by kurtis.randle

can you see the black oil through the level window ??

eg it could be used as an oil change indecator ????????

[jambo]

Originally Posted by kurtis.randle

can you see the black oil through the level window ??

That's what it's for...

Originally Posted by kurtis.randle

eg it could be used as an oil change indecator ????????

I would suggest sticking to the mileage unless you're going to go down the route of actually analysing your oil for PH content etc to see when it needs changing (only really viable if you spend time in a chem lab or are doing it to further scientific study).


Jambo