Engine oil and service intervals.

[Skub]

Where do you sit on this one?

Firstly,do you have a preferred lube brand,do you favour mineral,semi or fully synthetic and secondly do you change the oil as per the manufacturers recommendation,or earlier/later. Kawasaki says to dump the running in oil at 600 miles,then that's it until 7500. No way I'm running a bike for that long without a change,it doesn't feel right. Am I wrong?

For a road bike I've always used semi synthetic and changed oil and filter every 4k. Maybe as the miles pile on I might change to fully synth. If I was tracking a bike I'd use fully synthetic.

[KungFooBob]

I wouldn't use fully synth unless it was manufacturer specified. It's got a habit of getting past seals that semi doesn't and then you have to top it up more often.

I usually use whatever the book suggests and I tend to buy one of the big name brands (Castrol, Motul, etc..).

I used to change the oil in my R6 and then my Fireblade every 3k, but both hard quite hard lives.

I don't think I've kept a bike recently for more than 3k so oil changes have become a rarity.

[weeksy]

The ZX6R gets oil and filter twice a year, so 3-4 trackdays between the changes.

The XSR900 has only 2800 miles on and has had 2 oil changes, but that's yearly it's been done.

I'm not a big mileage person.

Regards to the oil it gets the Motul stuff, semi-synth and a K&N filter.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I change the oil and filter every 3000 miles on a road bike, which for me is about once a year, but it's a 20 valve Yamaha so the oil constantly needs topping up.
Track bike gets it's oil changed once a year, so at most it's done 10 track days, but 6 is more likely, last year was two and this year is likely to be 3.
My car has 7500 mile intervals, but I do it every 5000 miles, piss easy with a PELA thing that sucks the oil out the dipstick hole and the oil filter is easy to reach.

Oil wise I use what's recommended in all our vehicles, so semi 10w40 Castrol in the 4 stroke Yamahas, 20w50 mineral in the Kawasaki 1170, and expensive two stroke oil in the YPVS (20w50 in the gearbox)

My car has 5w50 Synthetic, not sure what the wife's car has, some sort of diesel tractor oil.

[DefTrap]

Depends on the vehicle.

For example my ancient 406 and ntv get the cheapest mineral oil there is. You'll never convince me this sort of understressed agricultural kit deserves it needs better. Besides they're almost throwaway motoring. I change the oil at random intervals based upon my biorhythms or something.

On the other hand the old TT gets something better that the oil men can croon about. It's a far more temperamental vehicle, I don't want to push my luck. I actually write down what/when I've changed stuff on this one.

On the other, other hand more pricey oil is "cheap insurance" so just buy it and forget about it. It's not like oil servicing schedules are a hole in your pocket unless you're a real motorway hog.

[Skub]

Speaking for a moment about car oil primarily,although the original question was posed concerning bikes.My Toyota shopping trolley claims using their recommended magic synthetic oil you can get away with 20k miles or once a year.

I very much doubt any oil lasts that long,unless you are sitting at a constant speed all day every day. I do change car oil once a year,but I only do around 7-8k.

[KungFooBob]

The Condition Based Servicing on my Mini said I had 17,000 miles before the next change was due when I picked it up.

It was a 1.6 turbo that made 211 bhp. They are renowned for having cam chain issues due to low/poor quality oil.

It got to 10,000 miles and I had to change it, there was no way that thing was going to last a full 17,000 miles.

[MrLongbeard]

Whatever the book says with regards to weight / synth etc.
The car get's done every 15k miles, the bike every other year.

I really need to have read up on the Harley as it needs 3 oil holes emptying and filling and I think they're all different oils

[JackyJoll]

Am using this:



I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad, but it is purple.

Annual oil change, usually.

[DefTrap]

Am using this:



I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad, but it is purple.

Annual oil change, usually.

Marketing bastards - change the colour, I instantly want some, whether or not it's "better".

[Supermofo]

All my bikes till the 690 got the recommended oil weight and usually semi synth. Most often Castrol. Would service at 3k miles with oil and filters.

The 690 came with Putoline 10/60 when recommended is Motrex 10/60. So for first couple of years I topped up with Putoline. From the 3rd service the dealer switched to the recommended Motrex which is what I've used since. £17.99 a litre Good job it only holds 1.8 litres.

Service recommendations are every 6k on the 690 but no way would I leave the oil that long. So I do it at 3k miles max or once a year. The 690 also has 6k valve checks so it goes into the dealer for those.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I very much doubt any oil lasts that long,

Based on what exactly?

Not a dig at you, but I see this sort of thing alot. What makes you think it won't last that long beyond it being something "everyone knows".?

My car gets oil when it asks for it, which is about every 20-25k at the moment (the interval is variable deepening on usage and automatically calculated by the car). It doesn't burn a drop and it's got 120,000 on the clock now. It'll go those 20k between changes with literally zero drop in the oil level.

[DefTrap]

I have to admit I looked up again (after having literally never looked it up) 'oil service intervals' for cars and was surprised to see it as low as 3k. Genuine Lolz. Surely 'yearly' is a good finger in the air which must equate to approx 10k for 'normal use' for most of us. Surely nobody can be arsed doing it 3 times a year? I probably change it at about 10k on the TT to be fair but the Peugeot goes at least 25k between changes.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I have to admit I looked up again (after having literally never looked it up) 'oil service intervals' for cars and was surprised to see it as low as 3k. Genuine Lolz. Surely 'yearly' is a good finger in the air which must equate to approx 10k for 'normal use' for most of us. Surely nobody can be arsed doing it 3 times a year? I probably change it at about 10k on the TT to be fair but the Peugeot goes at least 25k between changes.

Subarus and Evos and the like used to be famous for their comedy short service internals. 4k for a major service or something stupid like that.

These days you can get a 2 litre turbo car with 400bhp and a >10k oil change interval. Pretty remarkable really.

[Skub]

These days you can get a 2 litre turbo car with 400bhp and a >10k oil change interval. Pretty remarkable really.

It seems a pity all that tech will be passé very soon.

[Mr. Dazzle]

It won't, all the learning about oil still applies to electric cars

But that's not what you meant :p

[GuzziPaul]

The Le Mans is every 1000 miles with filter change every other change, oil is Halfords Classic or some other classic style oil. Bit of a pain because a sump off job. The Tuono is every 4500 ish whenever the bike tells me, although I've not done it myself yet. Always had it done at Southern Cross. Although now it's coming up to 50K I'm going to do it myself, its always had Silkolene and will continue to get it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I should say that although I'm quite happy for my car to go >20k miles without an oil change, when I do change it I always use the super fancy fully synthetic stuff BMW specify. It's more than £100 of oil to change. But then it lasts 20k...

All in maybe I don't actually save very much on the price of the oil, but it's less hassle. The stuff which comes out is not a horrible black mess either. It's quite impressive really.

The Bonneville on the other hand is about 1000 miles per change I think. You need to clean the sludge traps out too

[JackyJoll]

You need to clean the sludge traps out too

Maybe once in a lifetime’s riding.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I have to admit I looked up again (after having literally never looked it up) 'oil service intervals' for cars and was surprised to see it as low as 3k. Genuine Lolz. Surely 'yearly' is a good finger in the air which must equate to approx 10k for 'normal use' for most of us. Surely nobody can be arsed doing it 3 times a year? I probably change it at about 10k on the TT to be fair but the Peugeot goes at least 25k between changes.

Subarus and Evos and the like used to be famous for their comedy short service internals. 4k for a major service or something stupid like that.

These days you can get a 2 litre turbo car with 400bhp and a >10k oil change interval. Pretty remarkable really.

My non Evo Lancer is every 7500 miles for an oil and filter change, valve clearances are shim under bucket and should be checked at 75000 miles, it's a cams out job if any shims need changing, which is great as both cams have variable timing, so special tools are required to hold the cams in place.

Mine's done 82000 miles, I'll wait until it won't start got before I worry about valve clearances.

Evos oil change is every 3000 miles btw, but they also needs the oil changing in the diffs and gearbox regularly.