[kingston73]

So mainly just curious to hear what y'all do for oil changes, do you mainly go by miles or by time?  During the winter my truck gets lots of miles, and since it's relatively old I tend to change it pretty close to the 3000 mile mark, no matter how little time it's been in there.  My bike gets ridden inconsistently, some weeks I'm over 500 miles while other weeks I might not ride more than a few miles, so I generally go by time in the engine and change at 3 months no matter how many miles.  I know oil breaks down through use, but does it also break down just from age?

 

[WayneDW]

I'll probably be in the minority here, but I change the oil once a year in the spring whether it needs it or not!

 

[Blindstitch]

I'm overkill but I'll state it.



I go by miles. Usually 3,000. And when I get to thinking about putting the bike away for the winter I change the oil then and when I take it out of storage I warm it up a bit and change the oil again.



I think the manual says oil changes every 7,500 miles.



edit.... Minutes are dumb. The bike isn't a generator and if you're sitting at idle for hours just shut the bike off.

 

[Bryan]

I'm overkill but I'll state it.



I go by miles. Usually 3,000. And when I get to thinking about putting the bike away for the winter I change the oil then and when I take it out of storage I warm it up a bit and change the oil again.



I think the manual says oil changes every 7,500 miles.



edit.... Minutes are dumb. The bike isn't a generator and if you're sitting at idle for hours just shut the bike off.

Agreed - shut it down if you're just sitting and idling. As for me I'm a 2,500 mile man, and like BS, I change at the end of the season with a new filter and just the oil the next spring.

 

[Trickster]

Agreed - shut it down if you're just sitting and idling. As for me I'm a 2,500 mile man, and like BS, I change at the end of the season with a new filter and just the oil the next spring.

+1 on time, spring and fall, I don't put enough miles on in a year to do it on mileage.

 

[nippongreen]

I feel i change the oil on my bikes/vehicles too frequently

As soon as the oil looks darker than i would like, i change the oil and filter

But certainly at the end of the riding season, before storage

All The Best.........keith......

.......

 

[WisconsinCX]

I change about every 3000 also.



If I don't feel like changing the oil on my 1100F I just go out and run the piss out of it for awhile. She seems to use a little oil during 120+ mph runs

otherwise oil usage is about normal....



all I have to do is add clean oil.....does that count as a oil change???

 

[marshallf3]

all I have to do is add clean oil.....does that count as a oil change???

Unfortunately a lot of people think this way but sadly there's a problem with it. Let's say you have to add two quarts of oil every 3,000 miles to a car. 2/5 of your oil is new with the proper viscosity and additive properties, the other 3/5 is old worn out oil. Add another quart later and since you've burned or leaked new oil with the old you end up with about the same mix.



It isn't so much the loss of detergent additives that will get you as it is the loss of viscosity rating and anti-wear additives.



I am kind of pissed that oil finally followed the huge increase in price that gasoline did last year and I'm also pissed at how Wal Mart has raised prices on about anything and everything in their store thinking nobody will notice. A lot of people have a "WalMart mentality" - they think Wal Mart is going to be the cheapest place to buy anything. Ain't so anymore, some of our high-end grocery stores are cheaper than Wal Mart or even Sams on a lot of items.



Next time I'm at the farm store I think I'll pick up a 2-1/2 gallon jug of Rotella, wish they also had the 5W-40 synthetic in jugs too because I need it to mix with the 15W-40 to pull the bottom number down a bit for my car.

 

[marshallf3]

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/oilshear.htm

 

[DavidfromWisconsin]

I'll probably be in the minority here, but I change the oil once a year in the spring whether it needs it or not!

Wayne,



Change the oil in the fall and go for a short ride. You don't want the high acid, used oil in contact with your steel engine parts all winter. It will etch the metal that way.



Many people do recommend what Don recommends and that is changing it in the fall and then when you take it back out to ride in the spring. I change it every 3k and just before I put it away, which reminds me ... I need to change it next week before I head off to the Amish Rally!

 

[RxRC]

+1 on time, spring and fall, I don't put enough miles on in a year to do it on mileage.

Spring too? You get a lot of winter miles then?

 

[marshallf3]

Spring too? You get a lot of winter miles then?

I'm big on changing oil in the spring too. Winter driving or not a lot of water condensation can collect in the engine during the cold months.

 

[jayhanig]

So mainly just curious to hear what y'all do for oil changes, do you mainly go by miles or by time?  During the winter my truck gets lots of miles, and since it's relatively old I tend to change it pretty close to the 3000 mile mark, no matter how little time it's been in there.  My bike gets ridden inconsistently, some weeks I'm over 500 miles while other weeks I might not ride more than a few miles, so I generally go by time in the engine and change at 3 months no matter how many miles.  I know oil breaks down through use, but does it also break down just from age?

Since I ride pretty much all year round, I go by miles. I change oil and filter every 3k. I don't have an "end of season" since it snows so infrequently here.

 

[rickbert]

Every 1000-1500 miles regardless.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

Anyone...I've had success in my 3 cars by changing the oil every 2500 (mi) and "push" the filter to 5000. At 5000, oil and filter are changed (in Canada we use KM but I've converted to mi for this thread). I've done this with apparent success with one car at 300,000+ km and the other two at 240,000+ km and not one burns a drop of oil between changes. I guess no oil burn off is my definition of success. My concern with motorcycles is that you've got far less volume of oil circulating in the pan and an engine which revs often double what you'd experience in a car. So, the oil is doing double duty in the same time/rev period. Maybe we should be changing the oil every 1500 mi with the filter pushed to 3000? That would seem (to me) to be more or less the equivalent of what I've been doing in the cars. Since becoming a member I've constantly read the importance of changing the oil often...and this theory I'm suggestion follows that reasoning. Thoughts?

 

[Bryan]

Anyone...I've had success in my 3 cars by changing the oil every 2500 (mi) and "push" the filter to 5000. At 5000, oil and filter are changed (in Canada we use KM but I've converted to mi for this thread). I've done this with apparent success with one car at 300,000+ km and the other two at 240,000+ km and not one burns a drop of oil between changes. I guess no oil burn off is my definition of success. My concern with motorcycles is that you've got far less volume of oil circulating in the pan and an engine which revs often double what you'd experience in a car. So, the oil is doing double duty in the same time/rev period. Maybe we should be changing the oil every 1500 mi with the filter pushed to 3000? That would seem (to me) to be more or less the equivalent of what I've been doing in the cars. Since becoming a member I've constantly read the importance of changing the oil often...and this theory I'm suggestion follows that reasoning. Thoughts?

I would agree with your conclusion but for a slightly different reason. While we do in fact have less total oil volume in our bikes than we do in our passenger cars and trucks, I would argue that we have more volume per cubic centimeter in our bikes. But I am unaware of any normal passenger vehicles that have a redline anywhere near what our bikes see. Given the relative difference in the stresses created by the differences in the rpm's between the two vehicle types, it would stand to reason that the oil in the bikes would be subjected to greater and quicker wear. Given that, your intervals don't seem too extreme.

 

[Picasso]

Oil does not really "breakdown " that quickly , it mainly gets contaminated.

I know folks that do not change the oil in their cars and trucks, only adding it when needed and have gotten very high mileage out of the engines ,but I change mine every 3 to 5 thousand miles.

If I was going to "put it up" for the winter I would change it first. And use Sta-bil in the fuel . I always put Marvel Mystery Oil in the tank every fillup.

I never let mine go more than a day or two without riding it year round.



I don't subscribe to cars.



Changing oil every 1,000 to 1,500 miles is a waste of natural resources and money . You are not really doing anything else. But if I only put that much mileage on one in a year then I would change it once a year regardless of miles.

 

[chefharley]

i ride all year long and between my cx and gl 1100 every 2000 miles i change the oil/ witch turns out to be every 1 to 2 months on my goldwing and every 6 months on my cx /

 

[Trickster]

Spring too? You get a lot of winter miles then?

No winter miles here, but it can easily be 5 to 6 months layed up, so with temperature change and condensation,

the $15.00 or so is well worth it.



Always change the filter with the oil and the screen gets cleaned once a year.

 

[Trickster]

Oil does not really "breakdown " that quickly , it mainly gets contaminated.

I know folks that do not change the oil in their cars and trucks, only adding it when needed and have gotten very high mileage out of the engines ,but I change mine every 3 to 5 thousand miles.

If I was going to "put it up" for the winter I would change it first. And use Sta-bil in the fuel . I always put Marvel Mystery Oil in the tank every fillup.

I never let mine go more than a day or two without riding it year round.



I don't subscribe to cars.



Changing oil every 1,000 to 1,500 miles is a waste of natural resources and money . You are not really doing anything else. But if I only put that much mileage on one in a year then I would change it once a year regardless of miles.

I beg to differ, oil does breakdown due to the shear force in motorcycle engines where the oil is also used in the transmission. Wasting natural resources? These are bikes that get high mileage not Hummers, so I think we are offsetting

the difference and actually making a bigger "Green" impact over cagers.



I love oil threads.