oil change schedule ... never thought about it

[Guest]

Rode the bike to work today. Got home, let her set in the driveway while I did a few things, (and read some stuff here), went outside about an hour later to find a camera lense size oil spot on the driveway. Took a look and it came from the airbox drain.

Those of you who have read any of my posts know I can get a bit technical and long winded with these things, only to end up at a basic solution.

It is running on the first oil change & filter with Rotella. I'm not exactly sure of how many miles since the service but I do know it's between 1000 and 2000 miles. I have a clear piece of tube for the breather so I can see what's going on there. A little bit in there but not overly drippy.

With all the great things you guys have taught me, I really don't know what the life expetancy of an oil change is. I would put money on if I change the oil & filter, the drip would stop. ( I would do it right now if I had the oil and the filter)

1.) Opinions on the oil change schedule you guys use

2.) If I am haveing early oil breakdown, I suspect rings ( opinions )

3.) Other suggestions.....................


As always
Thanks in advance for the help.

[DanTheMan]

Unless it's been severely overheated, I doubt it's rings. More than likely valve guide seals allowing the blowby putting oil out through the breather tube. 2000 miles is a good time for an oil change also.

[don]

Thanks Dan.

The head was done over this past winter, ( recut seats, seals, etc.).

I did look in the airbox with a mirror and light. Didn't see any obvious signs of oil/oilfog residue. You can't see the "floor" of the airbox with the mirror but all around the carbs was dry as a bone.

From what you are saying, it's quite possible I AM due for an oil service.

Thanks again.

[Nessism]

Bikes don't leak oil because the oil needs to be changed. The cause is something else.

[rapidray]

Is the oil level very far above the middle of the window when the bike is stood straight up & down? Ray.

[bwringer]

Bikes don't leak oil because the oil needs to be changed. The cause is something else.

Yes, this. These two things aren't related.

I think you don't have a thing to worry about. This is an air-cooled engine with no PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) system. It's perfectly normal for the airbox to get kinda gross and oily and weird inside from perfectly normal amounts of blowby.

After a while, it's also perfectly normal for an oily mix of grunge often referred to as "mung" to drip from or otherwise infest the drain tube. If you ride in the rain, your personal mung mix will also acquire a significant percentage of water. Again, perfectly normal.

This ain't a brand-new perfectly sanitary water-cooled car engine with complete gubmint-mandated emissions control and a PCV system. But still, old Suzukis shouldn't leak, so if it's something else let us know.

[don]

First, thanks for all of your replies. Next, I got all excited over nothing.(just like I had forewarned you all with my opening post.)lol Last night I removed both the crankcase tube and the airbox drain tube and cleaned them out with brake cleaner. When I took them off, neither had any concernable ammount of anything in them before the spray down.

My guess is the condenced "crankcase vapors" had built up enough in the bottom of my airbox to finally create a few drops or so of oil and finally dripped out of the drain tube.

On my way home from work today I stopped and got a filter and oil. When I drained the oil it was still a nice carmel brown, dark, but still well into the brown. I can't remember who of you exactly convinced me to use the Rotella, but, HOLY COW !!! Even useing the "motorcycle oil", I have NEVER had my oil come out of the engine this nice. Even the bike oil was pure black after 500mi. This has about 1000-1200mi and looks 100% better. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like I said, I think I might have jumpped the gun with this one. I'm going to keep a better track of my mileage to see what happens in the future, but I think it was just a buildup that drained.


Thank you all again.

[bwringer]

FWIW, the manual sez 2,000 miles between oil changes, with a new filter every other oil change.

I change both every 2,000. Some people go longer -- oil nowadays is a lot better than it was back in the day.

[Steve]

It's easy to see when the 2,000 mark comes around, just change the oil on the EVEN thousands on the odometer.

.

[TheCafeKid]

I change oil ever 2K or there-abouts. Sometimes sooner, depending on what the bike tells me ( if I've thumped on it pretty good when it's hot out, I may only get 1500 miles out of it before the transmission gets a little
clunky and the head sounds noiser) or sometimes later. No more than 2500 miles unless I'm on a trip in which case it will get changed as soon as it's able. However, I generally only change the filter every other change. I do keep an eye on what comes out of the filter, and I've even cut one or two open. No discernable metalic substances, and even after 4K the filter looks no worse than at 2K. Call me cheap I suppose. But as said, oil is much better now days.