Oil consumption. How much is too much?

[alke46]

My question is about the amount of oil my machine is consuming. It is a 79 GS1000E that is running real well right now, but I find myself putting in 8 oz. of oil with every gas fill-up. That works out to around 1 quart every 750-800 miles.
I can sometimes see a bit of smoke on the first start up of the day so I think maybe the valve seals are in need of replacement. I am wondering if that would be the cause of my oil loss -- I really don't think so, but I could be wrong. Bike has 20,000 miles showing on the clock. No telling how long it sat before I got it. I have also used sea foam in the crankcase on two occasions just before changing the oil looking for some magical intervention I guess.
What do you guys think?
Thanks,

Larry

[salty_monk]

That's a lot. I wouldn't expect a quart every 3,000 miles or so. No big deal as long as you keep it topped up though... If you've rules out leaks it could be stem seals or going past the rings down the bore.

Dan

[simon kuether]

I've got a '79 GS1000S and am presently "burning" about 1 litre of oil for every 5,000 km (mind you she's got 100,000 km up 2 days ago ). The good 'ol boys here that race them reckon if I go to a straight 50 weight oil (mineral ), this will fix that . Am using a multi 20W50 mineral at the moment . I'm about to drop my oil and change to 50 . See what happens I guess . Your usage does seem a bit high though.What are your riding conditions like ? Hot ? Mine consumes a bit more if it's on the hot side (ambient). Cheers , Simon.

[alke46]

That was a concern of mine. That's why I have tried the sea foam to maybe break free a stuck ring. I don't like it using that much but as long as it is not doing the mosquito fogging, I will just keep topping it off for now. Don't want to go looking for trouble for fear of finding it.

That's a lot. I wouldn't expect a quart every 3,000 miles or so. No big deal as long as you keep it topped up though... If you've rules out leaks it could be stem seals or going past the rings down the bore.

Dan

[Clone]

I use under a litre every 6000km, so I would say that is to much oil. That is as much as the old Datsun before I rebuilt it you must see some pretty blue smoke from the exhaust.

[alke46]

you must see some pretty blue smoke from the exhaust.

Actually no, I don't see smoke. Tomorrow I will have my son drive it while I follow in the car to see if it smokes and just how much.

[alke46]

[QUOTE=simon kuether;1082065] Your usage does seem a bit high though.What are your riding conditions like ? Hot ? Mine consumes a bit more if it's on the hot side (ambient). Cheers , Simon. [/QUOTE]

Hot weather does not seem to change the amount of usage

[SqDancerLynn1]

You will have clutch problems with str8 50 wt oil. You will have to get the oil good and hot before riding. Most likley you have bad valve seals

[Nessism]

Straight 50 weight is a bad idea unless you live in some place where the temperature never drops below 80 F. 20W-50 is fine though for summer riding. And I agree with the others suggesting valve stem seals but best to check compression before tearing the engine apart.

[rphillips]

I baught a new GS1000 "G" in 1980. It used appx 1 qt of oil every 1000 mi. from day one. I couldn't get my dealer to do anything about it, he said it wasn't bad enough to dig into the eng. for that small amount. He eventually put 20W/50 in it, & the oil consumption dropped appx. 1/2. About a qt. per 2000 mi.

[srsupertrap]

My question is about the amount of oil my machine is consuming. It is a 79 GS1000E that is running real well right now, but I find myself putting in 8 oz. of oil with every gas fill-up. That works out to around 1 quart every 750-800 miles.
I can sometimes see a bit of smoke on the first start up of the day so I think maybe the valve seals are in need of replacement. I am wondering if that would be the cause of my oil loss -- I really don't think so, but I could be wrong. Bike has 20,000 miles showing on the clock. No telling how long it sat before I got it. I have also used sea foam in the crankcase on two occasions just before changing the oil looking for some magical intervention I guess.
What do you guys think?
Thanks,

Larry

I have got 2.5X more miles than that and it mine does not consume any oil but I change oil frequently. I would 2'nd nessism's comment it's probably the valve stem seals which brings up a related ST comment you may be interested in?

Bought my 92 ST1100 from the PO with 5K and the plugs were soaked with oil? BTW, these ST motors laugh at 100K. I had to replace all the valve stem seals because the motor was assembled wrong in Japan. The crank timing plate was installed 70 degrees retarded and the cams were installed based on the marks and it was shipped and sold in that condition. It actually ran well except for the fact it was backfiring thru the intake. Once I actually dagnosed the problem (timing light shock) Honda didn't own up to the problem. My ST neighbor and I were able to replace every stem seal with the motor still installed in the frame. Creative tools

[alke46]

I have got 2.5X more miles than that and it mine does not consume any oil but I change oil frequently. I would 2'nd nessism's comment it's probably the valve stem seals which brings up a related ST comment you may be interested in?

Bought my 92 ST1100 from the PO with 5K and the plugs were soaked with oil? BTW, these ST motors laugh at 100K. I had to replace all the valve stem seals because the motor was assembled wrong in Japan. The crank timing plate was installed 70 degrees retarded and the cams were installed based on the marks and it was shipped and sold in that condition. It actually ran well except for the fact it was backfiring thru the intake. Once I actually dagnosed the problem (timing light shock) Honda didn't own up to the problem. My ST neighbor and I were able to replace every stem seal with the motor still installed in the frame. Creative tools

Yes, my ST1100 has 92,000 on it and it just never needs any attention. Just replaced the timing belt 2 weeks ago so it should be good until it reaches 184K. Good bikes those STs.

You will have clutch problems with str8 50 wt oil. You will have to get the oil good and hot before riding. Most likley you have bad valve seals

No no, not even considering str8 50wt. oil here. That was somebody elses suggestion.

Straight 50 weight is a bad idea unless you live in some place where the temperature never drops below 80 F. 20W-50 is fine though for summer riding. And I agree with the others suggesting valve stem seals but best to check compression before tearing the engine apart.

Compression was good when I last checked it about 2 months back. The oil I use is Shell Rotella 15-40wt.
Now about those valve seals. That was my thought as well, but would bad seals be letting that much oil past? How about the valve guides as well?

[tkent02]

Now about those valve seals. That was my thought as well, but would bad seals be letting that much oil past? How about the valve guides as well?

I've had a few bad smokers, real cloudmobiles that didn't use that much oil.
Are all of your sparkplugs all equally oil fouled? If only one is oily,
I might suspect something wrong with a cylinder, perhaps a broken oil control ring or something. Possibly a valve stem seal got brittle from age and actually broke, or came off the guide and slid up the valve stem? I have seen this on a car engine. Something like that might do it.
An engine with only 20,000 miles should not have much wear on the rings, or on the valve guides, unless something very unusual was going on.

[chef1366]

Check the seals for a leak.
Crank, shifter, gear indicator, clutch rod and oil pan plug.

[kamesama980]

Valve stem seals can pass an amazing amount of oil. I used to have an 88 Toyota Cressida with around 140k on it would go through a quart/500 miles of high mileage 10w40. once I made the mistake of taking it to a shop for an oil change... they did some oil-flush BS and I burned a quart or more going home 10 miles. after replacing the valve stem seals (and all other upper-end gaskets though they weren't leaking) oil consumption dropped to almost nothing. it looked as though the PO had NEVER done any periodic maintenance because the sludge was so thick when I got it (before putting the HM oil in) when I changed the stem seals, they were all rock hard, some crumbled when touched, and one was pretty much missing.