[AC__]

Hello all. My apologies if this topic has been addressed previously, but my searches did not return much on it.

The dealer changed my oil with full synthetic (Yamalube , I think) at my 1000mi service, and since then I have had issues with my oil pressure/level light coming on while riding. It started coming on intermittently while riding probably 500-1000mi or so after the service. I kept checking the oil level (correct method, on level ground, no stands, straight front tire) and always found it well within the two fill lines, so I added more oil to see if it was a fluke and kept riding.

The problem persisted after putting more miles on the bike, so I brought it in to the dealer. They didn't know the rate of consumption, so they filled up the oil to the top of the fill lines and sealed the fill cap with silicon (presumably so that they could tell if I removed oil on my own) and told me to ride until I thought it was time to fill with more oil so that they could determine the rate of consumption. I probably put another 1000-1300mi on the bike until the oil level went from the top of the fill line to just below the line! I should have been checking more frequently. Is the amount between the lines a quart, like in a car? If so, that is a lot of oil to consume!

Has anyone come across this problem? I'm worried that I might have incorrectly broken in the engine or something.

It's been at the dealer now for two weeks, waiting on parts for the recall. And they should finally get to looking at the bike today. I guess there's not much to do at the moment--I'm just really curious as to what could have caused the consumption.

 

[ryderjay]

Short of pinning the throttle and redlining the bike in neutral for ages there really isn't anything you could do to really damage the engine during break in to cause the engine to eat up oil like that. Did anyone check the oil filter? May not have sealed or is damaged. Could also have a bad engine gasket. But there would evidence of oil. These bikes don't consume oil like a two stroke, there is virtually 0 burn off within prescribed oil changes. The amount would imply there is a leak somewhere to me, but the amount of oil it takes to get from the low to the high fill lines really isn't all that much ultimately. It shouldn't be happening but it's actually not that much oil.

 

[ridetofish]

So...just what was your breakin routine?

 

[F-zee]

If there's no external leak, I'd check coolant level/color, too much or weird color means there's mixing.
I'd also check spark plugs, to pinpoint a one cylinder or a general problem.

Break-in method please.

 

[jth_fz09]

stock coolant in mine is blue

 

[marthy]

No reason why it should consume that much oil... or any oil at all. That's why we buy Yamahas

There's 3 place the oil can go...

1. Ground, but since there's no leak that shouldn't be it.
2. Puffing out of the exhaust under load
3. If the rings blow by you should see a fair amount of oil in the airbox (I would look in there at first to put that out of the equation)

 

[AC__]

Thanks for the replies. The dealer is checking out the issue at the moment, so there isnt much for me to do.

For break-in, I followed what the dealer recommended: Ride dynamically, not at constant rpm for too long. They also recommended a 1000mi first service over the Yamaha recommended 600mi.

Figured that it would be more likely that coolant would get in the oil, so I didn't check the coolant reservoir or anything.

I havent seen any smoking out the exhaust or anything, but the tailpipe is pretty darn sooty. I will try and pay more attention to what's going on when I accelerate under load.

 

[motomania]

First off, understand that the oil light is a oil level light and NOT an oil pressure light.

Second, on my bike, I have very little oil consumption but I do have oil consumption between changes. I change oil every 2500-3k miles because oil changes are cheap, easy insurance on maintaining an engine. Probably more often that required but for $15-20 and 10-15 minutes time, it is worth it to me.

How much mine consumes exactly I don't know but I can tell you this: If I put the bike on the rear stand, fill the oil to just about the TOP mark, run the engine for a few minutes to refill the new oil filter and then top off the oil to the just about the top mark, I have not problem with the oil light and at 2500 miles I am down to about 1-2 mm below the top oil level line. Not sure what quantity of oil that is but I would guess at about 4-6 oz as topping it off after refilling the new oil filter drops it further down and takes about 8 oz to top it off to about the top oil fill line.

On my first oil change, I filled to middle between the two oil level lines, then ran the engine for a couple of minutes to refill the new oil filter. Then I added more oil to get back the mid point between the two oil level lines. Next, I went for a ride and every time I revved the engine very high for more than a few seconds, the oil level light came on.

Then I went back home, put the bike on the rear stand, filled to just about the top oil level mark, no more problems.

My guess is you are not filling the oil up enough and if you are not using a stand to make sure the bike is in the same version of straight up and down, you can get different oil level views in the sight window and you are getting erratic oil level readings.

Put the bike on a rear stand, fill the oil to the top oil level mark, ride for 500 miles, put it on the stand, let it sit for at least 5 minutes, check the oil level. Refill to get it back to the top oil level mark. Use something like a ratio right or a measuring cup to determine how much oil you have to add.

Repeat the test except ride more 1000 miles instead 500.

This will give you an accurate oil consumption figure.

 

[AC__]

Motomania, that is certainly possible. It would behoove me to get some kind of stand for my bike that doesn't lift the rear wheel.

I don't think my measuring methods change the fact that the bike is consuming oil, though. Filled to the top using my method, whether it is right or wrong, the oil level light does not come on while riding. As I put the miles on, the light periodically starts to come on and continues to stay on longer and longer until it is on almost permanently after maybe 2 minutes of riding from a cold start.

 

[River]

First I agree with marthy, check your airbox, if its coated you need rings although that would also be noticeable out the pipe. I'm assuming things like loose drain plug or double gasketed filter have already been checked. For a bike that holds less than 3 quarts total consuming a quart in 1000 miles is a massive problem

 

[motomania]

Motomania, that is certainly possible. It would behoove me to get some kind of stand for my bike that doesn't lift the rear wheel.

I don't think my measuring methods change the fact that the bike is consuming oil, though. Filled to the top using my method, whether it is right or wrong, the oil level light does not come on while riding. As I put the miles on, the light periodically starts to come on and continues to stay on longer and longer until it is on almost permanently after maybe 2 minutes of riding from a cold start.

Get a stand and some spools, they aren't that expensive and will make sure you measure the oil level the same every time. They also make chain cleaning, lubing and all maintenance easier. You can buy cheap aluminum spools at Harbor Freight for about $5 and you can buy a cheapo stand at Cycle Gear for about $40. I don't recommend the Cycle gear stand as I prefer a PitBull or K&L stands

 

[snamzzaj]

my bike consumes not a drop of oil between oil changes, I'm ~8k now.

being as I had one of the oil burning suzuki bandits, it definitely behooves you to figure out exactly how much oil your consuming vs miles run, and don't run the bike at all if that oil light is on.

Too easy of a break in is a large cause of oil burning, because the oil rings never seat correctly. Me? I ride my bikes hard on hard off the throttle during break in now, and vary rpm a lot.

Good luck! and keep us posted on what the cause was when/if your dealer figures it out.

 

[ryderjay]

my bike consumes not a drop of oil between oil changes, I'm ~8k now.

being as I had one of the oil burning suzuki bandits, it definitely behooves you to figure out exactly how much oil your consuming vs miles run, and don't run the bike at all if that oil light is on.

Too easy of a break in is a large cause of oil burning, because the oil rings never seat correctly. Me? I ride my bikes hard on hard off the throttle during break in now, and vary rpm a lot.

Good luck! and keep us posted on what the cause was when/if your dealer figures it out.

Another reason changing the oil too frequently after purchasing a new vehicle can hurt your engine more than help it. The seals need to seat and the contaminants in the engine during break in help facilitate it.
I just ride my new bikes normally during break in unless I'm doing a long highway haul. Never had any problems, and I've never had a modern sport bike consume a noticeable amount of oil.

 

[BMcEL]

It will be really interesting to see if it's the rings given the break-in method.

 

[Speedbird]

Another reason changing the oil too frequently after purchasing a new vehicle can hurt your engine more than help it. The seals need to seat and the contaminants in the engine during break in help facilitate it.
I just ride my new bikes normally during break in unless I'm doing a long highway haul. Never had any problems, and I've never had a modern sport bike consume a noticeable amount of oil.

I know the dealer said not to use synthetic oil for a few more oil changes for this reason. They said synthetic is too slippery and doesn't allow the rings to seat. I didn't do a hard break in but I'm going to do the normal recommended oil changes with conventional oil since I learned this.

 

[snamzzaj]

I switched to synthetic in my bike, van, and car the first oil change.

None of them leak or burn any oil

shell Rotella T6 5W40

 

[BMcEL]

I'm not sure I believe the talk about synthetic having any effect on break-in. I ran mine hard for the first 150 miles and changed to T6. 5000 miles on it now and it doesn't use any oil between changes. Most, if not all, of the stories I've come across where oil consumption was higher than normal had one common denominator and it wasn't synthetic oil early in the engine's life.

 

[Mothy]

...It would behoove me to get some kind of stand for my bike that doesn't lift the rear wheel...

The rear stand I have will actually hold the bike up without lifting the rear wheel, thou I don't recommend it as the stand could roll back allowing the bike to fall. FWIW, the difference in oil level between (fully) on the stand and on the ground is maybe a mm, if that. The stand lifts the rear less than 2 inches, so I just use the stand when checking my oil level.

 

[AC__]

I will definitely keep y'all posted. I'm extremely curious, myself.

Thanks for shedding some light on the issue.

 

[Hawkerjet]

Hello all. My apologies if this topic has been addressed previously, but my searches did not return much on it.

The dealer changed my oil with full synthetic (Yamalube , I think) at my 1000mi service, and since then I have had issues with my oil pressure/level light coming on while riding. It started coming on intermittently while riding probably 500-1000mi or so after the service. I kept checking the oil level (correct method, on level ground, no stands, straight front tire) and always found it well within the two fill lines, so I added more oil to see if it was a fluke and kept riding.

The problem persisted after putting more miles on the bike, so I brought it in to the dealer. They didn't know the rate of consumption, so they filled up the oil to the top of the fill lines and sealed the fill cap with silicon (presumably so that they could tell if I removed oil on my own) and told me to ride until I thought it was time to fill with more oil so that they could determine the rate of consumption. I probably put another 1000-1300mi on the bike until the oil level went from the top of the fill line to just below the line! I should have been checking more frequently. Is the amount between the lines a quart, like in a car? If so, that is a lot of oil to consume!

Has anyone come across this problem? I'm worried that I might have incorrectly broken in the engine or something.

It's been at the dealer now for two weeks, waiting on parts for the recall. And they should finally get to looking at the bike today. I guess there's not much to do at the moment--I'm just really curious as to what could have caused the consumption.

I will get the low oil light on my bike if the oil level is between the 2 marks.

As a result I always fill to the top line or slightly above.

I started using Rotella Synthetic at 1500 miles and now have 13600 miles and zero consumption.

My break in style was gas it hard to load the rings while being careful not to rev above 6k. And of course don't get her hot.