Excessive oil usage!

[Str8 Jacket]

My FZR seems to need half a litre of oil every 1500 km's! Can anyone tell me if there may be anything obvious that I could check that may be causing this? Or any ideas would be appreciated. My bike is an 88 FZR400 Exup model.

[Satch]

how bad does it smoke? when does it smoke? under vaccum or under power? blue smoke of course

smoke cold and hot?

also check your crankcase breather if its covered or blocked they can suck oil past the rings and burn it! also check theres no fuel in you oil

[Str8 Jacket]

how bad does it smoke? when does it smoke? under vaccum or under power? blue smoke of course

smoke cold and hot?

also check your crankcase breather if its covered or blocked they can suck oil past the rings and burn it! also check theres no fuel in you oil

Hmm, bikes not blowing any smoke at all! It is a mystery but I shall check the crankcase out. Cheers for the advise :D

[Colapop]

Ever thought it might be a two stroke??!!??

[davereid]

Change the oil and filter. Sometimes old oil has an amazingly high moisture content, and an engine will appear to use oil, but its just burning off moisture in the old oil. My FZR was transformed when I put good oil in, quieter, smoother, faster, more economical. I used TOTAL 4T synthetic, but I'm sure you would nitice similar results from any synthetic oil. I've got a spare oil filter you can have, no good to me sold the bike.

[MSTRS]

I had an XJ750 some years ago that used more than that. Yet there was no visible smoke. I never figured it out.

[Str8 Jacket]

Ever thought it might be a two stroke??!!??

Hell no, it eats more oil than my KR ever did!...


Change the oil and filter. Sometimes old oil has an amazingly high moisture content, and an engine will appear to use oil, but its just burning off moisture in the old oil. My FZR was transformed when I put good oil in, quieter, smoother, faster, more economical. I used TOTAL 4T synthetic, but I'm sure you would nitice similar results from any synthetic oil. I've got a spare oil filter you can have, no good to me sold the bike.

Cheers, but I wish it were that easy! The oil and filter was changed within the last 1500 km's.... Im only using Synthetic oil as well.
We were thinking that it maybe that the rings are worn. Would this cause excessive oil usage?

[Satch]

Change the oil and filter. Sometimes old oil has an amazingly high moisture content, and an engine will appear to use oil, but its just burning off moisture in the old oil. My FZR was transformed when I put good oil in, quieter, smoother, faster, more economical. I used TOTAL 4T synthetic, but I'm sure you would nitice similar results from any synthetic oil. I've got a spare oil filter you can have, no good to me sold the bike.

yeah this is good advice, thats what i ment by check the oil for fuel aswell, ive noticed alot of older carbbied bikes when theyve been sitting have leaked gas into the bottom end. this makes it seem like its real full and burns off quick. u usually see it burning however.

if its not burning oil i dont know where its going, however you probably dont see behind you that often

[davereid]

Yeah, worn rings will cause oil to burn.. but its an FZR400 - it would have to have done a zillion km to have f'd rings ! And, normally you can see a haze in your rear view mirrors, plugs are black, and it smells "fumey' around the aircleaner - which would be hard to miss on an FZR with aircleaner under your nose. Are you sure it was correctly filled - it may have looked OK, but after a few miles, new filter gets filled etc etc.. ?

[crashe]

When you first brought the bike and you rode it all the way to Wellington did it go throu any oil then????????

Cos I seem to remember you saying it ran sweet all the way down there with no problems. Only problem was your butt being sore lol.:yes:

[merv]

OK old engine, you might be better trying real oil instead of synthetic, something like Castrol Grand Prix. The "new" oils are really for new engines with tight clearances and unless its been run on synthetic all its life it probably doesn't like the stuff.

p.s. how's the hol going? You getting a nice tan on the beach?

[Ixion]

3000km/l isnt too bad for a 19 year old bike. Some will be leaking (maybe not enough to drip), some blowing out the breather, some burning or blowing out the zorst. Maybe mainly at startup, leaking past valve seals.

Just top it up each week .

[Str8 Jacket]

When you first brought the bike and you rode it all the way to Wellington did it go throu any oil then????????



Umm, YES! By the time I got to Wgtn the oil light was on.

[Str8 Jacket]

Yeah, worn rings will cause oil to burn.. but its an FZR400 - it would have to have done a zillion km to have f'd rings ! And, normally you can see a haze in your rear view mirrors, plugs are black, and it smells "fumey' around the aircleaner - which would be hard to miss on an FZR with aircleaner under your nose. Are you sure it was correctly filled - it may have looked OK, but after a few miles, new filter gets filled etc etc.. ?

Just a couple of weeks ago the shop replaced all spark plugs and they did the oil and filter so I just assumed it was done correctly... as above when I picked it up in Akld by the time I got to the Wgtn motorway my oil light had come on!

[Str8 Jacket]

3000km/l isnt too bad for a 19 year old bike. Some will be leaking (maybe not enough to drip), some blowing out the breather, some burning or blowing out the zorst. Maybe mainly at startup, leaking past valve seals.

Just top it up each week .

That seems a little ridiculous to me as the KR NEVER used that much oil and that was a 2 smoker!

After the rigmorale of purchasing the stupid thing I got the shop to check it over throughly they did ALOT of necessary work on it but didnt mention valve seals. Are they esay enough for a noob like me to check?

[Ixion]

Even if the KR did 30km/litre, 3000k/litre of oil would work out to 100:1 ratio, which sounds rather on the high side.

Difference is, as a two stroke wears, it makes no difference at all to oil consumption, but performance falls off fast. A four stroke on the other hand, as the engine wears, it will make less difference to performance, but oil consumption will increase markedly. Just the different characteristics of the different engine types. (I am simplifying here a bit)

Valve seals (and rings) are a fairly major thing to replace. The rings could be gummed up, you could try one of the Wynns (or equivalent) magic mixes that you add to the oil. I've never had much success with them myself, but some folk report good results.

[terbang]

Thats getting a bit excessive in my view but not un-manageable if you havn't got the bucks or time. If it were mine I'd tear it down and give it a good freshen up to prevent future issues. Like all engines once they are run in, they're running out. Its just part of owning an older engine.

[Sketchy_Racer]

Its a bike from the 80s,

You cant Really expect it to run like a new motor and not use oil?

1L every 3000kms, doesnt sound toooo bad, Its just one of those things with a older bike.

Top it up when the oil light comes on, and you'll be sweet

[merv]

I hope that's an oil level light and not an oil pressure light otherwise stop the engine immediately it comes on or else you will damage the engine.

[Sam I Am]

is the water clear? and oil not white ? using water at all ?
if thoes are ok it shouldent be the the head or head gasket. Its hard to know if your blowing smoke when riding somtimes. Bad valve guides usally smoke a little when the bike is left then started.
I miss my old Fizzer best of luck.

[Str8 Jacket]

I hope that's an oil level light and not an oil pressure light otherwise stop the engine immediately it comes on or else you will damage the engine.

I've been told that the FZR has an oil level light so im hoping that this is true!!

[davereid]

My FZR loved synthetic oil, but as soon as I put it in my XR8 it became an oil drinker. So, in agreement with some of the others here, I'd move back to a good quality mineral oil, as a first test.

I'd not be overly worried about a little oil usage, and personally, I'd never spend money fixing valve seals - big ho-hum oils not so expensive !

If there is no obvious smoke, no fumes, and like sam said no blown head gasket, just try differnt oils, till you find one it dont find edible.

As others commented, it is a20 yr old, 18000 rpm race bike, with awesome handling, great brakes, and a crap seat - and maybe a bit of oil getting away somewhere.

[Pickle]

Has the air filter been cleaned / replaced as a dirty air filter can cause oil to be sucked into the combustion chamber.
Dont wait till the oil light comes on as this can cause excessive engine wear as the oil level lowers, for an older engine the amount you say it is using isnt too bad I know its a pain in the arse but you should be checking the oil level before riding anyway.
Try 1ltr for 300km,s on my old KLR250 before I did up the top end now that is excessive.

[Bonez]

Personnally I wouldn't worry about it. Just top up as required and ride the thing.
Gerty burns a similar amount, the v-twin thing a little bit more (this provides amusement to those following when it sends out smoke and flame on gear change downs). It's an old bike. When it starts using 1 ltr per 500kms then start worrying.

I might add the cost of rebuilding can be dramaticly reduced if most of the disassembly/assembly is done by ones self.

And as Pickle mentions don't rely on the oil level light. Also check the oil level after the engines been running a few minutes.

[Sam I Am]

re synthetic oil my fizzer use to run on moble 1 ( i thinnk it was that ) car oil is loads cheaper but you have to be carfull as our clutch runs in it and some oils make it slip ( i was on yahoo FZR group and they know all this stuff look them up ) and motorcycle oil has a urmmm anty frothing additaves in them as from what i rember the crank is beating the oil to death.

[Motu]

Don't use synthetic and move to a 20/50,preferably a diesel rated oil.Don't overfill.

[doc]

Oil is going down in price . Keep on topping up cheaper than fixing it up.