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Thread: Why change your oil?

  1. #1
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    9th December 2005 - 20:11
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    Why change your oil?

    Has anyone tested a bike that has been serviced regularly with oil changes against one that hasnt.
    Have I been brainwashed to think I should change the oil regularly.

    I have read of some riders that never change the oil, in their bikes or cars and it does not seem to effect their performance or reliablilty.

    Is it just a brainwash from the oil companies who say there will be dirt / grit etc in your oil that will scour out the motor. Who says?

    I have heard of a taxi company that never changed the oil in there cars, and the motors all ran well over 250-300km

    I am not likely accept this thinking just yet, but would like to hear from those that never change their oil.

  2. #2
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    Sounds like a load of bullshit to me just like the line you Must use Motorcycle oil on motorcycles. If the oil/filter hadn't been changed on a regular basis my CB550F wouldn't have over 160,000kms up.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by rocketman1 View Post
    ... I am not likely accept this thinking just yet, but would like to hear from those that never change their oil.
    You wont hear from THEM. They're out working extra hours to pay for the engine rebuild ...
    When life throws you a curve ... Lean into it ...

  4. #4
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    +1. Not many people 'fess up and post things like "so I went cheap and rooted my motor, I'm an idiot, and here's what to not do..."

    Oil and filters are cheap, motor rebuilds aren't... the thing is that stretching maintenance intervals or abandoning them entirely is that it's something that you can get away with for a while. It'll look like it works, at first anyway. If there's a problem a year or two down the track, they'll be super quiet about that and then move the vehicle on. Even if that isn't happening, there's what you hear at a distance, from an owner who may or may not be technically gifted, versus checking the vehicle itself out up close. You may find that there's a lot of cases of "it still goes so what's the problem" out there...

    Motorcycle specific oil is simply oil without friction modifier additives, which can bond to wet clutch plates and cause the clutch to slip. When they call it Moto-specific or similar, it isn't a marketing gimmick, although it certainly looks like one.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by OddDuck View Post
    +1. Not many people 'fess up and post things like "so I went cheap and rooted my motor, I'm an idiot, and here's what to not do..."

    Oil and filters are cheap, motor rebuilds aren't... the thing is that stretching maintenance intervals or abandoning them entirely is something that you can get away with for a while. It'll look like it works, at first anyway. If there's a problem a year or two down the track, they'll be super quiet about that and then move the vehicle on. Even if that isn't happening, there's what you hear at a distance, from an owner who may or may not be technically gifted, versus checking the vehicle itself out up close. You may find that there's a lot of cases of "it still goes so what's the problem" out there...

    Motorcycle specific oil is simply oil without friction modifier additives, which can bond to wet clutch plates and cause the clutch to slip. When they call it Moto-specific or similar, it isn't a marketing gimmick, although it certainly looks like one.
    I agree on the motorcycle oil thing, the Ducati monster I had didn't care what you fed it, the aprilia I currently have throws a paddy if I dont put motorcycle specific oil in.. the clutch becomes hard work.

  6. #6
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    i once worked with a guy who had quite a nice Honda Accord.One day he didnt have it cos it just stopped on the way home.It turns out that he had never changed or even checked the oil .It had seized through lack of oil.

  7. #7
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    Have you ever changed oil on a bike that hasn't been done for a while? Thin and watery followed by grungy at the end. You draw your own conclusions pretty quickly.
    Don't you look at my accountant.
    He's the only one I've got.

  8. #8
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    When I was involved with BMW cars, the ones that had been religiously serviced at the factory specified (for environmental reasons) 25000km tended to harden all the rubber gaskets & piss oil & when you opened them up to fix the leaks, they were like a coal mine inside.
    The ones serviced at 10,000km however, were perfect.
    They also started to drink oil past the 10,000km service mark.
    And at 25000km the cartridge oil filters often broke up on removal & you had to dig it out in bits with long nosed pliers.

  9. #9
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    Guy I knew - quite a clued-up mechanic - bought a fairly low mileage Falcon ute. A six. It came from a cocky up North Canty and had been his good go-to-town car from new. He dropped the oil and changed it, did the tappets but couldn't find any service records. He showed me the oil when I was in the shop and I reckoned it was the recycled oil you could buy then - it had a distinctive smell.
    Anyway, less then 500km later the engine was out for a full rebuild. He'd done some asking in the area it came from and the cocky was known to simply top up oil in all his equipment but never change it...

    One of the many areas he went wrong was changing it to high-detergent Valvoline - his favourite oil. It flushed all the shit out of the hidden crevices very quickly. Crank I think went straight to max undersize shells. Even the cam and cam bearings were fucked.

    I won't name him, a lot of the older ChCh guys will know him anyway.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by F5 Dave View Post
    Have you ever changed oil on a bike that hasn't been done for a while? Thin and watery followed by grungy at the end. You draw your own conclusions pretty quickly.
    That's usually if the been sitting idle for months after miles of slow around town riding with the enigine not reachoing running temperature. If you fire it up and go for a decent run all that condensation related sludge will burn off/evaporate..

  11. #11
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    Its every bike I bought in the 80s and 90s, I'd give it an oil change as soon as practicable and always after a ride.
    Don't you look at my accountant.
    He's the only one I've got.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bonez View Post
    That's usually if the been sitting idle for months after miles of slow around town riding with the enigine not reachoing running temperature. If you fire it up and go for a decent run all that condensation related sludge will burn off/evaporate..

    The water component of the sludge will be evaporated by heat. the acids, soot/carbon, and engine particles will remain behind. The detergents in the oil hold this in suspension (why used oil is black - its the soot) to be removed when the oil is changed. But the detergent has a finite capacity to hold this, eventually it will settle out, block small passages, etc. When a litre of oil costs $20(?) compared to an engine rebuild ($4000 or more) why would you not change the oil and filter on a regular basis?
    it's not a bad thing till you throw a KLR into the mix.
    those cheap ass bitches can do anything with ductape.
    (PostalDave on ADVrider)

  13. #13
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    Take my mother in law.

    Please.

    Now's good.

    OK with that out of the way, she bought a Honda car in the late 80's early 90's. I think it was called Aerodeck? It was a wagon. It came with three year factory servicing. It turns out that that was the servicing it got. She drove it for 260000 k's. without changing the oil after the dealer stopped calling her for her "free" services. Actually the thing that let go was the cambelt (or cam drive anyway) but it completely lunched the motor. valves impacted the pistons and it bent a rod and stuff.

    The weird thing is she was "disappointed" in it and we were all like "how the fuck did it keep going for five years"?

    She's currently doing the same thing to a Mitsubishi.....
    I thought elections were decided by angry posts on social media. - F5 Dave

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by pete376403 View Post
    The water component of the sludge will be evaporated by heat. the acids, soot/carbon, and engine particles will remain behind. The detergents in the oil hold this in suspension (why used oil is black - its the soot) to be removed when the oil is changed. But the detergent has a finite capacity to hold this, eventually it will settle out, block small passages, etc. When a litre of oil costs $20(?) compared to an engine rebuild ($4000 or more) why would you not change the oil and filter on a regular basis?
    I've use car engine oil in ALL my motorcycles since 1978 when I first started riding and I've had over 100,000kms up on a few of them. $30 for 4ltr is better wrt cost benefit analysis. Just change it at 5-6 1000kms along with the filter if long riding and 4000kms if mainly around town riding. So what is the advantage of dedicated motorcycle oil at almost twice the cost again? If I wanted more detergent I'd put a run of deisel oil through it for a oil change period or even a mix of of deisol/car 50/50 mix of the same wieght. I's certainly not rocket science as some seem to think.

    My goto motor oil was Castrol GTX for most of that time now I'm using Gulf Western. Before I got sick I used GW for four years.

    Edit-Did some oil filter pricing today. The cheapest were OEM ones from Courasy Susuki. While I was there I asked what I sould pay private sale for the bike. after telling s small fib. There valuation was $3k -$2.5 so right on the money.

  15. #15
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    Do your motorcycles have dry clutch or divorced transmissions?

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