They all do that, sir...

**jrandom** · 6th August 2004, 00:41

A plea for enlightenment from a mechanical numpty, fellas.

Mike the Mechanic at Colemans, after servicing my FXR recently (and putting an extra bunch of fiddly work in to change the blown instrument panel bulbs without calling to ask whether a lit-up speedo was worth another $100 to me, not that I'm complaining, of course... I was going to get around to it myself, really I was) commented on my supposition that the bike was running rich. It wasn't. It was running just fine and dandy; you could eat your dinner off the sparkplug, etc.

You see, it's been eating oil at a great rate, a hundred mils (it only holds a litre) every week or so. I can't let my tub of Silkolene 10W-40 run out for fear of seizing up on the way back to the shop, etc etc. So I naturally assumed that all that lovely overpriced 98 RON was washing oil off the bore and out the exhaust.

Mike, however, reckoned that, well, "they all do that". Singles, he said, eat oil.

Am I thus to assume that a GSXR600, having four cylinders, each more or less similar to mine, eats four times as much oil?

Is there some good reason why a single-cylinder four-stroke engine would do this? Do they, in fact, All Do That, Sir?

**Antallica** · 6th August 2004, 01:00

Mine isn't eating oil.

And if he's right, then I prefer my 'not eating oil like yours & smoother revs' FXR

**FROSTY:Me** · 6th August 2004, 02:41

how full dya fill it-sometimes overfilling can cause the oil just to pump out

**tuscan** · 6th August 2004, 08:07

Mine doesn't seem to use much oil. Had it for a month or so and its used none...and I ride it every day.

Do you reckon the higher-octane petrol makes a difference? I've just been using 91

**Motu** · 6th August 2004, 08:31

Yeah,they all do that - when they're worn out.

**Antallica** · 6th August 2004, 08:48

Use '96 octane, I've only ever used '91 once in the 1.5 years I've had this FXR.

Sounds like your fixxer might be bung there JR.
Got warranty?

**jrandom** · 6th August 2004, 10:11

Warranty ran out a year ago. Sniff. I did at least get an ignition cable replaced under it.

I just pour oil in slowly until the oil level window shows half-way up, and it keeps dropping back out of the window after a week or two of use. Bike ain't smoking or nuffin, though.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Oil, eh?

I do reckon it could be the 98 I'm using. Even if it's not dirtying the plug up, it could be burning slow enough to wash oil out, no? And this did start happening at about the same time I switched fuels. I can't imagine why the bike'd be worn out. It's still running fine, although as Ant says, it feels a little more 'agricultural' than his.

Might try going back to burning the Marsden Pt rubbish for a while, see what happens.

**vifferman** · 6th August 2004, 10:28

Originally Posted by jrandom

I do reckon it could be the 98 I'm using. Even if it's not dirtying the plug up, it could be burning slow enough to wash oil out, no? And this did start happening at about the same time I switched fuels.

No, I'm not an angel - it's the nearest icon I could find to "a lightbulb above the head". Mebbe it's one of those circular fluoro tubes (let's pretend it is).
OK - there may be something in this. Your comment just reminded me of summat I guy I used to work with said once. Or once said.
He added a carb/engine cleaner to his car's tank and it suddenly started using more oil. It turned out that the 'cleaner' worked so well that the carbon sealing the rings and valves was no longer there.
It's altogether not too improbable that you've lost some of the ring-sealing characteristics imbued by the soot-inducing crap added to 91 and 95 octane but absent from the 98.
Either that or you're doing too many monster wheelies and sucking the oil up the breather pipe.

You can now safely switch to 91 - the extra oil you're burning will increase the effective octane rating to at least 234.

**Posh Tourer :P** · 6th August 2004, 10:39

It depends how you use it JRandom. Thrash a bike and it'll feel agricultural, even if it isnt stuffed. I used to cane the MZ, and I'd get sticky gearshifts, loud engine etc etc. Milky rode it for a couple of weeks, and suddenly it was smooth again....

**jrandom** · 6th August 2004, 11:07

Originally Posted by firestormer

It's altogether not too improbable that you've lost some of the ring-sealing characteristics imbued by the soot-inducing crap added to 91 and 95 octane but absent from the 98.

That, sir, is an excellent thought.

I swear the bike runs better on the 98, though. Caught between a rock and a hard place.

Maybe I can borrow some of celticno6's magical airbox sealant to put on my rings...

**jrandom** · 6th August 2004, 11:11

Originally Posted by Posh Tourer :P

It depends how you use it JRandom. Thrash a bike and it'll feel agricultural, even if it isnt stuffed. I used to cane the MZ, and I'd get sticky gearshifts, loud engine etc etc. Milky rode it for a couple of weeks, and suddenly it was smooth again....

Hmmmm.

I suppose I do tend to Ride It Like I Stole It, due to the barely conscious frustration that derives from being a 100kg gentleman riding a 20bhp motorcycle.

**vifferman** · 6th August 2004, 11:19

Originally Posted by jrandom

That, sir, is an excellent thought.

I swear the bike runs better on the 98, though. Caught between a rock and a hard place.

Maybe I can borrow some of celticno6's magical airbox sealant to put on my rings...

Or just put some Blu-Tak or plasticene in your tank.
I have the opposite problem, err... or not. (It burns oil too, but they all do that, Sir. 'Big' twins and all that.)
I think my bike's pinking a bit, despite the ignition being set up properly, TPS adjusted right, etc. I tried running it on 98, to stop the pinking and in a vain attempt to get rid of the slight surging/misfiring I get on constant throttle, and it seeeemed more betterer (less pink, and more red), but felt like it had lost an FXR's worth of power. And still did the surgey thingo, but I think that is crap in the carbs. What I'd like to try is running it on 95, but not the crap from the Big4. Tell me, someone - is Gull still in business? I haven't managed to track one down yet. I rode all around Albany on Sunday trying to find the one that I thought was there, but it's now a Cowtex. And apart from BP's 98, Gull is/was the only vendor that reputedly imports refined gas, rather than pretending to and adding paintbrush cleaner to it.

**jrandom** · 6th August 2004, 11:33

Originally Posted by firestormer

Tell me, someone - is Gull still in business? I haven't managed to track one down yet. I rode all around Albany on Sunday trying to find the one that I thought was there, but it's now a Cowtex. And apart from BP's 98, Gull is/was the only vendor that reputedly imports refined gas, rather than pretending to and adding paintbrush cleaner to it.

Yup. There's a Gull up by the Henderson police station, and another one up in Swanson Rd... now you know why it's better living out west, where people pay attention to the care and feeding of their motor vehicles. Gull obviously knows which side its bread is buttered on

**Motu** · 6th August 2004, 12:20

Plenty of 'coons out West...

How long have you been running Silkolene? Silkolene synthetics are high in esters,these do a great cleaning job,maybe too good in your case.I use Silkolene Pro 4,my 95,000km Vtwin Honda uses no oil whatsoever,nor the abused TLR200,the 60,000km XT400 uses a bit,but this is it's first run on Pro 4,next oil change I'll see if it's better or worse.