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

[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:Me]

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.

[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?