Long Trip Oil Consumption

palat_l

palat_l

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I am usually just a lurker here but I just have to brag a little.

I took a bit of a short trip last month NJ to Las Vegas and back to NJ.

Yeah the seat kinda hurt (OK it hurt a lot ...it was the gel seat too) and I am never ever going back to Kansas (tornado) , but the bike was incredible.

5400 miles in 4 days out and 4 days back and I ran it pretty darn hard. Woke up in Amarillo and went to sleep in Las Vegas (think low flying missile) and on the way back woke up in St Louis and went to sleep in NJ. The rear tire is kinda profiled now. The thing that I am most impressed with is the lack of any measurable oil consumption.

Everything on the bike is still tight and looks as good as new.
 
That is pretty remarkable that it didn't use any oil. With that mileage even if it had consumed a quart or two it would still have been acceptable. Oh and glad to hear you were able to outrun the tornado ;)
 
palat_l said:
5400 miles in 4 days out and 4 days back and I ran it pretty darn hard. Woke up in Amarillo and went to sleep in Las Vegas (think low flying missile) and on the way back woke up in St Louis and went to sleep in NJ. The rear tire is kinda profiled now. The thing that I am most impressed with is the lack of any measurable oil consumption.

Everything on the bike is still tight and looks as good as new.
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I think that this may just be normal for the FZ. I did just shy of 7400 km on a recent trip, and no measurable use of oil. I did change it at the halfway point, as it was due then (I didn't start the trip with fresh oil, almost). I have never seen any change in level between changes no matter how I ride it. I use Motul semi synthetic 10w40. , and have since the first change at the first service.
 
I'm not surprised the FZ1 consumed no oil on that trip, and why would it?

I will never accept oil consumption as it is never acceptable.

These so called acceptable levels manufacturers claim is pure BS and thier way to make excuses on a badly designed or manufactured engine.

Never accept thier lies!
 
NJFZ1 said:
That is pretty remarkable that it didn't use any oil. With that mileage even if it had consumed a quart or two it would still have been acceptable. Oh and glad to hear you were able to outrun the tornado ;)
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I was thinking about having the oil changed while I was in vegas but I never got around to it and the Mobil 1 guys are always bragging how bada** their oil is (and I guess that I have to agree now). Usually a little "blow by" through the rings is normal especially if the tolerances on the rings and bores line up worst case in one of the cylinders, but 0 consumption on a 150 hp high revving engine is a pretty good indication of excellent machine work.

Here's a pic and a link to a listing of what worked and what didn't (it's on the gixxer forum though)

Suzuki GSX-R Motorcycle Forums Gixxer.com - View Single Post - High Point Run - 6/12

View attachment 3700
 
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Quite a whirlwind trip! Congrats on it being uneventful!

I don't expect mine to use oil at all and it never has. Same as Lee, no matter how I ride it.... I used to use nothing but Rotella Synthetic but this last change the girl got a big gulp of Mobil 1 and seems to like it just the same.

I broke her in the hard way, much like racers break in a fresh build. The idea is to place heavy load on the rings so 20 miles of heavy accel/decel repeatedly
 
Guys, our engines are precision made as good or better than a Lexus/Mercedes/BMW engine; world class all the way so don't expect Yamaha to hedge thier bets against shoody workmanship with this sentence in the owner's manual: "One quart or more oil consumption between normal oil change intervals is normal.". GM, Ford and others may do this (especially Nissan) but Yamaha doesn't have too :).
 
Howard Roark said:
These so called acceptable levels manufacturers claim is pure BS and thier way to make excuses on a badly designed or manufactured engine.

Never accept thier lies!
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lolup, Do you actually believe then that there is a machine that will not consume any oil? I've been a BlackHawk helicopter Mechanic for the last 15 yrs in the Army, and even the $1 million GE Engine consumes oil, so why would you think it's badly produced/manufactured for doing so?
 
gtbigup01 said:
lolup, Do you actually believe then that there is a machine that will not consume any oil? I've been a BlackHawk helicopter Mechanic for the last 15 yrs in the Army, and even the $1 million GE Engine consumes oil, so why would you think it's badly produced/manufactured for doing so?
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I agree, while aluminum is excellent at conducting heat it also has a the added problem of a higher coefficient of expansion than say steel. Therefore, it is an engineering challenge to keep the rings well seated and the cylinder walls properly lubricated during the entire cold / hot temperature cycle.

I had a Cadillac Deville (actually 3...you can get them cheap on ebay) with the Northstar V8. Powerful engine for sure but it drank oil and was well known for blowing head gaskets at 100K miles.
 
palat_l said:
I agree, while aluminum is excellent at conducting heat it also has a the added problem of a higher coefficient of expansion than say steel. Therefore, it is an engineering challenge to keep the rings well seated and the cylinder walls properly lubricated during the entire cold / hot temperature cycle.

I had a Cadillac Deville (actually 3...you can get them cheap on ebay) with the Northstar V8. Powerful engine for sure but it drank oil and was well known for blowing head gaskets at 100K miles.
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And yet millions of bikes, cars, trucks don't consume noticeable amounts of oil....so how do you explain that?

FZ1 engine vs Black Hawk = Apples vs Oranges.

Bear in mind that the specs of the Black Hawk could be vintage 1980s technology? It is a well known fact that military spec'd equipment is far, far from being cutting edged. The components are often obsolete as the blueprints can be decades old?

You want the latest components? Don't look to the military for that.

As to the north star shameful system, yea it burns oil and we must never drink the koolaid of explanations that GM gives us.

My 2002 Honda CRV, nor my many sport bikes, nor my Toyotas, nor any car I have ever owned burnt measurable amounts of oil, so therefor there is never an excuse if ones motor does! Save for reasons of abuse or neglect.
 
Almost all new engines have such tight tollerances and excellent materials that they show very little wear, even after tens of thousands of miles. They wouldn't be usig the type of cylinder lining they do today if they expected any wear on the cylinder walls or rings. It wasn't all that long ago when internal combustion engines all had cast iron liners so they could be re-bored after 40-50 thousand miles. That was considered "normal" when I was a kid. BUT............if you really check your oil consumption to the ounce, what was put in vs. what comes, out after an oil change, you'll be a couple ounces off. That is normal and not all of that is burned, a certain amount just plain evaporates from heat. In the "good old days" it was considered a good practice to check your oil darned near every day but today most people never check it between oil changes because unless they're leaving a blue streak they don't even worry about oil use. Today's engines are amazing.
 
Howard Roark said:
And yet millions of bikes, cars, trucks don't consume noticeable amounts of oil....so how do you explain that?

FZ1 engine vs Black Hawk = Apples vs Oranges.
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Sure!! One is a bike and the other is a Helicopter, however the concept of consuming oil is the SAME
 
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gtbigup01 said:
Sure!! One is a bike and the other is a Helicopter, however the concept of consuming oil is the SAME
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Not true.

An engineer or pilot might expect substantial oil consumption, but a rider of a late model bike should never expect more than negligible consumption (few ounces if that, and never quarts).

Apples and Oranges.
 
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