Oil change maintenance?

So I'm ready to change the oil in my bike, which has a nice dark golden
color to it when I wipe it off the dipstick instead of the nasty brown that
came out of the car I drove in high school.

I'll be replacing the filter, too, but should I go ahead and drop the oil
pan to clean out any sludge/contaminants? What are the chances that when I
get the oil pan back on, the gasket will leak? Is it more likely a metal
gasket, or some other material?

Also, there's no easy way to tell whether or not the oil needs to be
changed, right? I mean, if it looks okay (not black), that doesn't
necessarily mean it's okay because the polymers in the oil may have gotten
chopped up by the tranny, and I wouldn't know that unless I did a cold/hot
viscosity test, right?

I usually do trips of less than 2 miles per trip(40 miles per week), and the
occasional 120-mile excursion. Obviously I should be changing the oil more
than once every 4000 miles and definitely more than once every 8000 miles
like the Honda manual says, right? Ninty-five percent of all engine wear
occurs in the first 5 minutes of engine startup, no? I'm asking lots of
questions because I did a lot of research that agrees with each other, but I
always like to confirm with the crowd.

 

Here is what I do.....I usually change the oil at the beginning of each
season... i put on about 3000 miles each season... usually a little
less.....in fact i change all fluids... tranny, oil, and clutch....well not
all fluids.. i dont change brake or fork oil each riding season....
If you let it go more than a few months, chances are it will start to
break down. You should ride it more than 5 minutes mainly because you will
get alot of condensation build up in the oil and you can notice this because
it looks like suds and wonder where the hell that came from....that is no
good for your crankcase.... you will need to let that "boil" off and thats
what a good half hour ride will do for it....
Here;s the thing... if you plan on keeping your bike for a long
time..... change fluids frequently... after all how much can it cost to
change fluids? for me it runs around 15 bucks a season... thats cheap
insurance.....if you don't plan on keeping the bike for a long time... then
I am not saying not to change the fluids, but it becomes sort of a non
issue... you probably won't get as much mileage out of the engine, but its
either pay me now or pay me later situation....no matter what...
I am kinda anal about changing oil and filters in my cars... usually
every 2000 miles....but i guess when something decides not to work anymore
you have no say in the matter.

Fwed

 

I figured if it came out black and chunky like old milk, or small animals
came out with it, that it might be bad.

Because it's a 37k mi bike?

Good point. I'm glad I saved mine from such a grisly death.

I was hoping to hear this.

Hmm... can you elaborate? Are you say hard service as in "don't exceed this
mileage without doing X service?"

I've read that elsewhere, too.

Cover your a$$ mentality, right?

Oh, I see what you're saying... engine wear and oil breakdown are two
different things.

I also picked up some diesel oil (Mobil Delvac 1300 15w40) for this oil
change. I did my research at
http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Consumables.html and was pleased to find
that I could pick up a Walmart-branded oil filter that was a high-quality
rebranded Champion. The box also has qualitative comparison figures on it,
and it says "tests independently conducted by Champion, Inc." or something.

I was looking for some 20w-40 or 50, but stuck with the 15 because it was
all they had. I guess it's probably not all that critical.

Given that I have 5 bicycles and 1 motorcycles as my only forms of
transportation, the moto will get some use

 

If your oil comes out chunky, you might consider dropping the pan.
Anything less and forget about it.

37k is higher mileage than many motorcycles here in the USA get to, but
let's face it, that's not a whole lot of miles on a modern, water-cooled
engine. There's no reason to expect significant wear on the bike unless
the previous owner was ignorant or abusive.

[snip]

Well, some vehicles come with an oil change interval like this:
x000 miles*

*hard service interval (x/2)000 miles.

Where "hard service" means some combination of: dusty, wet, short trips,
extreme temperatures, radiation, petroleum-eating fungus, space aliens,
etc. ;-)

I don't know if you CBR has a "hard service" interval or not. If it did,
you would probably do well to follow it, given your riding style (better
to change the style a bit, but that's not always how it goes, etc.). If
it doesn't, then going from 8k to 4k intervals would make sense, IMO.
Perhaps 4k intervals with an additional change before winter storage
(should such a thing occur). Changing oil before storage prevents any
built-up water or acids from damaging the engine in storage.

Some people change oil before storage (and use the cheapest stuff they
can get) and after storage (back to whatever they usually use). I think
that's overkill in almost all circumstances, but then it's not my bike
either.

Or maybe the oil hasn't gotten better enough, or the engine tolerances
demand it, or any number of other possibilities. The point here is that
if your manual says 8k miles, that indicates the instructions given the
technology (engine and lubrication) of the day. Things have changed in
the meantime (see oil quality, above). This might affect how you
approach your oil change interval. I'd certainly argue against going
less than 4k mile intervals unless you just really like to change the
oil, or you ride so infrequently that it would only be one or two
changes a year in any case.

[snip]

Heh, I've got my boots, one push-bike, and one motorbike. The push-bike
just blew the rear shifter (the thing on the bars, not the derailleur),
and the bike's old enough that replacing it very likely means doing the
whole drive-train because of changes in bicycle components. If that's
the case, a used bicycle in reasonable shape would be similar in price
(a perfect illustration of a machine becoming uneconomical to repair).

--
Later,
John



'indiana' is a 'nolnn' and 'hoosier' is a 'solkk'. Indiana doesn't solkk.

 

Ah, the joy's of year-round Florida riding No need for storage or
anything. Just the choke on cold days... I've been trying to avoid using
the choke at all these days after the local shop told me my plugs were
fouled. But ever since it's been hitting the high 70's in the last week,
it's a lot easier to avoid the choke.

I work at a bicycle repair shop, and virtually all shifter malfunctions can
be attributed to grease gumming up. Shots of WD-40 or GT85 thins out the
gum and allows the return ratchet to click into place. It happens all the
time with 10+ year old bikes. Just find an open port in the shifter
mechanism and insert the spray stick in there and spray around... actuate
the lever many times over several hours, and it should begin to free up.

My rear stand comes in the mail tomorrow... then I can get my hugger on and
avoid wet feet syndrome

 

Doesn't the clutch run in the engine oil for wet clutches?

 

No.

Oh, and trips of less than two miles are a total waste of time and will
kill an engine faster. Buy a bicycle.

 

I had assumed he has a hydraulic clutch - much like your hydraulic disc
brakes.

 

This isn't gum. I felt the ratchet break. The shifters are Old Shimano
S100, the predecessor to the Rapidfires. It's a 7-cog rear and nobody,
AFAIK, makes a shifter for these anymore. Combine this with the other
issues that the bike has, and the fact that I'm writing my dissertation
(so time is worth rather a lot to me just now), and I'd rather spend
money on a new(er) bike than time on this one. As a grad student though,
money is not spent lightly. ;-)

But this is not the place for my bicycle woes. MY VFR on the other hand,
works like a treat! It might even get warm enough this weekend for me to
go for a ride.

Huggers are most definitely a good thing. I installed a Pyramid hugger
on the VFR and am overall pretty happy with it.

--
Later,
John



'indiana' is a 'nolnn' and 'hoosier' is a 'solkk'. Indiana doesn't solkk.

 

I should have added that I should also change the brake and fork
oil....it just seems to be a pain in the ass than the other fluids... my
biggest fear is that i would never be able to replace the fork caps once I
have taken them off....which is a lame excuse huh??

Fwed

 

In some bikes,. clutches use the engine oil, but in opther bikes, they
have a separate case for their own oil.... I have two bikes... one uses the
same as engine oil, and the opther uses different oil.

Fwed

 

I have five already, and I ride them most days. On my lazy days I don't
want to get sweaty and smelly so that it drives away customers. It's uphill
both ways to my destination. Think of it as my home in the middle of an
impact crater.

But I'm glad I have some time left in that engine...

 

I should have added that I should also change the brake and fork
oil....it just seems to be a pain in the ass than the other fluids... my
biggest fear is that i would never be able to replace the fork caps once I
have taken them off....which is a lame excuse huh??

Fwed[/QUOTE]

Check out this page for a fork maintenance walkthrough:
http://darladog.com/forks/

It's written specifically about cartridge forks, and it's a full
tear-down, but the pictures will help even for your damper-rod forks
(should you have them). It takes me about 1.5 hours to do both my fork
legs when I do them; I call it "quality time" (but then I'm also a grad
student).;-)

When you get to step 2, you might find it helpful to wind on full
preload. That exposes more of one of the locknuts, making it easier to
remove the cap from the rod.

As for getting the caps back on, don't forget to wind out all the
preload! Then it's about the same difficulty as putting the cap onto a
D-cell Mag-light (not terribly difficult, really).

As for the brake and clutch, I bought with my father a MightyVac when
working on the brakes on his car one year. I borrow it when I do my
clutch and brake fluids!

I've also put teflon tape on the threads of my bleeder screws to limit
air bubbles getting past them (it works), and have never had problems
with having to re-bleed.

I can post more complete instructions for either procedure, but this is
commonly-posted stuff, and it's in the archives, so check there first.

--
Later,
John



'indiana' is a 'nolnn' and 'hoosier' is a 'solkk'. Indiana doesn't solkk.

 

Check out this page for a fork maintenance walkthrough:
http://darladog.com/forks/

It's written specifically about cartridge forks, and it's a full
tear-down, but the pictures will help even for your damper-rod forks
(should you have them). It takes me about 1.5 hours to do both my fork
legs when I do them; I call it "quality time" (but then I'm also a grad
student).;-)

When you get to step 2, you might find it helpful to wind on full
preload. That exposes more of one of the locknuts, making it easier to
remove the cap from the rod.

As for getting the caps back on, don't forget to wind out all the
preload! Then it's about the same difficulty as putting the cap onto a
D-cell Mag-light (not terribly difficult, really).

As for the brake and clutch, I bought with my father a MightyVac when
working on the brakes on his car one year. I borrow it when I do my
clutch and brake fluids!

I've also put teflon tape on the threads of my bleeder screws to limit
air bubbles getting past them (it works), and have never had problems
with having to re-bleed.

I can post more complete instructions for either procedure, but this is
commonly-posted stuff, and it's in the archives, so check there first.
[/QUOTE]

John...
thanks for the info!! i have bookmarked it and will look it over
when i have more time to... probably on the weekend...I also have (service)
manuals for both bikes, so i am sure it would be outlined in them as well...

thanks again!!

fwed

 

No problem. I say go for it. I was kinda nervous when I did mine the
first time, but it turned out to be a piece of cake. You need to be a
bit careful, but it's really straightforward and you'll be amazed at the
difference in handling. Good luck with it.

--
Later,
John



'indiana' is a 'nolnn' and 'hoosier' is a 'solkk'. Indiana doesn't solkk.