4000 vs 6000 miles

[stevent]

Anyone know why the difference between the European specified 6000 mile oil change recommendation and the US spec 4000 mile oil change? they both recommend Yamalube 10w40 as the primary oil. Just curious, as far as I know the bikes are the same.....

 

[bigbob]

Is the other side of the pond 6,000 miles or 6,000 km (3,730 miles)?

 

[stevent]

6000 miles. it shows kilometers too, specifically every 10,000 km or 6,000 mi.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Seen this discussed over on the FJR forums without any clear, definitive answer. Quality of fuel is sometimes suggested. Evidently the fuel in many European countries burns cleaner than ours. Also our higher driving speeds is offered, but that does not seem logical to me. Could be they figure we Amerikans are bigger chumps. I generally go at least 5k miles and often 6k. All my BMWs call for 6k so I figure the Yamahas will do just fine at that service interval.

 

[caillou]

IMO, this is purely better lobbying from Yamaha dealers in North America vs ROW. Nothing does justify that, so you can confidently change your oil every 6000 miles or 10,000 km once the warranty is over.
For me, oil change is cheap, quick and easy so I may continue to do my oil change every 4000 miles / 6000 km, except when I'm traveling and it is too much trouble to change the oil. Then I will extend to 10 KKm.

 

[WJBertrand]

I'm going to pick 5000 miles. Easier to remember too.


-Jeff

 

[whisperquiet]

I change the oil and filter between 4000 and 6000 miles depending on the use, trip length, usage, etc. and sometimes do it when I just feel like doing an oil change! YMMV

 

[La Knee]

I'm going to pick 5000 miles. Easier to remember too.


-Jeff

Ditto
Ditto


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[taskmaster86]

I'm going to pick 5000 miles. Easier to remember too.


-Jeff

::026::

I do 5,000 mile oil changes in everything I own EXCEPT my S-10. The oil just looks too contaminated and beat up to go that long in these bikes. 3,000 miles is as long as I want to go based on what I am seeing. YMMV

 

[hojo in sc]

Perhaps I need to compare the manual vs the service manual, as the service manual says to change the oil every 8,000 miles, which seems a bit long to me.

 

[2daMax]

I find that the oil in the S10 stays cleaner longer than in the Versys 650. Perhaps the engine design causes less stress on the oil. On my Versys, the oil goes completely non-transparent after a 20km ride. On the S10, it is still clear even after 1300km although the color is darker. Just changed to Castrol Fully Syn oil and rode 26km and the oil looks brand new.

Note: Oils are different but the S10 was using cheap mineral oil, while the Versys had used Shell Fully Synthetic, Sikolene Comp 4, and Shell Semi Synthetic and all behaves the same.

My point is, the S10 engine is well designed and doesn't stress the oil as much as other engines, and as such, I think 8000 miles is achievable with normal riding conditions.

 

[markjenn]

OCI's are somewhat arbitrary and at the discretion of the importer. In Europe, 10K km is more/less the standard service interval, so Yamaha probably felt it had to match this. In the US, Yamaha has had 4K mile intervals for virtually all their bikes for many years and they probably didn't want to make a change. I doubt there is any technical reason for the discrepancy and both intervals can be more/less justified as it is a subtle tradeoff between extra service cost and engine longevity.

I would also bet that protecting US dealer's profits comes into play.

AFAIK, the OCI in the US service manual and US owner's manual are consistent (4K miles).

- Mark

 

[Scorpio]

5000 for me as mentioned easier to remember

 

[PHX 10]

I think 4000 is plenty long. You got the engine and the combustion by products, the gears in the transmission shearing the oil and the clutch with the friction materiel swimming in the oil and expect to run this well engineered bike 1000 mi longer the the 3000mi rule of thumb. The whole idea of these longer intervals it to give the consumer the impression that the new vehicle buyer that they have a lower cost of ownership. The goal of the manufacture to the survive the warranty of the engine. My thoughts are that changing the oil is cheap insurance and the engine will last longer and perform like new longer. Some liberal groups are really pushing the whole longer interval thing for what they call environmental reasons. If the leftists had their way we would be like Japan and be required to replace the engine at 30,000 mi. For those of you who plan on putting 100,000 on the Tenere Go 4000 or less between oil changes.

 

[taskmaster86]

I am going to change my recommendation on this now. I know I said 5,000 miles but I take that back.

Now that I have owned My S-10 for a while and seen the condition of the oil when it is drained out, I can no longer recommend 5,000 mile oil changes. The oil is just too dark, smelly and poor looking to go that long for me. I now recommend 3,000 miles tops for these bikes. I know that is even less than the manual says but I would rather play it safe and change it early than try to save a few bucks by going the extra time and miles between oil changes. Changing the oil filter every other oil change seems OK however.

For me, the bottom line is this; Oil changes are cheap, engines are not.

 

[WJBertrand]

My ST1300 has had 5000 mile OCIs since new, with synthetic MC specific oil. the bike now has 150,000 miles on it and I recently had compression and leak down testing done. Compression on all four cylinders was greater than 200 PSI and witihn 5 PSI of one another. Leak down was 5% on all cylinders. 5K OCI seems perfectly fine for that bike, don't know why the Tenere would stress the oil any more than the ST13.

 

[taskmaster86]

WJ- That is good to know, thanks for the report! Maybe I would reconsider if there are many other cases of success like yours.

I am also located in a cooler climate so I am usually running 5w-40 in my S-10 because I need the cold weather protection. That could be why my oil looks so watery and beat up by the time I drain it. 15W-40 or heavier oil probably won't shear down as much and will come out looking better after a longer drain interval.

 

[WJBertrand]

I used 10w-40 throughout. Though I live on the coast here in SoCal, the bike has seen plenty of heat, including the Mojave desert at 120+F! Such reports are the norm over on the various Honda ST forums.

 

[EricV]

6000 miles. it shows kilometers too, specifically every 10,000 km or 6,000 mi.

Humans are silly. We like even numbers. In the EU, 10k kilometers is about as even as you get. And no one would buy that you needed to change the oil/filter at 5000 kms.

In the US, we've been brainwashed for the last 20 years that you have to change your oil every 3k miles, which is complete and utter BS by the oil companies and related industries. Entire businesses were created upon this myth and continue to thrive. 4000 miles seemed like something the US would buy, 6200, (10k kms), confused them and was double what they have been being spoon fed for all these years.

I actually test my oil. It's never even close to bad at 4k, just has some suspended combustion waste in it. I change it at 5000 miles simply because shifting starts to deteriorate, not because I'm worried about the oil breaking down.

Do what makes you happy.

 

[verboten1]

I actually test my oil. It's never even close to bad at 4k, just has some suspended combustion waste in it.

I came in here to ask if anyone was doing any analysis or if it was "I feel" facts.

Glad to hear 4,000 is fine, I'm doing 5000 on the tenere, and 10,000 on the car.