Oil burn ???

[Blue Star]

I just did a 2500 Kms, quite a lot of which was highway during which I was constantly hammering between 140 and 180 kmph. Mileage was crap which is understandable however the oil lamp started flickering on the next trip and I had to fill almost a liter to bring the oil back to right level. This happened for the first time. Is this normal ? Or is it coz I hammered it too much ? Still sounds strange.

Anybody else having same problem ? My bike is 2011 model and just 14,700 Kms old....

 

[avc8130]

This was happening to one of the Teneres in my group on a ride from NJ to TX. Similar conditions of high load traveling at 85-90mph through head winds. We actually had to stop twice to top the oil up during the trip since the light came on twice.

ac

 

[Blue Star]

This doesn't sound normal though does it ? I mean yamaha should expect people to be carrying around oil cans ....

 

[ADVFireFighter]

I just did Vegas and back... 7.5 hours each way... And 80-100 most of the freeway... no oil light...

 

[autoteach]

I did 1200 miles in 21 hours, hauling donkey. No oil issue.

 

[twinrider]

This doesn't sound normal though does it ? I mean yamaha should expect people to be carrying around oil cans ....

No issues with mine but I haven't been riding those speeds at a sustained pace. I would advise that you speak to your Yamaha dealer while it's still under warranty (leaving out the highly illegal speed part).

 

[markjenn]

Just a note that Yamaha is typically very conservative with their oil level light, and my experience with the S10 is that it will come on when the bike is still showing quite a bit of oil on the sight glass. If you put a liter in at this point, you're probably drastically overfilling it. I'd never add more than perhaps half this much. And if you add oil by watching the sight glass, you're probably overfilling also.

I'd suggest adding much smaller amounts and waiting until you've run the bike for a bit before making a check after adding. My guess is that the bike is using some oil but the overfilling is exaggerating the amount.

- Mark

 

[Doug44]

What weight of oil are you burnin thru this Tenere. With high temp and high speeds you need a heavier oil IMO. Not to start an oil thread here but I find that some of the Syn oils are a little thin and light, not saying they are not good but will contribute to oil consumption in some cases like the conditions you listed. I stick with Shell Rotella 15w40 Dino oil and where others are using oil in their bikes mine is not.

::017::

 

[scott123007]

Steady state, relatively high speed riding for long distances seems to be the ticket for the highest oil consumption. Just rode from Florida to Michigan and then to Colorado in four days. Oil was changed before the trip (Rotella) and 2700 miles later it needed about 3/4 of a quart (oil light came on after about a mile after start-up). This is the first time the bike has been on a trip with high mileage days. With regular local riding, I have virtually no oil consumption, between oil changes.

 

[coastie]

What weight of oil are you burnin thru this Tenere. With high temp and high speeds you need a heavier oil IMO. Not to start an oil thread here but I find that some of the Syn oils are a little thin and light, not saying they are not good but will contribute to oil consumption in some cases like the conditions you listed. I stick with Shell Rotella 15w40 Dino oil and where others are using oil in their bikes mine is not.

::017::

Yea running Amsoil I was burning through oil like crazy. I just switched to Mobil Delvac 15W40 Dino, only because they were out of Rotella. We will see how my oil consumption is on my highway run across texas in mid 90 Degree heat next weekend.

 

[immigrant]

I just did a 2500 Kms, quite a lot of which was highway during which I was constantly hammering between 140 and 180 kmph. Mileage was crap which is understandable however the oil lamp started flickering on the next trip and I had to fill almost a liter to bring the oil back to right level. This happened for the first time. Is this normal ? Or is it coz I hammered it too much ? Still sounds strange.

Anybody else having same problem ? My bike is 2011 model and just 14,700 Kms old....

I would think at those speeds, loaded, it will be normal. At 180 km/h it probably runs at 8 or 9000 rpm?
Yamaha makes a R1 for those speeds ::021::

I wonder what the temp of your final drive was. Maybe change that oil as well

 

[avc8130]

Both times we had to add oil to Swampy's there was none visible in the sight glass.

90mph is practically the SPEED LIMIT in Texas.

ac

 

[cosmic]

I had the oil light ON two times on my last 3tkm trip. It went on just after starting, and off after a minut or two. I've just past 10tkm mark without oil change at the end of the trip. The oil i use is Yamalube full sint 10-40.
The best part of it, i even didn't check the level after that. I know, it's pretty stupid, but when i'll start checking oil on s10, i'll buy a beemer.


©

 

[coastie]

Re: Re: Oil burn ???

I had the oil light ON two times on my last 3tkm trip. It went on just after starting, and off after a minut or two. I've just past 10tkm mark without oil change at the end of the trip. The oil i use is Yamalube full sint 10-40.
The best part of it, i even didn't check the level after that. I know, it's pretty stupid, but when i'll start checking oil on s10, i'll buy a beemer.


©

I know there is still A LOT of oil in this thing when the light comes on. I normally only see the light come on when it's cold out and I get on her and just take off, without the proper warmup.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dallara]

Both times we had to add oil to Swampy's there was none visible in the sight glass.

90mph is practically the SPEED LIMIT in Texas.

ac

Would you tell ol' EricV that for the rest of us!

For some reason he thinks nobody can drive more than 2 or 3 MPH over in Texas without going to jail!!! ???

Now back on topic... I've got over 30,000 miles on my S-10, and I ride all over Texas at 85-90 MPH, and mine is weird about using oil. Most all of the time it doesn't use a drop, and the oil level will stay dead on the money for tons of miles. Then on an occasional ride or weekend it will use about 1/4 to 1/2 a quart - *BOOM* - outta' nowhere. Ambient temp doesn't seem to make a difference, though I will say it is usually after some high-speed road runs...

Bike was broke-in from new with Yamalube 20W/50 dino oil for the first 6,000-6,500 miles. At that point I switched over to Mobil 1 20W50 Full Synthetic V-Twin oil and have run that ever since, and only used factory Yamaha filters.

Mostly I don't worry about it, and only once or twice in the life of my bike has the oil light come on in these instances. Usually I have caught a low oil level before the light has ever come on.

Dallara




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[10 ER AY]

I'm glad I just noticed this thread.

Last week I left my house headed to work and the oil light came on. I stopped and there was no oil in the glass - scared the daylights out of me. Luckily I wasn't far from home so I went back and filled it up. It took about 1/2 Qt and I have been really concerned thinking that A. I didn't do the oil change properly 2000 miles ago or B. I had a leak some where.

I've never had a bike burn oil before so that never crossed my mind. I've got a 2000+ mile trip coming up so I guess I better pack a qt of oil with me just in case. That's a real disappointment, to me.

 

[reverend12]

I doubt that the bike burned any oil. There have been rare reports of the oil light flickering under hard acceleration. Also the oil level is hard to read on this bike. The bike has to run and get up to temperture, then on the centerstand on level ground you should be able to see the level in the sight glass. Oil capacity is around 3.6 quarts with filter change.

 

[avc8130]

Would you tell ol' EricV that for the rest of us!

For some reason he thinks nobody can drive more than 2 or 3 MPH over in Texas without going to jail!!! ???

Dallara
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TX was terrifying. Pitch black, 2 lane road, random side streets with just stop signs...SPEED LIMIT? 75mph. Do 75? Only if you want to die. CARS would pass on the double yellow. Clearly the "speed limit" was much higher.

ac

 

[coastie]

Re: Re: Oil burn ???

TX was terrifying. Pitch black, 2 lane road, random side streets with just stop signs...SPEED LIMIT? 75mph. Do 75? Only if you want to die. CARS would pass on the double yellow. Clearly the "speed limit" was much higher.

ac

Haha yea, it's crazy doing 75 during the day. Some of the farms are like little towns with farm animals and dirt all over the road from the farm equipment. 75... No worries, it's all good.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dallara]

I doubt that the bike burned any oil. There have been rare reports of the oil light flickering under hard acceleration. Also the oil level is hard to read on this bike. The bike has to run and get up to temperture, then on the centerstand on level ground you should be able to see the level in the sight glass. Oil capacity is around 3.6 quarts with filter change.

Well, I know one of the times mine burned off the oil...

'Cuz I measured it when I drained it (an old habit, and I had decided just to change the oil to check if it was just a 'me reading the level' issue), and less than 2.8 quarts came out. Add what's in the filter and you're still way short. BTW, I always pre-fill my oil filters just before I put them on the bike. Again, an old habit from when some paper oil filters could tear or rupture if oil pressure hit 'em dry.

Honestly, I think it is a crankcase scavenging issue at high engine speeds. Yamaha designed and implemented this engine as a "dry sump", probably to avoid pumping losses, etc. in the crankcase. As such they apparently adopted a rather aggressive scavenging strategy to keep the crankcase clear at lower engine speeds, particularly those off-road. At extended higher engine speeds more common here in the USA this might become slightly too aggressive, overly pressurizing the oil "tank" inside the cases, and as such forcing some oil up the vent into the airbox where it's inducted into the engine combustion cycle and burned off. Mind you, this would be a very tiny amount of oil at any one instant in time, but over miles an miles of high-speed highway cruising it would add up.

Just a theory... Nothing more.

Dallara



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