Oil Consumption

[Ron_Luning]

I got back early Monday morning from a 900ish mile ride. The oil level at the start was around the 2/3 level in the glass. Now I have to tip the bike to the right to even see any oil. The ride was mainly highway for the way back, but speeds were generally between 75-82 mph so the engine wasn't screaming. My old FZ1 started burning oil at around the 25k mile mark, but my Tenere only has 9-10k on it now.

Has anyone else seen this consumption on their bike? I was able to cure the FZ1 of about 75% of the problem by running a shock treatment of Yamaha Ring Free, but it seems a bit early for that with this bike.

Also, I'm noticing a bit of rust starting on the front brake rotor floating mount buttons and (of course) the spokes.

 

[Yamaguy55]

Salt air, huh? Sounds like Buchanan's stainless spokes are in your future. Ceramic coatings like CeraKote are also possibly also in your future.

If you have ring based oil consumption, a good hard full throttle run usually takes care of that. Valve seals are something else. Also, sometimes a change in oil will do wonders.

I base my oil level on starting, run for a few, then shutting it off from cold. It usually ends up at the upper mark on the case. I have no detectable oil consumption, but, as we know, all engines consume some. Condensate and fuel dilution make up for some use, but not all. In your climate, I'd be inclined to run 10-50 synthetic. 10-30 or similar may be too thin. The owners manual spells out what oil for what temp pretty well. But if I lived where you do, it would be 10-50.

 

[markjenn]

I don't think we've had any trend towards high oil consumption with the S10. The level does seem to jump around a bit so I'd add some and continue to monitor. Might have been a one-off aberration.

- Mark

 

[Don in Lodi]

Run it and check it a few more times before jumping to that conclusion. As noted, our dry sump set up tends to be all over the place with the visual level.

 

[hANNAbONE]

...what Don & Mark said...

 

[MNs10]

Run it and check it a few more times before jumping to that conclusion. As noted, our dry sump set up tends to be all over the place with the visual level.

It's not the easiest beast to check the oil in for sure.

And considering the oil light will flicker long before the level is low...

 

[RIVA]

If under warranty ::021:: ::003::

 

[Karson]

if you haven't owned a klr and rode slab, you haven't experience oil burning at it's finest. if you're worried, document how much you are adding over a period of a month, two or three and take her in. but again, i haven't burned a drop in between my oil changes.

 

[tomatocity]

I agree with this engine being very difficult to read oil level and I can not tell if this engine ever used oil but... there is oil in the airbox. I think the Tenere arrives with oil and moisture in the airbox. I cleaned mine at 4,000 miles (I think) and recently cleaned it at 17,000 miles. Had more oil in the airbox at 17,000 than it did at 4,000. I am going to check it at 20,000 to see if this engine just likes to puke a bit of oil with no harm.

 

[thfraser]

This is a big concern of mine. I currently own a 1050 Triumph that goes through quite a bit of oil. It is quite unnerving as I have an older Triumph 955 with 70k miles on the clock with no burning of oil. My 1050 seems to be an exception to the rule.

But from reading this thread and another thread from last year, this does not appear to be an issue with the S10, unless of course, it was badly flogged during the breakin or was just plain mistreated. Though the S10 does seem very capable of absorbing some riding on tough roads.

 

[coastie]

Sometimes mine is at the lower level, other times it's almost full. Just depends on the day. Just drain and measure the oil. Then you will know if your burning or not.

 

[hojo in sc]

After 8,000 miles I have not seen a bit of oil consumption.

 

[tomatocity]

If you consider blowby oil consumption, then the only oil consumption I know of is what is collected in the airbox. The simple check is to look at the airbox drain tube.

I believe this drain tube is full of oil and moisture when it comes from the factory. Why? I don't know.

At 8,000 miles I installed a K&N and cleaned the inside of the airbox and drain tube. At 17,000 miles I cleaned the inside of the airbox and drain tube. The airbox did not have much oil splatter but the drain tube was full. Hopefully there won't be any oil next time I check. I will check the drain tube the next time I have the tank tilted up.

 

[hANNAbONE]

if you haven't owned a klr and rode slab, you haven't experience oil burning at it's finest. if you're worried, document how much you are adding over a period of a month, two or three and take her in. but again, i haven't burned a drop in between my oil changes.

I will NEVER own another KLR in my lifetime...EVER.

 

[hANNAbONE]

This is a big concern of mine. I currently own a 1050 Triumph that goes through quite a bit of oil. It is quite unnerving as I have an older Triumph 955 with 70k miles on the clock with no burning of oil. My 1050 seems to be an exception to the rule.

But from reading this thread and another thread from last year, this does not appear to be an issue with the S10, unless of course, it was badly flogged during the breakin or was just plain mistreated. Though the S10 does seem very capable of absorbing some riding on tough roads.

..if you broke that 1050 triple in by the book, you will be burning oil. I break my motors in not by the book. High rev's, seat the rings, new oil @ 50-100 miles, repeat at 1000 miles. Works everytime.