Burning oil ? Adding oil ?

~TABASCO~

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I’m sure this has been brought up before. But I’m beginning to see more and more of this. I see folks with low oil, and the conversation will start. Some customers have left after this conversation and then reported back over 8-10K miles. Just after this last trip, has prompted me to make a post and start a conversation about it.

The last 3K mile trip I burned about 3/4 qt. I just returned from another 3K trip and there is no oil in the glass, and the oil is low. Ive played with it a bit to see if Ive just got it on a low side, like we have all seen before. Doesn't matter what I do now it won't come back up in the glass. I have other Tenere friends and customers that are adding oil pretty often to keep it in spec. These are mostly 12/13 model years. Im very particular with bikes I work on. When doing a valve adjustment or changing the plugs I always look carefully at the plugs for abnormal color, etc. These bikes that seem to burn some oil have no visible color change on the plug. Look completely normal. If these bikes are using a little oil its probably very little over a long period.

Can we hear from others that are adding oil or knowing the bike is useing oil. It would be nice to know how much / how often Etc. Etc. I will say when I’m mixing my riding up with city,highway, around the area riding even over thousands of miles I don’t seem to 'use' any oil. When I ride the highway at 4K RPM’s for 16 hours it burns or uses a bit of oil.

I DO NOT want to start any type of oil brand conversation. But, for the folks that see they are adding oil, could those folks tell us if they are using Synthetic or standard oil?

Im using Synthetic.

I would start to pick apart what bikes are doing the same thing. Thanks
 
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WJBertrand

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I remember reading that the 2nd gen models got revised pistons and rings, perhaps oil consumption issues is why. My '15 model with 52K on it so far has not needed any added oil between 5000 mile changes. This has been true even after sustained 115+ MPH speeds chasing ST1300s and FJRs at WeSTOC all around eastern Oregon this last summer. This last interval also included many miles to and from Oregon from SoCal at 80+ MPH speeds.
 

Sierra1

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The KLR was the same way; burned/used oil if the rpms stayed higher for an extended period of time. Only bike that ever did that. My Tenere doesn't seem to use any oil, but it is a Gen II, and has relatively low miles. The Beamer actually used less at 60k miles than at 6k miles. Regardless of rpm.
 

Cycledude

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The 2013 I just traded in with 50,000 miles never used any oil that I could tell. Hopefully my new 2018 won’t either.
My 2002 Honda Goldwing uses about a quart of oil between 8,000+ mile oil changes but it has over 525,000 miles on it.
 

Boris

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My 2013 definitely uses oil between each 6k oil change, although I've never had to top up. The level drops, but never below the lower line on the sight glass before the next change is due. My guess is that a quarter of a litre would bring back to the upper line.

My bike is ridden fairly hard and mostly for longish trips of 2k miles or more, always on the road. Currently has about 23k miles, of which I've done about 20k of those.
 

Scoop47501

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My 2012 with 44,000 miles does not use oil between changes. I have done an Iron Butt Ride averaging 500 + miles a day for a week and a recent 1000 mile trip with no usage.
May vary bike to bike.
 

eemsreno

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I have a 2012 with 184,000 miles
It has always used oil if hammered on the interstate. about 1/2 qt to 2,000 miles.
If just ridden locally not much if any.
I have a 2017 and so far no oil used even on interstates.
 

gv550

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On my 2016, I change oil and filter every 10,000 kms and have never added any between changes.
Yam semisynthetic oil, and I rarely ride freeways or high speeds.
 
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old1959

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On a recent trip which was over 8,000 miles I was concern about needing to add oil. The Yamaha instructions for checking oil level, in my opinion, are not relatively easy. Consequently, I just looked in the sight glass in the morning almost everyday and never noticed any change in the level. Of course, I knew I had the correct amount from the start since I did my own oil change and assume the oil drains down overnight the same way so the same view of oil sight glass must be okay. Could have the bike used some oil? Yes, but I consider such amount negligible.Trip report
 

rfulcher

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My 2013 with 40,000 will use oil on rare occasions, sometimes to the point that the low oil level light comes on. This seems to occur when the bike is run hard. It is more likely to happen after riding hard with higher rpms on twisty mountain roads for several days in a row.
 

Juan

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I use my Gen 1 (2013) around 50% highway and the rest city/mountain passes. I use Yamalub 10-40 semi-synthetic and change this every 5,000 km (3,100 miles). I've never topped up oil and if there's any loss of oil between changes, it's not noticable. Having said this, it's difficult to gauge a little oil loss due to the dry sump and eyeglass.
 

scott123007

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My experience echo's Steve's (Eemsreno). Droning my '12 along at 75-90 mph for hours at a time, and especially if there is a slight headwind, would increase oil consumption. With normal riding, it would not use any oil.
My '14 does not use any, in any situation.
 

jbrown

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I've never needed to add oil to my 2012 between changes. I've been using standard oil. Most of my riding is commuting 30 miles each way at 55 to 70 MPH.
 

HeliMark

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For my '13 with 61K miles, depends on the speed. If I am running the freeway for long distances, about an 1/8 of a quart every 1K or so. Sometimes more, sometimes less, really depends on the speeds. It seems somewhere around 75-80 mph is the trigger point for mine. Back roads, or speeds under 60 mph or so, she doesn't burn any at all.
 
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skoron

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2012 with 28,000 miles. If I do my own oil & filter change (Rotella T6) and fill to spec, it stays within the oil glass by the time of the next oil change (4 - 5K miles). However I had the dealer change the oil last time when I had the 25k service and CCT change. Light came on within 3k.

Skoron
 

Bigbore4

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Mine is same as Steve's. 2012 at 80,000 miles. Has always used about 3/4 quart in roughly 3000 miles when it has been hammering for extended periods at high (western interstate) speed.

Synthetic since 600 miles.
 

regulator

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40,000 on my 2012. I consistently burn about 4oz every 1000 miles. I know it’s time to add more when the oil light comes on after a cold start.

My 2014 with similar miles has yet to require additional oil between 5,000 mile changes.

I use standard 1040.
 

EricV

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My experience with my Gen I was that under normal touring, no oil was used. I say used, not burned, because I don't think the Super Ten burns oil, even after 80k miles or more. Maybe when you get up into the 150k mile plus range, perhaps. OTOH, it uses some oil at high rpms. I spent 24 hours running at a consistent 90mph+ and yes, it used some oil. Enough that I added maybe a 1/2 quart to bring it back up to the normal level after warming the bike up per the owner's manual.

I have consistently seen oil usage under sustained high rpms. Guys that like to run in the lower gears off pavement and are consistently over 4k for most of their ride will use some oil. It's not being burned, IMHO, it's breather blow by. After my high rpm rides I always found oil in the breather drain and air box.

I think that's what Yamaha was addressing with the different rings and pistons in part. They claimed it was for better mpg, but I pretty much get the same mpg with the Gen II that I got with the Gen I. I don't notice any oil in the air box though. That said, I haven't had the chance to run extended high rpms on the Gen II yet, so who knows?
 

WJBertrand

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I say used, not burned, because I don't think the Super Ten burns oil,
So doesn't most of the oil aerosol that gets blown into the air box get sucked into the engine and burned or are you actually recovering the same amount of oil from the air box that you have to add to bring it back to full? That would be a LOT of oil in the airbox if so. My bet is the amount found in the airbox is only a minor portion of the "useage" with the rest being burned.
 

EricV

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So doesn't most of the oil aerosol that gets blown into the air box get sucked into the engine and burned or are you actually recovering the same amount of oil from the air box that you have to add to bring it back to full? That would be a LOT of oil in the airbox if so. My bet is the amount found in the airbox is only a minor portion of the "useage" with the rest being burned.
I agree that it mostly is sucked back into the engine, and in that was is burned with fuel. But it's not leaking past the rings, which is typically what I think of when you say an engine is"burning oil".
 
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