SuzukiSavage.com - Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal?

Stimpy - FSO

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Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal?
10/04/06 at 09:31:00

FIRST:

Is it ok to use "regular" automobile oil in the savage
(i.e. valvoline/pennzoil 20-50)? I have cases of the stuff at home.

And yes, I read the posts on recomended bike oils (20w-50 Castrol ActEVO ? GTX 20W-50 - Mobil 1 V-Twin 20w50 - Rotella T - Amsoil - Maxum4) What´s the big deal with synthetics anyway?

My mechanic says that even with the advanced air cooled-one piston-high compression, the savage engine is still VERY old and basic technology/engineering regarding internal combustion, so basically, any oil will do. True/false?

SECOND:

About every 100 miles 1/3 quart (333ml) of oil burns up, is this normal?

If not, what could cause this? 97´bike has 5,000mi, no leaks, no black smoke, vents ok.

Thanks in advance.
RP

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Recently sold 97'savage (change of residence) - looking to buy another - just bought a temp, a great SR125 called 'methadone'

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sluggo Serious Thumper ModSquad Offline big singles lead, twins follow the pack Posts: 4744 moses lake washington Gender:	Re: Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal? Reply #1 - 10/04/06 at 13:09:09 automobile oil is fine as long as it meets the correct standards, all i ever use is delco 400 in all the machines i own. as far as burning, not a clue.
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georgekathe

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Re: Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal?
Reply #2 - 10/04/06 at 15:19:58

mine is a 96 with almost 11000 on it & though I have the plug leak (I'm getting to it) I don't burn oil at all (which I think is unusual - I expected to burn some just in the normal day to day life of running it.

would think it is not right for you to burn up as much, but weird there is no black smoke which I think would be evident.

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steelwolf

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Re: Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal?
Reply #3 - 10/04/06 at 15:36:28

Since I fixed my plug leak I have lost no oil. I also have a 96. Mine has 8200 on the clock. As far as the smoke goes, if it were oil burning it would be grey smoke not black. Black smoke is gas and white would be water (obviously not a problem with the Savage)

Are you sure it is burning up? Maybe it is leaking out @ the plug and burning off on the header. It doesn't normally run that way but anything is possible. Most engines will use a little oil when they are VERY new. Nowhere near a 1/3 of a quart in 100 mi. though and rarely with 5k miles. When my plug started leaking it was very slow and I didn't notice the oil on the outside of the engine for quite a while. The loss of oil in the sight glass was noticed much sooner. The oil was building up on top of the head at the spark plug and around the header area till there was enough to run out onto the fins.

How long has it been losing oil?

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911radioman

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Re: Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal?
Reply #4 - 10/04/06 at 15:43:59

All I ever run is automotive oil in my bikes. Just steer away from the ones wiht the "Energy Conserving" starburst on the bottle. That will mess up a wet clutch real quick.

Right now I'm running Shell Rotella 15W-40, but I also use Castrol GTX 10W-40 and 20W-50 in hot weather.

Oil consumption is nil with my Savage.

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barry68v10

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Re: Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal?
Reply #5 - 10/04/06 at 16:55:00

Use the 20-50 you have in your bike and don't worry about it. There is no such thing as energy conserving 20-50 which is non-synthetic. It sounds like the engine wasn't broken in correctly and the cylinder walls glazed before the rings wore into the walls. What's the consequence if this is the case? You will burn oil and lose a little compression. In a case like this the engine will run almost as long as a correctly broken-in engine but will eat oil throughout its life. This is far cheaper than an engine rebuild, just take oil with you on trips.
If you begin to see oil on the outside of the engine, scrap this theory and get ready to replace seals...

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petc0ck mod, white spacer removed, 150 main jet, 12.5" shocks, 16" turnout muff, oil cooler mod, chain conversion, Tkat brace, external fuel filter, fuel screen removed...

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barry68v10 Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 955 Maryland Gender:	Re: Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal? Reply #6 - 10/04/06 at 16:57:31 Oh, BTW, your mechanic doesn't know what he's talking about. Regular oil when run too hot (common with air cooled engines) will produce plenty of sludge, which may partially seal your rings. If a decent synthetic gets hot enough to form sludge, you've already fried your engine.
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Stimpy - FSO

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Re: Car oil in bike? Oil burnning up normal?
Reply #7 - 10/05/06 at 12:15:40

1. Got it, got it. About synthetic oil, about the sludge, makes sense.

2. About my oil consumption, I don´t know.

Probably it IS going out my exhaust, just not realy in the form of VISIBLE black smoke, yet.

I cannot detect any leaks (spark plug ok, head ok) anywhere!

Im pretty sure it just needs new piston rings soon.

The motorcycle was abused before I got it (ran with out oil or just with slugde probably) and had to replace the cam chain, push rod and rockers already.
See post from Sept the 11th`called "No-power problem solved!! by Stimpy.

But I never got in to checking/reparing the cylinder/rings because the compression is still quite good.

We´ll see.

Thanks Again Guys!

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Recently sold 97'savage (change of residence) - looking to buy another - just bought a temp, a great SR125 called 'methadone'

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