2 years, 300 miles...change oil?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Messages
903
Location
wa state
Hi Folks,

I have a 2003 Yamaha R-6 that has been sitting in my garage on a trickle charger for the last couple years. It hasnt been started in about 9 months. If I rememer right, the oil in the sump is Rotella T6 5w40 and the filter is a M1. The oil has been in there for almost 2 years and has around 300 miles on it. I was thinking about riding it to the beach this weekend, which is 120 miles each way. Should I change the oil and filter, or do you think it will still be fine to use? Money and time is really tight right now since this was kinda unplanned. Redline is 15.5k, but I rarely go over 8k. during this trip, I highly dought I would be revving over 6k since the police will be out in forces this weekend.
 
Is it a heated garage? If so id say your fine. If there were large temp fluctuations then theres probably a lot of moisture in it.
 
Originally Posted By: justinf89
Is it a heated garage? If so id say your fine. If there were large temp fluctuations then theres probably a lot of moisture in it.


its not a heated or insulated garage
 
Change it! No questions, ifs, ands or buts. Oil is not that expensive. Once you drive your vehicle that far, enough fuel byproducts are eating away at all of the base of the oil rendering it almost useless (well not totally useless but you catch my drift). That should be a no question oil change right there.

Just drink a couple less long island iced teas and you have paid for the oil that is protecting an expensive machine. Change the filter too.
 
Last edited:
Ride and smile. Check your tires, brakes and air filter.

The heat from the long ride will burn off any fuel that's in the oil.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Ride and smile. Check your tires, brakes and air filter.

The heat from the long ride will burn off any fuel that's in the oil.


+1

I would be worried about old gas. The oil is fine.
 
Just took it for a 20 mile, 30 minute ride. ran flawless. Checking the mileage, it shows I had 482 miles on the oil. If it matters, when I put the bike away for storage, I plugged all the breather hoses, the tail pipe, and put masking tape over the intake piping. That was mainly to keep critters from crawling inside to make a home.
 
Ride it. The oil is fine.

I read a post where a guy pulled an old motorcycle engine that had been sitting in a scrap pile for something like 14 years. He had an oil analysis done and the results indicated that the oil was still very much usable.

If there's no way that moisture/water can directly enter the oil, there will be no problems.
 
I did my analysis on my old KZ1000 with 15yr old oil and around 300 miles. Sits covered in an unheated shed in Colorado. I "might" start it and ride 30 miles every 2yrs, but more likely 4yrs or so between rides. Guess what analysis came up with? The oil was corrosive and are all the gears had been completely disolved! Ha, no, oil was good as any 300 mile oil despite the long period of sitting dormant even in cold weather. However Colorado is dry, so that helps I'm sure.
 
Moisture condensation in oil is primarily caused by running the engine in cold temperatures and not allowing it to achieve operating temperatures. If the engine gets up to proper temperatures, it will cook off any condensation that may occur during the warm up process. An engine sitting in a protected building will be fine for decades provided no moisture is injected directly into the crank case.

Waaaaaaay too much misinformation being circulated about the evils of moisture/acid build up in engine crank cases. Usually spread by people who have either something to gain by scaring people into unnecessary oil changes or, more likely, they simply have no idea of what they're talking about.
 
Originally Posted By: boraticus
Moisture condensation in oil is primarily caused by running the engine in cold temperatures and not allowing it to achieve operating temperatures. If the engine gets up to proper temperatures, it will cook off any condensation that may occur during the warm up process. An engine sitting in a protected building will be fine for decades provided no moisture is injected directly into the crank case.

Waaaaaaay too much misinformation being circulated about the evils of moisture/acid build up in engine crank cases. Usually spread by people who have either something to gain by scaring people into unnecessary oil changes or, more likely, they simply have no idea of what they're talking about.


IMHO this is 100% correct.

Cheers!
 
I went ahead and took it to the beach for the weekend. It ran flawless. Of course, I dont know if the old oil was causing damage or not. I ended up getting 47.28 mpg's on the trip there, and 49.11 mpgs on the way back. Total miles rode over the weekend was around 310. My rear end and lower back are still sore.

Anyone wanna buy a bike? lol
 
I try to make a point to change mine every year even if I don't ride much, I do make a point to get it hot if I do ride it, and open it up enough to run some fuel through the top injectors. I used to ride all the time and changed it every few weeks, now it sits. Currently it is dripping, I haven't looked to see from where. I have a few outstanding recalls I need to have done too...
 
I just changed and UOA'd my 2.5 yr old oil in my Camaro. Had 3500 miles on it. This was GC, still had a TBN of 4.5.

The only issue I had was iron at 61ppm! Copper was up a tad, too. Leaching, I presume. All the other numbers were normal.

I'd say put more miles on it - Stat!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top