New EX500

[Scout1]

Just picked up a 2009 Kawasaki EX500 for my son. It only had 900 miles and looks brand new. Upon riding home, we dumped the oil and filter and put in some Rotella T Synthetic 5w40.

The oil sight window had some white streaks on the glass which disappeared as soon as the RTS went in. Not sure what that was... The old oil looked fairly good with lots of metal sparkles so I'm suspecting it was the original fill from 2009.

That being the case, how long do you think I should run the RTS? Short interval called for or my normal 2 or 3K?

 

[Quattro Pete]

I don't think a short interval is necessary. Heck, even 2-3K is still a short interval on Rotella T Synthetic 5w40, IMO. I do 3-4K or once a year on mineral rotella.

 

[TylerL]

Isn't it like 2 quarts. If it was mine I'd change it again in 500 miles. I don't like when I see metal in my oil.

 

[Reg# 43897]

Change the filter after five or six hundred miles & let the oil run as per usual. But for the sake of a coupla litres of oil, I wouldn't care one way or 'nuther... Have heard that the usual conventional Rotella might hold up better against shearing in shared sumps. I have always run synthetic 5w-40 HDEO & RTS in particular. I am working though a small horde of cheaply obtained, old D1 that is serving the FJR well. Once it's all done, I'm going w/ T5 in both the Cummins & the bike. Just put 2/3rds T5 & 1/3rd RTS in the Cummins last week.

John.

 

[Ausfahrt]

Originally Posted By: TylerL
Isn't it like 2 quarts. If it was mine I'd change it again in 500 miles. I don't like when I see metal in my oil.

 

[Robenstein]

The white streaks was probably moisture int he oil making it milky. Those are good bikes and the engines were made forever and well proven in the Vulcan 500 as well as in the Ninja bikes.

 

[Scout1]

It's 3 qts, 3.2 with filter, but still pretty minimal investment! Short change it is!

The white streaks showed up again strangely... We went riding today and pulled over for a break and I looked down and saw the infamous streaks! I guess it's just moisture, but the bike had been running at that point for over 20 miles so I'm confused over what it might be...

 

[Doog]

I would do a couple of short changes until it is really broken in.

 

[jsharp]

Originally Posted By: Scout1
It's 3 qts, 3.2 with filter, but still pretty minimal investment! Short change it is!

The white streaks showed up again strangely... We went riding today and pulled over for a break and I looked down and saw the infamous streaks! I guess it's just moisture, but the bike had been running at that point for over 20 miles so I'm confused over what it might be...


20 miles isn't nearly enough to get the oil temp up and remove any condensation. Ride it an hour or more in warm weather and see if that doesn't help.

 

[95busa]

I ran Rotella 15w40 on my Ninja 650 (also a Kawi parallel twin). Worked really well. I changed it way too early at 3k. You could easily run twice that (maybe a little less with the 500 since it is carbed)