Oil change intervals motorcycle vs car

[Bonz]

Hey, what's your bike? Carbed, air cooled sounds like an 80s ujm?

My 1980 Yamaha XS1100 was a 2500 mile oci. Oil contamination from blow-by and heat effects from looser ring/bore clearances on the air cooled bikes had Yamaha recommending a 2,500 mile oci back in the day. 2500 miles that oil was black and shifting starting to fall off. I always ran conventional, with that short of an oci, synthetic would be just as dirty and the contaminants were as important as anything to remove with the oil change.

 

[thetricky]

With cars now having small turbo DI engines 5k miles or less OCI.
My bike only takes 3 qts of oil, is air cooled, carbed, I'll go 4k miles OCI or less.
No mater how good the oil supposedly is.

Cool. I just won't throw away good oil, it's a waste.

 

[Bonz]

@thetricky, what is your litmus test for the boundary between good oil and bad oil so that it's not a waste? Honest question.

My opinion he's saying no matter how good the oil is rated with respect to choosing it as the new oil to put in your vehicle, he's changing it at that interval. Carbureted and air cooled bikes, oil is contaminated especially in older bikes. Even if retaining viscosity, which typically they don't because the blow- by contains fuel. Additives to neutralize byproducts of combustion do not neutralize fuel contamination unfortunately.

With respect to small displacement turbo and GDI engines, I can speak from experience with the Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0T. Change it 5,000 Mi or less. Throwing away good oil is relative when you're talking about the life of an engine and known issues with those types of engines in general.

 

[thetricky]

@thetricky, what is your litmus test for the boundary between good oil and bad oil so that it's not a waste? Honest question.

My opinion he's saying no matter how good the oil is rated with respect to choosing it as the new oil to put in your vehicle, he's changing it at that interval. Carbureted and air cooled bikes, oil is contaminated especially in older bikes. Even if retaining viscosity, which typically they don't because the blow- by contains fuel. Additives to neutralize byproducts of combustion do not neutralize fuel contamination unfortunately.

With respect to small displacement turbo and GDI engines, I can speak from experience with the Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0T. Change it 5,000 Mi or less. Throwing away good oil is relative when you're talking about the life of an engine and known issues with those types of engines in general.

Throwing away good oil isn't doing harm though. If it is spent in some regards, whether that be Oxidation, TBN, etc, then yes you could incur damage. If not, drive/ride on.

 

[Ride_Red]

Cool. I just won't throw away good oil, it's a waste.

I change my motorcycle oil based on my projected use. If I'm leaving for a 3000 mile vacation and already have 3000 miles on my oil, I'm changing it and "throwing it away". If I'm close to my mileage at the end of the season, I may go ahead and change it. My car is a utility tool and I change it strictly based on miles. My motorcycle is recreation and I want it to be at the ready whenever I have the opportunity to ride, so I change the oil based on convenience so as to keep it at the ready.

I'm not concerned about wasting oil resources, as the used oil most likely will get burned as boiler fuel anyway. From a resource perspective, a gallon of fuel oil vs a gallon of my used oil, it's a wash. It only hits my wallet if I change the oil early.

 

[Panda87]

I change my motorcycle oil based on my projected use. If I'm leaving for a 3000 mile vacation and already have 3000 miles on my oil, I'm changing it and "throwing it away". If I'm close to my mileage at the end of the season, I may go ahead and change it. My car is a utility tool and I change it strictly based on miles. My motorcycle is recreation and I want it to be at the ready whenever I have the opportunity to ride, so I change the oil based on convenience so as to keep it at the ready.

I'm not concerned about wasting oil resources, as the used oil most likely will get burned as boiler fuel anyway. From a resource perspective, a gallon of fuel oil vs a gallon of my used oil, it's a wash. It only hits my wallet if I change the oil early.

I’m assuming you use solely conventional? I’ve heard waste oil heaters/boilers struggle more with synthetic formulae. I don’t own one and I’ve never seen one in operation, so this is purely what I’ve heard/seen/read on the internet.

 

[Ride_Red]

I’m assuming you use solely conventional? I’ve heard waste oil heaters/boilers struggle more with synthetic formulae. I don’t own one and I’ve never seen one in operation, so this is purely what I’ve heard/seen/read on the internet.

I prefer and use synthetic oils. All my used oil (motorcycle and auto) gets poured into the recycle bin at the local auto parts store. They have a service that comes and pumps it out and takes it away. The predominant use for this waste oil is to burn it as fuel oil, either in furnaces or boilers. The economies of scale are against actually refining waste oil back into usable oil, the process is too expensive compared to the efficient infrastructure that is in place to make new oil from crude.

 

[Nessism1]

My KZ750 calls for 5000km oil changes. Piston to cylinder wall clearance is .002", so not sloppy to the point of creating tons of blow-by. Typically, I run common diesel 15W-40. The bike doesn't seem to care which. Interestingly, the shift quality was not great until I installed rear set foot pegs from a GPz model bike, along with the articulating linkage. Said linkage is much more complex, but it eliminates the bending moment that was present in the shift lever on the standard bike. Now, the bike shifts like butter. I don't typically run the bike enough to hit the mileage limits for the oil, it gets changed based on age.

 

[thetricky]

I prefer and use synthetic oils. All my used oil (motorcycle and auto) gets poured into the recycle bin at the local auto parts store. They have a service that comes and pumps it out and takes it away. The predominant use for this waste oil is to burn it as fuel oil, either in furnaces or boilers. The economies of scale are against actually refining waste oil back into usable oil, the process is too expensive compared to the efficient infrastructure that is in place to make new oil from crude.

That isn’t quite true. 15 years ago I worked in a shop right next to the safetykleen operation and they refined almost everything they collected into new oil. It seems the emphasize in recycled oil has only increased.

 

[Ride_Red]

That isn’t quite true. 15 years ago I worked in a shop right next to the safetykleen operation and they refined almost everything they collected into new oil. It seems the emphasize in recycled oil has only increased.

That's interesting.
I asked what they did with the oil when I dropped it off and they told me it gets burned. Maybe that's just what that particular company does that my auto store has a contract with. Like I said, burn waste oil or burn new fuel oil. Either way, a gallon of oil is getting burned.

They collect all oils and hydraulic oils in the same tank (motor oil, ATF, gear oil, power steering fluid, etc.). Maybe that's why they prefer to burn it.

 

[Bonz]

Back in the day, the garbage truck would take our used oil to fill their leaky hydraulic systems.

 

[Ride_Red]

Back in the day, the garbage truck would take our used oil to fill their leaky hydraulic systems.

Back in the day (1963)...

 

[Bonz]

Back in the day even further, 1970's, my parents replaced the lathe and plaster walls and ceiling with drywall in their first house in the mid-70s. The end of the driveway was built up to be flat as it ended going down a steep hill. My dad crumbled up the drywall mixed it with the rocks that built up the driveway, deposited a decade+ worth of oil on to that mixture at the end of the driveway.

Used motor oil in moderate concentration biodegrades pretty quick from what I understand. When the soil becomes saturated it becomes an issue with respect to pollutants.

 

[MetalSlug]

I though about 1 a years since I properly put 30miles per week.

 

[Greenbeforeblue]

I have a Honda NT1100 DCT and for now am going to settle on 4k oil and filter changes for two reasons. I cane it and that it has two clutches that shed friction material in its unit construction sump.

 

[alarmguy]

Manufacturer recommended 9300 mile oil change?
1.8 quarts of oil?

Perfect! no-brainer… That means I would change the oil every 3100 miles.

 

[ammolab]

Yeah stock is 14/45. I didn’t want as dramatic a change so went lower in the back. The 15 up front really is a dog in town, however it turns 6th gear into a true overdrive which is nice on the highway.

I know you really like the Mobil so I’ll have to give it a try!

We have a Ninja 250 and run 15/45 gearing. Bought new in 2005 and now at 25,000 miles. Mobil 1 or SuperTech 10w-40 always and no issues other than cam chain tensioner @6000 miles. Great little bike…. I road a few 90cc bikes in Vietnam in 1966. Anyone on a 250 would envied like a NBA superstar in a Lamborghini.

 

[thetricky]

We have a Ninja 250 and run 15/45 gearing. Bought new in 2005 and now at 25,000 miles. Mobil 1 or SuperTech 10w-40 always and no issues other than cam chain tensioner @6000 miles. Great little bike…. I road a few 90cc bikes in Vietnam in 1966. Anyone on a 250 would envied like a NBA superstar in a Lamborghini.

I found the 15 up front just too much for around town driving which is most of my commute. On the freeway the setup just purrs though, keeping the rpm’s down nicely.

 

[maraakate]

With cars now having small turbo DI engines 5k miles or less OCI.
My bike only takes 3 qts of oil, is air cooled, carbed, I'll go 4k miles OCI or less.
No mater how good the oil supposedly is.

Considering the hard lives these bikes have when in use I don't blame you.