--- In
DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "mikeypep" wrote:
>
> While I agree that factory recommended OCI's and user OCCI's
differ, it
> seems to pervade the automotive industry as well as motorcycles.
There
> are established rules that manufacturers follow in testing their
> products where users all do something different. For example the
> manufacturers don't test their engines under the wide range of
> conditions that we users do. We don't even break in a new engine
the
> same way, yet we all want them to last forever. Also, manufacturers
are
> laboring under different public opinion. If they recommend a 2000
mile
> OCI everyone wants to know why. The industry average is much
higher,
> certainly there must be something wrong with their engine. The
average
> new buyer wants to minimize costs. This higher recommended OCI
would
> look like a higher maintenance cost. (Yet we do it anyway). My
personal
> opinion is that we are operating under a massive, universal
referral
> and public opinion system. Undoubtedly mechanical devices last
longer
> with meticulous maintenance. The high mileage vehicle operators are
> also big on preventative maintenance. I've often heard it said that
> frequent oil changes are just good insurance. It may not be
necessary,
> but neither is life insurance, if you live long enough. We do the
same
> with oil brands. I had never heard of Rotella befire this forum.
Then
> there is the oil analysis. No matter what the technical testing
shows,
> there are still those who do something else. "it was good enough
for my
> daddy's Ranger pickup, its good enough for me." If we all believed
the
> same things, we'd all be riding KLR's (snicker), running Rotella,
> changing oil and filter every 1500 miles, riding MEFO tires, our
KLR's
> would all be green, clearly the best color, and so on. But we
don't!
> Some change oil avery 6000 miles or so and their engines don't
fail.
> If they did fail prematurely we'd probably blame it on the oil
changes.
> It all comes down to choices. Thank God for choices!
> Ride often, ride safe!
>
Hi Mike,
You make some good points, as well as Jeff and Ed in the previous two
post. As a point of reference, I am one of those that was
doing "earl-analysis" cough, (sorry different forum) ah, oil analysis
along with Jeff and Blake. With years of experience in military
helicopter aviation where oil analysis was imperative to knowing if a
gearbox was making metal--predicting if the beast was about to fail
and kill the operator (me) and all the green gyrenes in the back.
yeah, no kidding. Not thinking that this current green pig would kill
me by knowing its gear box condition, I was curious (from the board-
discussions) and ultimately wanted my green pig to have the greatest
life expectancy possible due to budget constraints of an itinerant
prairie parson.
With that said,
Some data points that we can all agree on is that KHI recommends that
the oil should start with a viscosity of 40w. (given at specific
temp, blah, blah, blah--you know the drill).
Now, to suggest some aviation field overlap...and that is this, that
certain inspection intervals, be they mechanical or fluid, the
inspection interval is set at a known (or swag) mean time between
failures.
An example: a specific bearing (pitch change link) was inspected
every 25-flight hours. The engineers believed that if it passed
inspection at the normal interval, that even if it went out of 'spec'
one hour after the interval inspection, i.e. at 26 hours, that the
degree of wear, and safety required, the bearing would continue to do
its job the remaining 24 flight hours--until the next inspection.
Upon that next inspection, the bearing may fail inspection by 2x the
allowance, but as long as it was within tolerance at the previous
inspection interval, it was considered safe until the next
inspection.
What is an unknown in the KHI oil interval is this; what is the
minimum oil viscosity over time? Using 80F, one would deduce that
the oil requirement remains the std 10/40wt. But is that just the
viscosity at the oil change or for the entire life expectancy of the
oil?
What (most) we are assuming is that the minimum is 40. What we
(Blake, Jeff, me, and I think Steve R--plus others) are finding is
that Rotella easily maintains 40wt through 1500 miles. What I also
know is that Valvoline 10/40 failed at ~1000 miles to hold 40Wtand by
1500 smiles, it was a very marginal 30wt, sliding quickly to 20+wt.
Perhaps is now a time to ask a question;
Is 40wt the 'gold std' or is it, like my aviation example, just the
minimum to start, and KHI expects the oil to shear down, but remain
sufficient to grease-the-pigs-guts through a sheer wt of say, 20wt,
or 10wt if carried out to an interval of
Now, for extra credit, what are the viscosities in cSt at 100 dC of 90-
weight gear oil and 40-weight motor oil?
--
Blake Sobiloff
http://www.sobiloff.com/>
San Jose, CA (USA)