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[Rock n Roll]

Blake: I can appreciate both of those reasons...and they are why I do analysis on some vehicles. But for #1, I can change oil in my KLR 4 or 6 or maybe even 8 times for the cost of 1 analysis. So I figure GTX 20-50 every thousand and if it's a long trip with no K-marts along the way, I'll use Mobil 1 and keep myt fingers crossed. For #2 I'm in 100% agreement. Guess I woulkdn't do it myself until the bike showed maybe 25,000 miles and then just out of curiosity. Gotta say though, the reports on this thread are really interesting in view of how really short the life span of the dyno oil turned out to be. Sorta shocking! JohnD --- Blake Sobiloff wrote:

> On Jan 7, 2006, at 9:43 PM, Rock n Roll wrote: > > I guess what I'm unclear about is given the small > > amount of oil a KLR holds, and the cost of oil, > > especially a non-synthetic blend, why bother with > oil > > analysis? > > Two reasons: 1) Determine how long you can run your > oil of choice > before it's toast, and 2) Determine if your engine > and transmission > are happy, or if they're throwing off elevated > levels of wear metals > that you need to look into. > -- > Blake Sobiloff > http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> > San Jose, CA (USA) > > >

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[Al]

Keep your fingers crossed??? You guys are worrying way too much about the oil. You should worry much more about things like getting a flat tire or having a chain break. 11,000 miles on the oil change when I rode to Alaska. LA to DC was about 7,000 on the oil change. Most oil changes were about 5,000 miles. If you ride 20,000 miles per year, the KLR should last four years. 8,000 miles per year is probably about average. I ll bet most riders will want to trade or sell their KLR before ten years. You are doing the frequent oil changes for nothing. Look at it this way... If you can wear out your KLR motor, its an excuse to go buy a new KLR. Al Rock n Roll wrote:

>Blake: > >I can appreciate both of those reasons...and they are >why I do analysis on some vehicles. > >But for #1, I can change oil in my KLR 4 or 6 or >maybe even 8 times for the cost of 1 analysis. So I >figure GTX 20-50 every thousand and if it's a long >trip with no K-marts along the way, I'll use Mobil 1 >and keep myt fingers crossed. > >

[Jeff Saline]

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:28:20 -0600 Al writes:

> Keep your fingers crossed??? You guys are worrying way too much about > > the oil. You should worry much more about things like getting a flat > > tire or having a chain break. 11,000 miles on the oil change when I > rode > to Alaska. LA to DC was about 7,000 on the oil change. Most oil > changes > were about 5,000 miles. If you ride 20,000 miles per year, the KLR > should last four years. 8,000 miles per year is probably about > average. > I ll bet most riders will want to trade or sell their KLR before ten > > years. You are doing the frequent oil changes for nothing. > Look at it this way... If you can wear out your KLR motor, its an > excuse > to go buy a new KLR. > Al >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Al, I'm gonna respond here since I figure you are including me in your comments. Hopefully you'll take this as a friendly post as that's how it's meant. Riding with crossed fingers is pretty tough. I'd rather be well prepared. I'm not worried about oil or flat tires or chains breaking. But I am curious about the oil in KLRs. Now I'm curious about your oil too. Those are big oil change intervals you use. What kind of oil are you using and I'm curious do you use any oil between oil changes? I'm also curious about how you tend to ride your bike, like what speeds and engine rpms? I don't believe I'm doing oil changes for nothing. : ) It makes me feel more confident in my ride. That's worth loads to me. And now that I have just a little bit of data about my oil I want a bit more data. And after a few of the big oil change intervals spoken about by a few listers I'm interested in what oils are being used for 6,000 miles and working well. I don't care about the data if folks don't have it but would like to hear about success, and failure too I suppose. If a guy can put $8 worth of oil into his bike and ride it for about 6,000 miles without damaging the engine or transmission, WOW! And I'd like to know about it so I can figure out if I want and can achieve similar results. The only way I know to get the data is to analyze the oil. Seat of the pants is ok and long term effects are worth something too. But I don't think the hard data from a good oil analysis is easy to beat. Finally, I can't afford to not try to take care of my equipment. Heck, my oil was like a 20 weight after only 1,733 miles. I suppose it would be awful after running it for 6,000 miles. Your statement that if you can wear out the KLR motor it's an excuse to buy a new KLR doesn't make sense to me. Why not try to take care of the engine and put the money into tools or fuel or tires or something else? I'm pleased you are having good results with big oil change intervals. I'm having results with smaller oil change intervals. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

[Al]

Jeff, First, I gota tell ya that I should not have said anything. I m just lurking here, and don t even own a KLR. Butt, and that s a big butt, I m still thinking about buying another one. This is a really good list with great information. I never did buy a service manual, this list and the links had all the info I needed for the KLR. Only time I took the KLR to a dealer was for tires and after they screwed up the speedo drive in the hub, I mounted tires myself. I rode my old A14 over 81,000 miles in 3 1/2 years. Mostly pavement, but it did get a fair amount of dirt also. Lots of miles at WOT when riding into a head wind, but one thing I was picky about was I never had the tach over 7. Most of the time, I rode with the tach under 6. I read here that the cam chain starts to whip at about 7,000 rpm. Zero to 9,000 miles, it had 10 - 30 car oil, after that, 10 - 40 synthetic car oil. Didn t use much oil. OK, you are not doing oil changes for nothing. One thing that doesn t get talked about here is servicing the air filter. If you ride much dirt, the air filter is more important than the oil change. When we rode to Alaska, I should have taken along an extra air filter to change part way. After 11,000 miles, the air filter looked like a piece of chocolate cake. I have oil analysis done on tractors. The main thing I m looking for is silica (dirt), metal, indicating wear, and coolant. Back in the old days, cars were supposed to have oil changes every 3,000 miles. The EPA has really cleaned up the fuels over the years. Sulphur being the main offender. Sulphur in the fuel makes acid and the need for more frequent oil changes. Back in the old days, sulphur in diesel fuel could easily go over 15,000 PPM. Since 1995, sulphur in diesel must be under 500 PPM and gasoline must be under 400 PPM. The recommended oil change interval on my old 1977 tractor was 100 hours, the interval on my 1995 tractor was 300 hours. Most of the reason for the increase was cleaner fuel. If your KLR s oil is thinning our so quickly, it may be due to fuel contamination. If there is something wrong with the carb, or the jets have been changed for more performance, unburned fuel can contaminate the oil. Makes it turn dark faster also. EPA lean is better for long engine life. Hey, I gota get off of here and go ride. Al Jeff Saline wrote:

>I don't believe I'm doing oil changes for nothing. : ) >

[Mountain Man]

Hey guys, We are having a great time in Apalachicola National Forest in Florida this weekend. mtnman