| Author | Message | ||
     Boltrider |
How much oil do the XB's burn between oil changes? Mine is an '08 with 600 miles on it, and now I need to add some. Is this typical? | ||
| Ted |
ya i'd say its typical for a xb12. keep it at or above the fill mark and see how it goes after break in. Alot of owners say its better after break in and up to 2-3k miles. You could check your air box to see if oil is dumping into there. if so you may be adding to much oil | ||
| Boltrider |
Much appreciated. I'll keep an eye on it. | ||
| Teeps |
My Ulysses will cast off oil until the level is about 4 x's from the add oil line. I typically have to add no more than 8oz between oil changes (2500-3000 miles.) | ||
| Cringblast |
Have been adding about 4oz between changes. Stays around the 1/4 full mark. Would like to keep more but think it dumps into the intake and settles back down to 1/4. C | ||
| Deks69 |
They are known to sip a little oil. I read somewhere on the buell website that it's normal for days of hard riding 1k or more to drink a half a pint. Mine wasnt that bad, but I would have to add about a half of quart to about every 2500k. But now that it's passed the 5k mark it doesnt seem to use much at all. | ||
| Wantxbr |
At 600 miles your gonna burn some oil so check it every 200 to 300 miles until you get a good gauge on the oil usage of your bike. Its normal to burn some oil in these type of bikes. | ||
| Rpm4x4 |
Not to mention that it has to break in. After a few thousand I would guess that the oil consumption will be less. | ||
| Tmall |
I put 3/4 of a jug (pint?) in at 5000kms. I didn't think it would go through so much, but it's really not that bad. Now that I know about it at least... | ||
| Akbuell |
I'd say that was not at all out of the ordinary. My '08TT was delivered w/the oil level about 1/2 way between the add and full marks. By 700-800 miles, it was down to the add mark. An oz or two brought it back to the 1/2 mark. FWIW, my X-1 uses a little oil when cruising 4-500 mi a day at 60ish mph. Just something to check after each tank of gas. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Mine uses oil. Some through the vent hoses into the intake track. Some inside the engine past the rings. I use a lot of engine braking. This creates a vacuum in the combustion chamber that can suck oil past the rings. It doesn't use a lot, but it does us some. It uses much less than did my old veedub. Because it's air cooled, the materials have to be able to accommodate a much larger range of temperatures. That means that parts must be able to expand and contract. Cylinders expand and contract at a different rate than do pistons and rings. Water cooled engines have a much narrower heat range and so therefore can have much closer tolerances than our engines. This results in slightly more oil loss than water cooled engines. Add to that the slightly higher viscosity break down that occurs in our oil compared to water cooled engines. The higher temperatures can result in a lightly higher breakdown allowing the oil to slip past the rings. The higher temperatures also allow higher vaporization increasing the potential for more oil to be sucked into the intake. A little oil loss is really not a big deal. Oil is cheap. Nothing is wrong. Now if it starts blowing copious amounts of smoke or leaving puddles, you have a problem. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Mine varies dramatically depending on the oil I use. Castrol 5w50 was the worst, I could rip through a third of a quart in a single hard day of riding. Switching back to a true 20w50 solved the problem, and I have to top off about 1/3 of a quart every 1000 to 1500 miles. | ||
| Boltrider |
Ft_bstrd, funny that you mention the engine braking. I do that all the time too. I also bought 4 quarts of Harley oil today, and I read on the back of the bottle that synthetic oil isn't detrimental to use on the motor during the break-in stage. I always was told differently regarding this, so I thought that was interesting. | ||
| Cringblast |
Ft esplain the engine brake thing. I tend to do that more. Guess I tend to use about 100ml between oil change. I also agree about the loose tolerance's for air cooled. Not bad with 19k on the Buell. |
