Oil Change - How Often

[ThreePutt]

In US miles, how often should I change my oil?  The manual says one thing, the dealer another.

[Brock]

Fully synthetic only needs changing every service interval (6,000 miles), and even that's over the top.

The semi-synthetic I'm running my '04 in on is being changed every 3,000 miles. No doubt some will say even that's over the top, but I'm picky about running in techniques. I reckon fully synthetic is too high-spec for running in. But then I'm old fashioned.

[abell]

Brock is right.



Dealers will always spin you a shorter service interval, especially here in the US. Cars and bikes. I bought my wife a Subaru - can you believe they try to push 3000 mile intervals on a car that has a factory-recommended 10k service interval in the UK?



With cars at least, part of the reason for this is that in some countries the running cost is estimated including service intervals, and running costs are used to calculate cost-per-mile, which can determine whether fleets will use a specific model, or whether you're allowed one as a company motor.



Here in the US there's little fleet business with very low company car ownership, and the emphasis is on buggering everyone backwards with regular dealer visits for unnecessary oil changes and tire rotations.



I change oil in both my Triumphs every six. If I didn't manage six on a bike in a year, I'd do a change anyway.



In the time-honored tradition of oil-related threads on all Web forums, a lot of people will now post about how they change it more frequently, before and after Winterizing, how one time it was really dirty, and so on. The weird thing is that people will insist on changing their oil with unnecessary regularity and then complain endlessly about what the oil actually costs.



Cheers!





ps: A mile is a mile, in the US or anywhere else, as far as I know.

[Chris Canning]

Ditto Brock,3000 miles and it gets changed.



Chris

[ArizonaKid]

In the grand scheme of the cosmos the cost of oil is merely a drop in the bucket (pun intended). The "oil discussion" can run for miles on the web, as can the "tire discussion" (i.e., which is best, etc, etc).  There are some who say synthetic oil need not be changed ever, others do it just about every week (too much time on their hands I guess), but you'll find that you'll be in the fat part of the bell curve if you change oil AND filter every 3-6K OR every 6 months, whichever occurs firsts.   Can't go wrong there. On the Tiger it's easy to do yourself, so no need to pay your dealer or a shop wrench to do it.  Previous replies mention "running in" oil, and that's probably a whole other thread and we really don't want to go there. . .  Don't forget that pesky little oil plug washer while you're at it.

[Guest]

In US miles, how often should I change my oil?  The manual says one thing, the dealer another.

Just do it every 6000 miles whatever oil you use. I've found that you can re-use the sump plug washer at least once.

[WildeKurt]

Ha, ha!  I've gotten four uses out of that crush washer but I wouldn't recommend it.  I just regularly forget to buy a new one!

[Badger]

A friend of mine heads up Castrol motorcycle oil R & D. He recons that a good semi will do 8,000 miles and a fully 16,000 miles. He loves people who change their oil every week as it makes his company plenty of cash.

[knarf]

I like to change mine every six months regardless orf miles, But I like to hid in the garage if I can.  I also clean my calipers bi-monthly. Brush my teeth every day and have a wash once a month wither I need one or not.

[ThreePutt]

Thanks for the info.  Now I've got even more choices, as when to change the oil  :D

[ridin gaijin]

In the time-honored tradition of oil-related threads on all Web forums, a lot of people will now post about how they change it more frequently...

I'm normally a stickler for tradition...but in this case I'll pass... :D



I will add, though, that my dealer has recommended the semi-synthetic over the Triumph stuff, and is comfortable with the factory intervals...with one addendum. He recommends giving el tigre another change between break-in and 6,000 miles: he says you can't define a limit on "break-in" such as 500 or 600 or 1,000 miles. Depends too much on riding style etc. He says there may well still be shreds of engine crap generated and washing around after the first change; and that it's a good idea to change out once more as sort of a "post-break-in" measure.



This makes sense to me and I plan to do it around 2500. I'm comfortable too b/c he knows I'm not going all the way down to Albuquerque for an oilo change; I'll do it myself, and he won't make anything off it. 'Sides, he's the one with the dyno.

[Patrick the Scot]

I must say that there is no such thing as a standard oil change interval, accept for a machine that actually has standard duty service.  The interval depends entirely on the service demanded from the machine.  I used to run enduro dirtbikes and let me tell you: that is servere service.  Hours of open throttle alternated with bottle neck traffic jambs. It seems to reason that duty of this nature would require more freguent changes. Prior to enduros, I was into sand-duning out West on a hopped-up Yamaha Banshee.  Talk about servere duty!  It would be 105 degrees F and we would keep the reed valves maxed out all day long. I also changed the oil after every ride.  Did I need to? Who knows. However, it wasn't my machine that grenaded a motor like my buddies did on a far to regular basis.  



On a Triumph Tiger I would not want to find out how many miles it was that would be too many.  The resulting wrench bill would be staggering. Chyron, I would suggest that you side with caution and change you oil more often than you think is needed.  Besides, good shop time away from Her Indoors is never a bad thing.



Oil is cheap.

[Guest]

Brush my teeth every day and have a wash once a month wither I need one or not.

No! No! No! What's the point of washing if you don't need it? :oops: