Burning oil

[simono]

I have a 2004 Tiger 955i that burns about 1 litre of oil every 1500 miles, or the harder the bike is ridden the quicker it burns, my bike does not smoke and only shows what I would say is a normal amount of blackness from the silencer.
I would be very grateful if anyone has had this problem and could give me an indication of what I need to do to fix it.

Thanks

[KuzzinKenny]

Hey simono !! how many miles has yer Tigger done ?? what oil are you using ?? Triumph recomend fully synthetic motorcycle oil !!

KK

ps Welcome to the forum !!

[TigerTrax]

Simono...
There are a few Tiger owners experiencing the same thing.
It may in fact be a cylinder/ring problem. However, a long time Triumph dealer told me a few weeks ago to check the breather valve and clean or replace it.

He also stated to run some BMW break-in oil ( he's a Beemer/Triumph dealer) and that may 'free-up' the rings enough to re-seat and lower/stop the burning. I probably would not run it more than 600 miles. When you drain it.... feel it, smell it, notice its clarity. I think most will tell you their oil stays clear at least 3000 miles. ( I change mine at 5000 miles ).

Finally...
Triumph recommends Semi OR Full synthetic.

I would stick with Mobil 4T for a couple of changes. It may help correct a problem.  It's expensive, but I think it worth it every other oil change. I have used Rotella Syntec; Amsoil; Mobil 4T ... I keep going back to 4T.
 
If you need new sleeves ..... check with jetdox ... he knows all about that now!

[zadok_oz]

I get the same. I've gleaned from the forums that others with the 955 motor have been having the same problem. Doesn't seem to matter what the mileage and even if full synthetic is used. I have just moved from semi to full synthetic and it still uses oil. Like you, I did notice that on my cross country trip, where higher speeds were maintained for longer periods, the use went up. Seems very common.

[Bixxer Bob]

There are some basic rules that apply to all four stroke engines regardless of it being a bike or car.

Oil consumption can be caused by one of three things, leaks, wear in the valves, or in wear in the piston rings. We'll assume no leaks; if the valve guides or seals are worn,  or improperly installed, the engine will suck oil down the guides and into the cylinders. The engine may still have good compression, but will use a lot of oil.  This usually manifests itself as blue smoke on overrun.  Guides are not likely unless you have high miles but the seals are worth considering.

If the oil burning is due to worn or broken rings, or wear in the cylinders, again not likely unless you have high mileage, the engine will have low compression. The only cure here is to bore or hone the cylinders and replace the worn or broken piston rings.

Oil burning can also occur if the cylinders in a newly rebuilt engine are not honed properly (too rough or too smooth), or if the rings are installed upside down, or the end gaps are too large or are not staggered to reduce blowby.  Not cheaply fixed either way.

One final point, and the easiest to check, is (as previously mentioned) is the crankcase breather.  If it's blocked, the engine gets pressurised and the will aid the passage of oil past the rings and down the valve guides.  

Oh, and does your airbox have oil in it?  

Just my two penn'th...

[simono]

Thanks to all that have replyed to my problem, I will be looking into all that has been mentioned.
In answer to some the questions, my bike has done 14000 miles, when i bought this bike 18 months ago it had done 3500 miles, it has burned oil since i bought it.
It is currently on Mobil 4T fully synthetic oil, i have tried it on semi but it made no difference.

Once again thanks to you all.

Simon

[matttys]

Mine burns oil too.  I did 1500 miles this weekend and found that cruising down to Smokies I burned no oil at 75mph, but in 350 miles of the Tail of the Dragon and the Skyway my racer boy style caused me to go through half a quart of oil.  On the return 460 mile ride home I didn't burn any oil.  I'm thinking that if you ride hard you will burn oil, but if you are sensible you won't see any usage.  My bike just rolled over 30k miles.

[TheMule]

Hey All,

Recently discovered that my Tig is going thru the oil as well. Small puff of smoke if I goose it hard while in neutral. Haven't had the tank off to check the airbox but will plan on replacing the breather seal. My question is for Bixxer Bob, I'm assuming a guy could just replace the rings and the cylinder liners and be in good shape? Curious to hear the answer and hoping its just the breather valve/seal.

thanks,

Todd

[Bixxer Bob]

Whoah!! :shock:

Matttys consumption I think is reasonable for what he was doing on a bike that has 30k on it.

Simono, if it's used oil since you got it, I think it falls into a category I hear of quite often with modern engines - bike and car - ie "oh yea,  they do that sometimes".  Theorists believe that they were run in too gently so the rings and bores didn't bed in properly and so oil gets past the rings.  

The Mule, you didn't say what stage your bike is at, but I guess it falls into one category or the other.

Replacing pistons, rings, liners is not cheap especially if you aren't doing the spannering, and the decision should not be taken lightly.  That's why you need at least a compression check to assess the overall health of the engine.  My description of what could be wrong is based on basic principles and years of working on all sorts of 4-stroke engines, but I'm a relative newcomer to Tigers and so haven't read up on how difficult it is.  I could do so in a day or two, but there are others on here already know much better than me.  

As I've said already, without first doing some diagnostics - compression test etc - I wouldn't even be considering tearing down an engine that, other than using oil, is running fine.

This thread is worth a read:

http://www.tigertriple.com/forum/viewto ... onsumption

[Bixxer Bob]

Oh, and by the way,  mine has 13.5k miles on it - 4k when I bought it, I do all the servicing myself, I ride it like I stole it and it uses no oil......

[JetdocX]

Hey All,

Recently discovered that my Tig is going thru the oil as well. Small puff of smoke if I goose it hard while in neutral. Haven't had the tank off to check the airbox but will plan on replacing the breather seal. My question is for Bixxer Bob, I'm assuming a guy could just replace the rings and the cylinder liners and be in good shape? Curious to hear the answer and hoping its just the breather valve/seal.

thanks,

Todd

The cylinders can be re-honed and new rings installed by removing the head, then the cylinders then the pistons.  It's not really hard to do, BUT I'd want to make damned sure it's not a valve before I tear into the cylinders as Bixxer Bob recommended.

A compression test will only tell you if you have low compression, it will not point out the cause.  A better check is done with a differential compression test.  That will definitely tell you where the leak(s) are in your engine.

FWIW, I did all of the above due to coolant getting by the cylinder bases on mine.  I did not install new rings and the cylinders still had the crosshatch pattern on them 38,880 miles after it left the factory.  This is on my 98 Steamer, BTW.  I put oil on top of the assembled pistons in the cylinders and three days later the oil was till there.  I've used that as a gage of my need to replace the rings.  I'm hoping I'm right.  So far, no smoke and no oil consumption, since about three days ago.

Edit:  Partial write-up with pics here:
http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,5924

[TheMule]

Darn,

Thought I'd included mileage........currently 36,000 and change. I'll start at the top and work my way thru. Planning on the work myself so I appreciate the links to the various threads........very nice!

thanks,

Todd

[matttys]

I'm not too worried about my oil usage. . . if that means that I carry $7 worth of oil with me and keep the bike topped off every between oil changes then I'm not worried in the least.

[EvilBetty]

I'm a little worried.  I changed the oil at 23k, then put two tanks of gas through it, without checking the oil.  Went to check after my ride yesterday and it wasn't touching the stick.  So I added, checked, repeat.  After I dumped what was left of my 3/4 full bottle of into it it still wasn't touching the dip stick.  :shock:

I sat the bike upright then checked it again, and it was WAY up the stick... :?

It's supposed to be checked on the sidestand with the stick screwed in all the way right?

I didn't prime the oil filter when I changed the oil, but I ran it around the block a couple times and checked it again and it was fine as I remember...

I'm kinda freaking out about this.  No way it burned through a quart of oil in 2 tank fills right!?

[TheMule]

According to the service manual the bike should be upright and level "not on the side stand".

Todd