Oil Consumption--be honest...

montelatici said:

Norton in Service Release 13, around 1970 believed that a pint every 200 miles was within spec. So, you guys that are not consuming oil have performed miracles. Half a quart in 500 miles is not much over spec.


"On any machine returning an oil consumption figure heavier
than 200 miles per pint, replace the middle ring on both
pistons with the special ring 06-2262."

Click to expand...

Yeah, well, GM set the mark at 1 qt. in 1000 miles as acceptable too. That just means it's the extreme usage.

concours said:

montelatici said:

Norton in Service Release 13, around 1970 believed that a pint every 200 miles was within spec. So, you guys that are not consuming oil have performed miracles. Half a quart in 500 miles is not much over spec.


"On any machine returning an oil consumption figure heavier
than 200 miles per pint, replace the middle ring on both
pistons with the special ring 06-2262."

Click to expand...

Yeah, well, GM set the mark at 1 qt. in 1000 miles as acceptable too. That just means it's the extreme usage.

Click to expand...

Not extreme, but the upper of level of what the design goal for oil consumption was. And, if your vehicle consumed oil at under that rate, your vehicle was within spec.

I found that some stem seals are too good. There are viton and teflon seals with little helper springs that squeeze so tight that they seem to keep absolutely all lubrication from the rocker box out of the guide, not good. A compromise is take those little helper springs off. That, or maybe, run a little two stroke oil in the gas . . . . but what does that do to the octane rating?

Two stroke oil in the gas knocks several points off the octain rating.

I use one piece- solid Teflon seals from Kibblewhite in all my rebuilds . They do not have a spring around the valve stem but they have a collar where they fit the guide. They fit very snug and require a simple tool to install them without damage. They are not affected by the heat so they never get hard.

I took one quart of 20-50 v-twin oil with me on my recent 4180 mile trip. I added a little every couple days of riding and got back home with the oil at the add mark. That is with 75,000 miles on the pistons and rings but only around 25.000 miles on the guides and seals. And a crankcase reed breather. Jim

Trixie has only ever had Rotella 15/40 in her till attempted shot at LOP I topped off and then some with Castrol 20/50 and sure enough saw way more dust on rear rim and lot less oil layer. Dip stick went from full mark to normal just below dip stix reach after 200 miles. Took couple more 100+ mile runs couple weekend after and still see oil high enough did bother to top off. Still pumping some oil out base gasket when enjoying 2S power zone, so looks about 6 oz low, a bit more than average. Smokes on either side alternately randomly for a few seconds on cold starts but cleans up after that. No drips of oil draining off stuff parked since 1/2 oil is 20/50.

Managed about 325 miles to go from the middle down to the add mark. Lots of that running was steady-state highway. I'm going to use up the last of my VR1 20w50 and switch to a V-Twin oil after this 1000 miles. The head-to-cylinder joint has just started to leak a very small amount, so I may need to pull the head here in a bit anyway. Would be a good time for seals (at least) and perhaps a thinner head gasket.

Query. Would it cause any significant harm to add a dash of aromatic oil - say coconut oil to a smoky/worn 4-stroke?
2-stroke oils have something similar, so they smell nice [ albeit always burning fresh oil], but 4 strokes smell like death when burning toxic old oil.
I have a mate with a smoky Trident, so I`ll talk him into trying it - just before a due change maybe, so as to reduce any possible risk?
Or, if tribological factors make coconut oil a bad idea, I could spring to a dollop of my expensive 2-stroke oil.