Oil analysis

[T Cro ®]

T Cro, please note that I did not say "skipping mandatory service visits to your dealer", which appears to be what you responded to.  I said "service intervals".  I do my own oil changes.  And I expect that my warranty would be honored.  However if I chose to do my own changes, and chose to do them every 2 years or 30,000 miles, you can be sure that my warranty would not cover the engine if it suffered damage.  I hope this clears up what I was saying.
Respectfully,
Red

Was not completely sure of your intent there.... Skipping it altogether or skipping bringing it to the Dealer. Now we are clear....

[T Cro ®]

"change the oil next spring"? Do you park your bike for the winter months? Leaving dirty oil in the bike is NOT recommended. Change it before you store it.

Dang it I'd better get an extra 1,000 gallons on board ship before winter lay-up..... 

It's extremely hard to quantify what exactly is "dirty oil" and weather or not it REALLY needs to be changed.... Due to the nature of my work I'm an extremely low mile rider that also likes to use Mobil 1 oil and I'll be danged if I'm going to toss out high dollar synthetic oil that's only got a couple thousand miles on it every winter. Now if I were to be using low cost Dino oil and it were anywhere near to 3,000 miles on the OD then out it would go. A lot of the basis on storing equipment with used oil in the crankcase should be based on where and how the idled equipment is stored; my bikes are kept in a fairly well regulated garage that never falls below freezing and shows no signs of condensation or surface rusting or spotting of any kind. Thus I feel that for me in my case winter time oil changes would be nothing more than a waste of money with no lasting benefit.

[okxd45]

Great tude.....  Unless you purchase a specific test kit there is no backyard home brew test that is worth its weight in caca that you can perform that will definitively prove oil viscosity. The only test kit that I'm aware of is best described as an Inclined Race Track that you test your used oil against the same oil in new form to measure both time and distance traveled to which you will get either a pass or fail. Only a true oil analysis can give you the real viscosity numbers and due to the nature of my job I can promise you that YOU can not tell with any degree of accuracy the viscosity of said oils. Your Dealer is likely right in that you need to ride longer or change the oil more often as short rides are hard on any engine.

Yes......first of all you're right.......bad attitude.......sorry I'm working on it. Secondly, before moving to PA, I.was commuting 3 to 4 days a week with a one way of about 35 miles. The temps.in the afternoon were always over 100. So I'm sure the crankcase got hot enough! I intend to at least start the bike every week and hopefully ride that much; so I won't be storing for the.winter. Thanks for everyone's replies. I don't really want the engine to go, just hoping it works itself out! Happy riding everyone!

[T Cro ®]

If your not riding it your not starting it; it does more harm than good to only start the engine without taking it out for whatever amount of riding you can squeeze in. If your forced to park the bike for extended lengths of time start using Marine Stabil to help extend the life of your fuel and get yourself a Battery Tender to keep your battery up to snuff.

[stevewfl]

bump!

[okxd45]

If your not riding it your not starting it; it does more harm than good to only start the engine without taking it out for whatever amount of riding you can squeeze in. If your forced to park the bike for extended lengths of time start using Marine Stabil to help extend the life of your fuel and get yourself a Battery Tender to keep your battery up to snuff.

Thanks, I'll get the marine stabil......the battery tender is a no go as I live in an apartment and don't want the battery in the house.  So hopefully a once a week ride will be enough to keep the battery charged.