Oil Level "Growth" Circumvention

[dcarver]

Wait... you are supposed to wash your bike in gear? I usually put it on the center stand and it's in neutral. Guess I've been doing it wrong all along...

Geeesh. Freaking Kids. Not that gear, Fred... Your RIDING gear... You are supposed to wash your bike while wearing riding gear. Now you know.

 

[jcyuhn]

On modern diesel engines equipped with a particulate filter the oil level actually does increase over time. Such engines inject fuel during the exhaust stroke. It burns in the oxidation catalyst, which raises the exhaust temps to the point where particulates captured in the DPF are incinerated. Some of the fuel "sticks" to the cylinder walls and ends up in the crankcase. I have such a vehicle; the oil level increases by about one-half a liter across the service interval. Of course, this has nothing to do with an FJR.

 

[Chiefblueman]

I have never seen such a cluster bump over checking oil! WOW is it really this hard? I mean you fill to the top of the sight glass on the center stand. You take it for a run, bring it back, put it on the center stand check the sight glass after 10 minuets and add if needed.
I am totally amazed at some of the debates that go on here over such things. I mean do you really have to tell someone to be on level ground? The sight glass is no good, add a quantity and call it good?

You know I am not a master mechanic but I did just rebuild my entire front end of my PT Turbo, lower a arms, tie rod ends, new wheel bearings sway bar links front and rear, rear shocks, replaced struts only up front kept the springs. In a driveway with car jacks and a 4 foot pipe over 1/2" drive stuff. No air as my tank wont run one. But I do own a service manual for every vehicle I own.

I just do not understand all this over checking oil levels. How do you guys make out with cars?

Well this is sorta like washing your bike in neutral, have it flop over and then saying the side stand is defective.

Rant off/

I have an FJR that grows or "makes" oil and a car that uses oil. This serendipitous petrochemical symbiosis has cut my oil expenses to zero! No need to wonder which oil is best, free oil is best.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Sarcasm from Alan...I love it!

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Now I am so concerned over how much oil to put, what kind of oil to use, and where to actually pour it, I don't feel qualified to change it anymore. Since I now know I have no reliable way to check the level and I have no idea what to do with the excess that the engine will "grow" over time, should I actually put oil back in after I drain it? Will the oil level increase more or less with the new shorter oil filter? Should I just start taking it to the dealer for oil changes? Hell, I don't feel safe putting gas in it anymore either.

If I did not live so far away I would take the used oil and write nasty messages in Fred W's front lawn. Just for meanness.

 

[Old Guy]

I had a Goldwing that'd use oil sitting still -- engine off. But I could start it, and it'd come back. I could let it sit with a dead engine for a couple of weeks, and the level would drop to about halfway between the top and bottom lines on the stick. I could start it for a minute, kill it, and check it thirty minutes later, and it'd be on the top line. As a matter of fact, I could check it the next day after starting it, and it'd be on the top line. But let it sit for a couple of weeks, and the level would drop again.

Before discovering this, I'd check it before a ride, add oil to bring it to the top level, and it'd be over full the next day after I parked it. My friend's Goldwing would do the same thing. We had long discussions about where that oil hid -- almost like arguing about it on the Internet

 

[FJRBluesman]

How did all this happen?

 

[mxboy96]

What form of sorcery is this? Now if I could only get the gas tank to fill more as I drive.

True that buddy, true that....

 

[jayke]

Just put in four quarts. When you first run the bike after the oil change it will be halfway between the marks. Wait a day and it will be at the full mark. Saves buying the extra quart of oil too.