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05 RX-1 burning oil


I am going for a ride tomorrow and I have a new can of Seafoam thats going into the tank. I'm going to leave a little in the can so that after the ride I can pull the plugs and add some to the cylinders, then add another can to the next tank of fuel. I also have oil and a filter ready so that after all this I can change the oil and make sure everything is fresh.

One thing I would like to know. With a dry sump oil system, why is it that the exact oil level supposedly has so much effect on the oil burning issue? The oil tank is nothing more than a reservoir to hold the excess oil. The tank could be twice the size it is or half the size, and it shouldn't affect oil usage. You could raise the level a little more or lower it some without causing problems, as long as there is enough oil to give an uninterrupted supply, and provide cooling. I think this is a cop-out by Yamaha to place blame on the owner's instead of on themselves.

For those who have noticed the level go down when it has been filled to the upper line, have any of you kept running the sled to see if it keeps going down? I always fill mine to the upper line now, mainly because I NEED to, otherwise I'll have the low oil light come on with under 100 miles of riding. At least when full I get 200-300 miles. The level goes down at the same rate whether its full, hall full, or at the bottom line.

Jim
 
Slap some seafoam in your oil as well.

Oil level can have effect on oil usage as follows; If the oil level is WAY too high, then when the engine sits, it spills into the crankcase. After starting, if the oil level inside the crankcase is very high, it may spit out the vent into the airbox.
 
nhrxrider check your exhaust pipes to see if you are running really rich there has to be a reason if the inside of your pipes is black.
 
Its not running rich (fuel mixture) its oil dripping out. I can actually wipe it off and feel it. I only have about 120 miles on my freshly cleaned and painted exhaust tips and they are full of crud and dripping oil already.

Jim
 
Break in and Engine Oil Usage

I have had numerous motorcycles and snowmobiles and have riden them out of the crate like I stole them. I mean hard and ruthless; never a problem. I have an 05' that I had going 115 on the DOM with 40 miles on the sled. After 1,800 miles this winter it doesn't burn a drop of oil , idle smooth as silk, and gets 17 mpg average. No sea foam; nothing;nota. I personally think the recommended break in proceedure is crazy. Idleing is the worse thing you can do. If your burning oil take a F___ken compression test and if it's below the manufacturer's tolerences and your getting blow-by your most likely going to burn oil. If the sled's new call the dealer and request a rebuild. If you're compression is good then look at your valve guides or seals. These are motorcycle engines and high performace race engines at that (five valves / cyclinder DOHC). They are built to rev over 10,000 RPM's and designed for the race track!
 
idling isnt bad for it, jumping right on and revving the piss out of it is a bad thing....especially with nikasil cylinder coatings, easy to glaze over a ring, and that will never seal correctly again
 
Break it in hard!!!!!!!!!

There are always going to be opinions on ways to properly break in an engine. Why are there guys on this site that baby their sleds burning 1/2 liter of oil every 300 miles and others that are not. There are several reasons: 1) The easy break in doesn't properly seat the rings, thus blow- by reduced compression and oild consumption, or 2) the quality control of either materials or assembly at the factory resulted in the problem. These are complex engines, with at least ten times the number of moving parts of a 2 stroke twin, S___t happens and maybe quality isn't always job one at the factory in Japan........... could it be too much booze and kareoke the night before could result in QA/QC issues. Japan has it's share of dead beats too. I've owned five Lexus automobiles and have seen several problems that were blaten oversights in assembly. These were 50K automobiles; they're great, but not without flaws....

Sodes
 
Like it has said, i read in a not so long ago Snowtech magazine to never full the oil to F mark because theyre some oil that stay in the motor, and by doing this it's overfill like LB said.

They said, that anywhere between F and E is acceptable.

I have use not more than a quarter every 1500km. I have bought 3 oil liter since i have the sled, and one is Full again, and i'm over 6500km
 
There seems to be some misunderstanding about the oil level in the tank. With this wet sump system, if the oil is overfilled a little may come out the vent for the tank when the engine is completely warm, because of the expansion of the oil (which is actually very minor). But overfilling it won't mysteriously make all the oil disapear. If you go too high, it will even itself out by expelling some, but once its down to normal, no more oil should be used. For example, if you fill it 1/8" over the fill line, it may purge some of the oil until it gets down to, or slightly below, the full line, but then it won't go down any more.

The problems those of us are having is completely different. Mine was full to the F mark when I left yesterday morning. After 100 miles it was about 1/4" below the E mark, just about to the big bulge at the bottom of the stick (the top of the actual oil sensor). If I would have ridden it another 20-50 miles my oil light would be on. If I fill it to the middle between F and E, then I will only be able to go about 50 miles until I'm below the E mark. If I fill it only to the E mark, then in under 50 miles my oil light will be on.

I think the "overfilling" thing has been beaten to death, and has nothing to do with actually oil burning...its only the reason why, when some people actually do overfill the tank, they wonder why the level is down 1/8" or so after riding it.

Jim
 
I changed from Yamalube to Shell 0-40 (Yamaha sells and recommends it) at 3200 kms. Sled is now at 6000 kms and I added about 1/2 quart last season. It is the only oil I have ever added to my '03 RX-1 all its life. Shure it has been serviced at recommended intervals. BTW I did baby it for the first 500 kms. It also have ECP-filterkit installed with evac.

I have observed that the oil light will sometimes come on even when oil level is above the E (Enough) mark on the dip stick. This happens on my '03 sled when I ride it until fully warmed up. When I stop at the trail and shuts off the engine for only a short time (a minute or two) and then start rinding again the oil lamp will come on after a few 100 meters. If I now stop the engine again and wait for a few minutes before I start riding again the light will not come back on. Go figure! I guess there are lots of oil around in crank case, the head or elsewhere, and that it did not have time to drain back into the reservoar thus leading the sensor to measure low oil level.

So I think there actually is a possibility overfilling it if you are adding some oil every time you see the oil light.
 
The only time my light comes on is when the level is down well below the bulge at the bottom of the dipstick...aprox. 1/2" or more below the E mark. And as I mentioned, my particular usage is pretty steady, no matter where the oil level is, unlike someone overfilling it and losing 1/8" or so of level, then it stops using oil. Mine will steadily drop from the F mark until long after the oil light comes on. Because of the long distances between stores or gas stops up here, once or twice I have been forced to ride nearly 100 miles after the light comes on, which made me very nervous even though I know I'm pretty safe with the dry sump system. I think the furthest I've been down is 1/2" below the top of the bulge at the bottom of the dipstick, which would be aprox. 3/4" or more below the E mark.

Jim
 
Taked to my dealer, and he has a '03 RX-1 in his shop to change all piston rings because it uses oil much at the rate yours do. I know this sled has not been broken in by the book. The owner started running WOT runs from the beginning with only 100 kms or so for breakin. Rings were worn out on this particular sled, no way seafoam could helped this enging from using excessive amounts of oil. Dealer said changing the rings was the only way this sled would stop using oil.

Compression and leak-down test will get you the answer to whether you have to change the rings on your sled or not. My bet is your rings are toast, but that is just a 2 cent worth a bet... :(
 
I hope not. I went middle of the road when I broke mine in. I didn't rev it out or lake race it, or do drags, or hammer on it at all for the first several hundred miles. But I also didn't baby it like an 80 year old putting along never getting it above 4000 rpms. I guess you could say I drove it like the average woman (or at least like my wife) would ride it. I'm a Master Engine Machinist for auto engines, so I know a bit about break in, and I know I did nothing that should affect the engine life in a bad way. If the rings ARE bad, and I have a gut feeling they are, the sled will be dumped in the back yard for another season or two until I have money to put into it, or else liquidated for whatever someone will offer me. And you better believe me, I WILL be looking for an attorney to contact Yamaha and the 2 dealers who knew about the oil usage problem back when the sled was very new.

I know Yamaha has profits to think about. But I also think they could go a little bit further to help someone who is a new Yamaha owner to feel better about their company. I paid cash when I bought the sled, and I intended for it to last me 5+ years with lots of miles each year. We are selling our shop, and Yamaha screwed up, because my wife needs a new sled and I was considering buying a new one for myself at the same time, and hanging onto this one for friends to ride when they come up, or else put some serious performance mods to it and use the new one as the primary trail sled. But oh well, if they want to lose customers because they don't want to stand behind their product, thats their choice. On top of myself and my wife, my stepson has Raptor we bought less than 2 years ago, and he wanted a new one soon...until he saw what happened to my sled. My father-in-law was looking for a utility 4x4 ATV, and now hes scared of Yamaha. And my brother-in-law and his wife wanted to get back into sledding, now that there are 4 stroke machines because they hated the maintenance of 2-strokes. We almost had them talked into a couple of Vectors, but now they are leaning toward Cats. We all know Yamaha makes excellent equipment, and mistakes happen, but they saw how I was treated with my warranty work, and now with this issue, and they want to stay clear of any similar problems.

Jim
 


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