Daren, Glad to hear we have another lister getting involved in ld riding. I have to chime in with John and Dave: I notice that my oil consumption increases in hot weather. And as previously noted, the oil light goes on sooner when climbing a grade with a strong wind from the right.
For awhile I had the crankcase ventilator ducted to the atmosphere like in the old days rather than into the air intake. I did this on the outside chance that the intake was sucking too much oil vapor out of the sump thus increasing consumption. I still used about the same amount of oil, and it was making a mess on the side of the bike from the oil film being pumped out. The biggest improvement I found was when I changed my rear sprocket to a 42 tooth. That keeps the revs down at elevated speeds, thus minimizing consumption. I can usually run a 24 hour rally without having to add oil. The oil cooler is probably a good idea. In addition, Dave and I have an idea for a remote oil reservoir to add oil without having to stop.--Dave, did you have it set up for the '02 Rendezvous? I may have mine ready for the TATT at the end of July. I'll let you know if it works. Roger added a club function around the ride which hopefully gave it a lighter, > more playful atmosphere. Aside from the usual checkpoints, riders were > given the opportunity to pick up bonus points for silly things like highest > score of 3 bowling balls, putting closest to the pin, picking up tidbits of > information along the route and of course my favourite; fas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Spee-dee-D" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 11:02 AM Subject: Oil Consumption / Trip Adventures > John and Dave: I appreciated reading about your long distance adventure on > the list and all of your trials along the way. It seems that no long > distance event is without them. They make for good stories afterwards (I > also heard they put hair on your chest). ;-) > > I recently was the Rallymaster for a Saddle Sore event (1000 miles in 24 > hours) for our BMW club. A 1000 mile day didn't seem like quite enough, so > I test pie eating > contest with timing and Polaroid pictures compliments of the staff of a > small town pub. > > Anyway, to make it even more challenging (for me) I also rode the event. > Let me say, that I love my GTS and have it fairly well set-up for longer > trips, although I do not have a fuel cell or GPS yet and still ride on the > stock seat. OUCH! I do have PIAA driving lights, Givi bags, a throttle > lock, heated grips and vest, an MRA windscreen, K&N airflters, and a > Scottoiler with dual injector tips. > > I had gone over the bike with a fine tooth comb before I left and had > changed oil and filter switching to Yamalube 20W-40 from synthetic. I have > been watching the list carefully trying almost everything possible to reduce > my oil consumption which is excessive. After breaking in my bike on dino > oil, I switched to Castrol Syntec 5w-50 and ran that without noticeable > consumption for the first 20,000 kms. After starting to burn a little more > oil on trips I switched to Mobil 1 15W-40, but then it got much worse. I > was now burning almost a liter every 1000 kms. So I tried switching to > Pennzoil 20W-50 for a while but it never got any better. I read something > about diesel engine oil having high levels of detergents and being able to > "de-gum sticky parts" and though maybe that would help, but it didn't. So > now with about 45,000 kms on my GTS I decided to go back to Yamalube. > Unfortunately it didn't work any better. > > By my second checkpoint (about 400 kms) I needed oil. My speeds were fairly > high, for the most part running between 130-190 kms/hr. Unfortunately when > I added the oil I was side tracked by a rider and I forgot to put my oil > filler cap (black plastic with raised flat thumb tab) back in. It was about > 15 kms down the road after that when my oil light came on and I reached do wn > with my right hand to check that the cap was on and brought my hand back up > to find it covered with oil, along with my boot and the right lower side of > the bike. Needless to say the rear braking was somewhat diminished also. > After thoroughly cleaning the oil off the crankcase around the filler hole > with a rag dipped in gasoline, I successfully used good old duct tape to > seal it up. Upon my arrival back to the gas station where I had added oil > less than 1/2 an hour ago, the cap was spotted by a fellow biker less than > five minute prior, but was no longer anywhere to be found (including all > garbage cans and complete shake-downs of attendants). I proceeded to use > duct tape to get me to a Home Hardware store where I lucked out with a boat > hole repair plug. This plug is like a wine bottle plug with a metal handle > that flips over and expands a rubber plug. It works so well I'm still using > it today. > > Anyway, my point is, that I have made three long distance trips already this > year, and one was in cooler temperatures (I rode through BC in the same snow > storm as Dave and John). I did not notice my oil consumption go down > noticeably on the cooler ride. Each time I open my airbox I notice there is > some oil in there and I am wondering if it's getting up there from a faulty > crankcase ventilation valve. I don't know how or where the crankcase vents > but will be checking it out the next time I have the bike apart. Does > anyone have any information regarding this on the GTS? > > I'll be listening carefully regarding Rick's engine rebuild and Dave's oil > cooler to hear the results. Other wise I may just have to put an R1 engine > in it with a BMW shaft drive while I'm at it. ;-) > > GWN > Daren > > > > <<snip>> > REPOST FROM GTS LIST to FJR List....... > > One of my concerns is that the FJR is not an oil consumer like most GTS1000 > engines have proven to be. I can burn a half of a quart in as little as 500 > miles when running at sustained high speeds....especially on hot days. > > On the topic of GTS oil consumption, an interesting realization that both > Dave Biasotti reached during the Mexico -Alaska Rally. The GTS appears to > have too small an oil cooler, allowing the oil to heat up too much and > reduce it's viscosity. It is probably the root of the GTS's oil consumption > problem. > > We both experience greatly reduced oil consumption when running at cooler > ambient temperatures during the Rally. Enough so that we both commented > about when we had a chance to talk after the Rally. Dave is looking into a > larger after market oil cooler to address the problem. I am sure Dave will > post his findings. > > hawke >
