Hi there
I have noticed over the last few oil changes by voyager is burning oil.
Approximately 1 litre of oil burned per 4000km travelled.
What could be the cause of this? Is it common?
I am running rotella diesel engine oil as recommended by this site.
The bike does not have an oil leak.
It does not blow white smoke that I have seen.
It has 146k km , although I'm not sure how accurate this mileage is.
Thanks Hughie
Burning oil
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triton28
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Re: Burning oil
A liter in that kilometrage is not a good sign, especially without any visible evidence of a leak. If you are certain of a correct quantity of oil at the last oil/filter change and you can verify that the measured, recovered amount of used oil at the next draining is down that 1 liter, then there are some decisions it seems you are going to have to make.
Generally there are 3 reasons for the volume of oil to decrease at that rapid a rate: a visible oil leak; Bad valve stem seals/guides or cylinder problems. According to your post it isn't the first. So let's deal with the second item, valve stem seals/guides.
On engines where there weren't any valve stem seals in the design, when the wear factor became great enough the oil would bypass between the valve stem and guide and enter the combustion chamber, if intake side, or get ignited by hot gases if on the exhaust side and show up as light but consistent, thin blue smoke. This situation is delayed by the use of valve stem seals to a much greater amount of hours of operation of the engine but with time and exposure to friction/heat these seals eventually wear out. When this happens is when one starts to notice that the morning startup exhaust seems to be a little more blue coloured than it used to be last week/month/season. Generally it clears up when the cylinder head temperatures heat the rubber up and it softens to tighten around the valve stem. Or, descending down a moderate to long hill/slope, when the bottom is reached and throttle is applied, sometimes blue smoke will be evident just after leveling off and then clearing up, but this is only shows up with extremely hardened seals and may not occur if the seals are only starting to go bad.
Now for the worst case, cylinder problems. Generally cylinder problems are evident throughout the operating temperature range as continuous blue smoke. It may be light and thin if the problem is just starting or heavy and thick if the situation has gotten to the point of a top end rebuild. Not good in either case. At best it is only a case of honing the cylinders and installing new piston rings.
Hopefully it isn't broken rings which have scored the cylinder walls which may require more extensive repairs.
So not being present to observe your situation it is difficult for anyone other than yourself to diagnose your problem. A compression test would definitely be advised to determine the condition of the cylinders, provided the valves are sealing well enough to give a reading. If a low reading increases with several ounces of oil entered into the cylinder then the problem is self evident: cylinder problems. If the reading does not increase then it is valve lap sealing to valve seat related, regardless of stem seal condition.
If you aren't seeing any evidence of smoke then it may be a situation where you just accept the consumption and realize that down the road sometime a decision will have to be made as you may be at the starting point of one of the above situations, I can't say for sure.
I personally would continue to monitor the oil consumption until I saw conclusive evidence of smoke and then I would do a teardown and rebuild OR install a good used donor engine.
Regardless, keep on top of the oil level! There may be some other simpler cause of your consumption and I hope some other member can offer some perhaps more obvious/overlooked suggestions but to me these are the options I see. I hope I'm mistaken as no one wants to do a teardown and rebuild.
Dave
Generally there are 3 reasons for the volume of oil to decrease at that rapid a rate: a visible oil leak; Bad valve stem seals/guides or cylinder problems. According to your post it isn't the first. So let's deal with the second item, valve stem seals/guides.
On engines where there weren't any valve stem seals in the design, when the wear factor became great enough the oil would bypass between the valve stem and guide and enter the combustion chamber, if intake side, or get ignited by hot gases if on the exhaust side and show up as light but consistent, thin blue smoke. This situation is delayed by the use of valve stem seals to a much greater amount of hours of operation of the engine but with time and exposure to friction/heat these seals eventually wear out. When this happens is when one starts to notice that the morning startup exhaust seems to be a little more blue coloured than it used to be last week/month/season. Generally it clears up when the cylinder head temperatures heat the rubber up and it softens to tighten around the valve stem. Or, descending down a moderate to long hill/slope, when the bottom is reached and throttle is applied, sometimes blue smoke will be evident just after leveling off and then clearing up, but this is only shows up with extremely hardened seals and may not occur if the seals are only starting to go bad.
Now for the worst case, cylinder problems. Generally cylinder problems are evident throughout the operating temperature range as continuous blue smoke. It may be light and thin if the problem is just starting or heavy and thick if the situation has gotten to the point of a top end rebuild. Not good in either case. At best it is only a case of honing the cylinders and installing new piston rings.
Hopefully it isn't broken rings which have scored the cylinder walls which may require more extensive repairs.
So not being present to observe your situation it is difficult for anyone other than yourself to diagnose your problem. A compression test would definitely be advised to determine the condition of the cylinders, provided the valves are sealing well enough to give a reading. If a low reading increases with several ounces of oil entered into the cylinder then the problem is self evident: cylinder problems. If the reading does not increase then it is valve lap sealing to valve seat related, regardless of stem seal condition.
If you aren't seeing any evidence of smoke then it may be a situation where you just accept the consumption and realize that down the road sometime a decision will have to be made as you may be at the starting point of one of the above situations, I can't say for sure.
I personally would continue to monitor the oil consumption until I saw conclusive evidence of smoke and then I would do a teardown and rebuild OR install a good used donor engine.
Regardless, keep on top of the oil level! There may be some other simpler cause of your consumption and I hope some other member can offer some perhaps more obvious/overlooked suggestions but to me these are the options I see. I hope I'm mistaken as no one wants to do a teardown and rebuild.
Dave
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SgtSlag
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Re: Burning oil
For those who are wondering, 4,000 Km = 2,485 miles. It is not a case of excessive mileage on the oil.
Some folks have had good luck slowing the wear process by adding Lucas Oil Additive (two types, one for motorcycles, and one for general use), to their oil, others swear by Marvel Mystery Oil. I have very limited experience with either one. Just offering a suggestion as to how you might slow down the consumption rate. Cheers!
Some folks have had good luck slowing the wear process by adding Lucas Oil Additive (two types, one for motorcycles, and one for general use), to their oil, others swear by Marvel Mystery Oil. I have very limited experience with either one. Just offering a suggestion as to how you might slow down the consumption rate. Cheers!
SgtSlag
1993 Voyager XII
1993 Voyager XII