Oil change interval

fridayfury · 08-29-2011, 11:28 AM

Getting 600 mile service today and wondered what others are doing on oil change intervals. I know the owner's manual shows 8,000 miles, but that seems like a long time for conventional oil. My Can Am Spyder has 3,000 mile intervals and that's with full syn oil. I also know almost every manual says change oil annually, but I have never found that to be a very practical guide. What are others doing on oil changes?

NMUCat · 08-29-2011, 11:44 AM

My best friend says to do it annually. But he lives in Michigan, stops riding by November, stores the bike and then gets it out in the spring. As part of his spring time prep, he changes the oil.

As you said it not very practical or cost friendly. I did my 600 mile service with Lucas oil products and living in southern Ohio I keep my running longer into the fall. I also let the bike run from time to time during the winter months and weather doesn't let me ride. I'll probably change it next spring or the mileage Honda says, whatever comes first.

StPeteAPB · 08-29-2011, 12:25 PM

You have to be careful not to change the oil too often when you use the blends (oil and synthetic) or you can glaze the rings, I'm told.

I might round down and do mine every 5,000. But, definitely not every 3,000, like my car with conventional oil.

taffyspop · 08-29-2011, 02:31 PM

Changing mine every 6000. Use Mobil One 10w40 synthetic with K&N Filter..Sure it would be fine to wait until 8000, but I'm a little OCD........

2 Evil · 08-29-2011, 02:33 PM

I just did my second oil change a few weeks ago and my odo was at 8100 miles. I will do my next one at 1300 because the oil was BLACK. I dont want to do internal damage letting it get that dark. I use regular oil and not Synthetic. Maybe I will do the synthetic next time around.

460brevill · 08-29-2011, 02:43 PM

i use honda oil and change it every 3000 due to a lot of mountain rides.

BarFury · 08-29-2011, 06:30 PM

If you're running a good synthetic, you can get by with 10K OCI's (Oil-Change-Intervals). With the advent of these modern lubricants (synthetics) 3K OCI's are a thing of the past, unless you're still tuned-into your father's admonitions. If you need reassurance, submit a sample to Blackstone Labs. My two-bits...............

Cheers

460brevill · 08-29-2011, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarFury

If you're running a good synthetic, you can get by with 10K OCI's (Oil-Change-Intervals). With the advent of these modern lubricants (synthetics) 3K OCI's are a thing of the past, unless you're still tuned-into your father's admonitions. If you need reassurance, submit a sample to Blackstone Labs. My two-bits...............

Cheers

3000 may be a thing of the past but when its free you take it.lol

**Richard1** · 08-29-2011, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NMUCat

My best friend says to do it annually. But he lives in Michigan, stops riding by November, stores the bike and then gets it out in the spring. As part of his spring time prep, he changes the oil.

As you said it not very practical or cost friendly. I did my 600 mile service with Lucas oil products and living in southern Ohio I keep my running longer into the fall. I also let the bike run from time to time during the winter months and weather doesn't let me ride. I'll probably change it next spring or the mileage Honda says, whatever comes first.

If you don’t have to work this weekend, let’s do both of them, I’m over due. My place or yours?

2011MatteOrange · 08-29-2011, 08:16 PM

I'm a bit maintenance obsessive as you can see below by my record keeping.
I'm going on either a 5K or 10K change interval as of my next oil change. I'm going to have the oil tested at 5K and go from there. I did the same thing with my truck oil and it tested excellent at 5K so I stick with that number.

I Bought the bike in February of this year. Week later I was @ 822 miles. For warranty purposes I let Honda of Winter Haven do the first 600 Mile service (a bit late).

at 1583 miles I checked my diff and it was black and had allot of metal in it so I changed it with Amsoil 80w gear lube.

at 3400 miles the "Honda" oil was extremely black so I changed it myself using Amsoil 10w40 Cycle oil and a K&N oil filter. (I didn't know the Amsoil O/F number at that time)

at 3988 I checked the diff again and again the oil was black but no metal in it this time. So I changed it again with Amsoil 80w

I just did the 8000 mile service a couple weeks ago and the Amsoil that came out was very clean. So she got more Amsoil oil and an Amsoil filter this time, Diff oil changed with Amsoil again and it finally came out clean this time. New NGK plugs (Original were only slightly worn)
And I replaced the OEM air filter with a K&N

Overall I've been very pleased with how it's responded to the Amsoil. It's costly but it should keep the wear substantially lower then conventional oil so the bike lasts many many years.