Oil Change Necessary? | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Oil Change Necessary?

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I change oil and filter end of July and in November as part of winter storage prep. With OEM filter and 3.4l of Rotella T dino purchased by the pail at CT it's about $27 x 2 or $54 bucks a year. This is a minuscule amount of the total annual cost of riding a bike and it is really not worth the time to think about whether I could save $27 by doing just one oil change a season vs. two.

Over 16 seasons with the ST Quicken tells me I've spend $36,000 on all bike related expenses (Insurance, parts, service, tires, gear, fuel) and this amount does not include the cost of the bike itself, nor does it include any trip related expenses such as hotels, meals etc....... So my average annual cost is an understated $2,250 ($36,000 / 16) and the a potential oil savings is $27 or 1.2%.
 
GreyGhost said:
It depends on the car. If you have to use manufacturer specific oil (I know VW has their own spec, I assume others do as well), often the savings may not be there. The mechanic gets a better price on the oil which offsets what they charge you for time. If your car is happy with generic oil, I agree with you (speaking of which Crappy tire is having a clearance sale on mobil 1 for ~$5/L).
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Okay i'll bite;

Is there an actual model that will void your warranty if you don't use mfg. spec. oil/filter? You`re already negating any potential savings by swinging this way, but for the sake of the discussion let's say you have to.

So yes theoretically the mechanic gets better prices for oil/filters then Joe Plumber. However, typically this is marked up when sold to the customer. Throw in shop rates and there is not a lot of room here to save over buying yourself.

Now, some have better relationships with their shops then others, maybe he's not paying full price on parts or labour. If this is the case, then imo he's the exception and not the rule. Successful business do not stay successful by cutting every customer a break on their overhead.
 
Evoex said:
Is there an actual model that will void your warranty if you don't use mfg. spec. oil/filter? You`re already negating any potential savings by swinging this way, but for the sake of the discussion let's say you have to.
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The Magnuson Moss act would prevent that, at least in the USA, and then realistically by connection, pretty much the rest of the world.

In short, if the manufacturer can't prove that aftermarket service, modification, or parts were directly responsible for a failure covered under a warranty, they can't deny a warranty claim because of it.

So, as long as you have proper receipts from an aftermarket oil change showing that the proper volumes, viscosity, oil change interval, and type (synthetic vs dino, for example) were used, then there's nothing a manufacturer can do to void a warranty claim because of a consumers choice to not use dealer level service.
 
^ yup

and the dealer is on your side here
they are not looking for ways to screw car purchasers

in most cases the tech knows as soon as the valve cover is off
whether there is a maintenance problem or not related to the failure

if it's clean under there, no one will be looking for mtc records
 
Here's a good article for the "I change my oil every 5000KM" people out there.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-care/stop-changing-your-oil.html

Toyota is now going to 16,000KM change intervals in their cars. And sorry, I don't buy the argument that manufacturers are only doing this to save money on "free oil changes" with a car sale, but that the engine is just going to wear out eventually because of it after the warranty expires. One only need look at the long term reliability of Toyotas (and honestly, most vehicles on the road today) to operate perfectly well into the 300,000, 400,000...even 500,000KM range perfectly fine. The engines aren't expiring when the warranty does, even the ones that are horribly neglected.

Here's an interesting tidbit, again, for the "you can never change your oil too much" crowd - long haul class 8 trucks (Tractor Trailers) typically go about 50,000KM between oil changes, some even more than that. Our city equipment (which would be classified as "heavy use") go about 20,000KM between changes. And these are massive 12-15L heavy duty diesels pulling 80-100,000+ pounds around in everything from brutal cold conditions, to brutal hot conditions.

Modern engines are not the same as engines of even 10 years ago, much less 20, 30 years ago. Tolerances are better, emissions are drastically less, fuel is better, oils are WAY better. All those realities equate to NOT needing to change your oil anywhere near as often as many would believe despite all the old wifes tales or stories of certain doom many would have you believe. Again, when was the last time you heard of someones motorcycle engine wearing out to the point of bearing and piston ring failure determined to be because they didn't change their oil often enough?

In short, follow the manual. My VTX for example calls for 8000 mile (12,800KM) intervals. I generally do it around 10,000KM which gives me a nice round 2 oil changes a season.
 
My F150 came with a maintenence package, oil changes/brakes/wipers/airfilters ect for 185,000kms or 3yrs. On the last F150, same pkg the service girl said when I was getting close on mileage expiring, I was going to have un used oil changes and I should start changing the oil every 5000 to use up the package. I didn't because I dont see the value in sitting at the dealer to "get my moneys worth"

I had a work van Mercedes diesel and ran it through "ProOilChangers" drive in, they put a sticker on for come back in 5,000kms. I said to the kid, think this things goes 8-10k between changes?? He said I just do what I'm told.

So for everybody that's sort of mildly 'engine savy' , how many Joe Averages are getting an oil rinse every 5-6k because the sticker says so?? Has to be thousands, per day.
 
So I picked my bike up from the mechanic and it looks like there was about 1600km on the oil before winter storage instead of 800km (I was way off :rolleyes:).
I have only rode it 15-20km since winter storage (shop and back). The tech said not to worry about changing the oil, what do you guys think?
I'm usually pretty anal about things like this, but if its not necessary I won't bother and I'll just change out the oil once I hit 4000km which will be in may some time. Maybe change out the oil but keep the filter on the bike and replace both the following oil change?
I always like to see others opinions in regards to subjects like this!
Thanks in advance
 
I would leave the oil in after the season is over and before the season is on then change the fluids and you should be good to go. Changing at both the end and start of the season is overkill. Unless it's a Harley.
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