Winterizing bike and oil change

[johnnycage]

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I'm curious, what's the reason it's suggested to do and oil and filter change prior to the bike going away for winter and then when it gets pulled out of storage? Could a person just put the bike away, run it once a month throughout the winter then do the oil/filter change in the spring when they start riding again?

 

[jay-d]

The oil change before you take it out is a waste of oil and money.

If you do an oil change before storage and do not start the bike, but leave the oil in there all Winter, then start it up come Spring, top up oil level and you're good to go. Some people think their bikes are little sensitive nancies that need overkill maintenance.

You could do what you suggested.. but the problem is, that oil that's been run through an engine gets contaminated and that's why you should change it every 3 months because of contamination. It's a good habit to do the oil change before winter storage, leave the bike and put the battery inside on a tender or leave it inside.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

Idling your bike for 5-15 minutes throughout the winter does nothing good. I don't know how or why it has become common practice.

There are a number of reasons why it's recommended to do an oil change in the fall instead of the spring. Used motor oil is acidic, so while it's sitting in your bike over the winter it may be slowly etching the bearings in the motor. You're already adding fuel stabilizer, possibly taking the battery out and doing a number of other things, so it makes sense to do it then instead of the spring. It took me all of five minutes to "de-winterize" my bike this year.

 

[coyo]

Idling your bike for 5-15 minutes throughout the winter does nothing good. I don't know how or why it has become common practice.

To expand a bit on this; idling an engine doesn't bring it up to operating temperature so all you're doing is introducing moisture into the engine that won't get burnt off as well as causing the oil to acquire contaminates. Idling also doesn't charge your battery so you're doing it no favour there either.

That said, many year ago my routine was to dump the oil at the beginning of winter and top the crank case RIGHT up with cheap oil. Come spring I would dump that oil and change the filter... in my head it was better (keeping as much as I could submerged in oil). Like I said, I stopped doing that years ago and now that I have a dry sump bike, it would be pointless anyway.

 

[johnnycage]

Okay that makes good sense. I guess the only way to truly keep it going over the winter is to actually drive on the street for 15-20 minutes. The suggestion to change oil in fall sounds like a good plan. I'll do that next year. Thanks guys!

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