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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
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Message started by Mavigogun on 02/12/20 at 15:14:24

Title: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Mavigogun on 02/12/20 at 15:14:24

After some maintenance under the head cover, my head seems essentially leak-free. Hurray!

-but this bike drinks oil. Maybe at a normal rate. Exhaust doesn't seem extraordinary; last time I pulled the spark plug, it look unremarkable. I really need to keep an oil log.

That said, after about 500 miles of sustained 75-80 mph, checked the level- and couldn't see anything in the window, no matter how far over I managed to tilt it. Adding oil, at least I could see a coating inside the case.

Last time I ran it, it seemed like I could over-rev the engine if acceleration was too aggressive; might that be a by-product of being ran dry?

The Savage may be a dirty beast- but it didn't burn up, being so ill treated. I wonder- do you have any other bike that drinks so much- or that would put up with such abuse, dry?

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Gary_in_NJ on 02/12/20 at 15:28:18

The harder you run this engine, the more oil it will consume. If you are regularly running 80 mph on a Savage you are riding at nearly full capability of the engine. I would consider different gearing, slowing down, or a different bike.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by srinath on 02/12/20 at 15:52:59

Also the bottom end is ball bearing. In much of that 1/2 oil is a coolant, including on the cylinder walls and piston undersides, and they get splattered with oil and the heat causes evaporation and poof a little oil disappears.

Cool.
Srinath.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Armen on 02/12/20 at 16:34:42

Look at Drag Bike Mike's posts on a proper crank breather. Might be a simple way to reduce oil consumption.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 02/12/20 at 21:18:10

What oil you using?

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Mavigogun on 02/13/20 at 05:18:37

Retella T4 dinosaur.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Mavigogun on 02/13/20 at 06:55:03

7C4F5058533D0 wrote:

Look at Drag Bike Mike's posts on a proper crank breather.

I re-read this with new appreciation:

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1570415428/0

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Mavigogun on 02/13/20 at 06:57:26

6F6E75727D68741C0 wrote:

In much of that 1/2 oil is a coolant, including on the cylinder walls and piston undersides, and they get splattered with oil and the heat causes evaporation and poof a little oil disappears.

I was lucky- the couple hundred miles, the air temp max was in the 50's, and wet; maybe why the engine didn't cook, getting by on dregs.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Mavigogun on 02/13/20 at 07:00:23

2923272D262F2B227C7A7E4E0 wrote:

I would consider different gearing, slowing down, or a different bike.

Chain conversion and re-gearing are on the list. Though I covet lower rev's at high speed, I fear a loss of git-up-and-go when passing.

I'm reluctant to switch bikes- the replacement would have to feature the mechanical accessibility and support I enjoy with the Savage, no more weight, at least as much power, and preferably growl more than whine.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 02/13/20 at 11:24:39

2D213629272F27352E400 wrote:

Retella T4 dinosaur.

When I was running Dino I saw oil use increase the closer I got to oil change time.

New oil, I could run the snot out of it. After 12,,, 1500 miles, better be watching, especially if highway speed is involved.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by DragBikeMike on 02/13/20 at 13:12:00

If you continue to operate at sustained speeds above 50 mph, I believe you can dramatically reduce your oil consumption by using an independent breather assembly. The stock breather setup pulls oil out of the engine at high rpm.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Gary_in_NJ on 02/13/20 at 13:39:16

That's interesting Mike. I have an independent breather (with a K&N filter at the end of the hose) and I don't use a drop of oil.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Armen on 02/14/20 at 06:28:42

Mavigonon,
Think about the Kawasaki front pulley that Dave sells. Taller gearing and you get to keep the belt. Very easy conversion.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by Mavigogun on 02/14/20 at 08:08:21

I appreciate the insight. Is there an alternative to feeding the crankcase vapors into the airbox for burning in the engine, or ultimate unburnt release into the atmosphere via an independent crankcase breather? My after-market exhaust is hot enough to ignite unburnt gasses- might we introduce the crank case vapors into a combustion chamber affixed to the exhaust? The combination of 'highway gearing' with crankcase conversion outside the engine seems ideal- if possible.

Related, might we progressively drive more air into the carb as speed increases to counter the overly rich mix created by the airbox-introduced crankcase vapors?

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by oldNslow on 02/14/20 at 09:24:26

Have you pulled the plug out of the drain tube coming from the bottom of the airbox to see how much oil was collected in the air box?

How much oil did you have to add when you discovered the level was low?

FWIW my bike has the stock intake and exhaust and as far as I know the jets in the carb are also stock - I've never looked though.

I have never run my bike continuously for 500 miles at 75-80 mph but I've done many trips that involved running those speeds on interstates for several hours at a stretch, interspersed with time spent on secondary roads and in traffic, and have never had to add oil on any those trips.

I have used Rotella dino oil since I bought the bike ( I'm not the first owner. I bought the bike with around nine thousand miles on it and I don't know it's history) I change the oil and filter at 3500 miles and have never added oil between changes. I have gotten maybe a teaspoon full of watery looking oil gunk out of the airbox drain at each oil change.

Running the engine out of oil in 500 miles even at the speeds you are talking about seems like an awful lot of oil to be coming out the breather.

Title: Re: Drink, drink, drink 'da oil
Post by batman on 02/14/20 at 10:58:54

You repaired the head plug leak , are you sure your screening was in place in the head cover?
You may have to reach a compromise , which is most important to you ? If it's highway speed ,with lower oil loss and lower rpm, then a kawa pulley is the way to go . If you don't want to give up low rpm response then it's time to slow highway speeds to something the bike will handle ,70 mph should be a max cruising speed ,unless passing, for a stock bike . I wasn't aware that the speed limit in Texas was 75-80mph ,that's basically WOT = abuse for a stock Savage.