SuzukiSavage.com - Oil consumption

wiguzziman

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Oil consumption
07/22/22 at 09:26:11

I've had my 96 Savage up and running since May of this year and am very happy with it so far. One thing I have noticed though, is that the motor seems to use a bit of oil. Is this common for these bikes? The bike has just a bit over 15,000 miles on it, doesn't seem to smoke (no oily residue in the muffler, spark plug looks good, and there are no visible oil leaks that I can see. ?????? Carry on!! wiguzziman

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justin_o_guy2

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #1 - 07/22/22 at 11:49:42

Unrelated to oil, but it's Time to have a look at the cam chain tensioner.

Yeah, oil gets away from them, not from burning it, but from the action of that Fat piston churning the air inside the crankcase. There is a hose running from the Right Front corner of the head. The more uphill you can make it slope as it goes to the rear will give oil in the column of air blowing through that tube, it's really pulsed,back and forth,
Anyway, at higher RPM oil gets away, so check that out.
I used Rotella, Real Dinosaur bones oil, not synthetic, I noticed oil leaving faster as the mileage on that oil increased.
IOW, if I changed oil today and went for a ride and ran The Snot out of it, and after 200 miles of just railing on it, and it needed a half pint,I could do that same run when I had run 3,000 miles and was getting ready to change the oil and it would need more than that half pint of oil to get it back to the full mark.
I didn't use how many miles I had on it to tell me to change oil.
I watched the consumption rate.

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LANCER Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Savage Beast Performance Parts Posts: 10670 Oklahoma Gender:	Re: Oil consumption Reply #2 - 07/22/22 at 11:58:03 You did not say how much oil was being used. It just holds 2 quarts so it’s always a good idea the check the level before riding. The bike needs to be on level ground and vertical when checking, putting a 2x4 or brick under the side stand works to safely do this. If you can see the oil level in the sight glass you are good.
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wiguzziman

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #3 - 07/22/22 at 12:05:13

Good to know. I've got probably close to 1,200 miles on the bike so far this season and I've had to top the oil up twice so far. That breather hose you're speaking of is the one that runs from the head cover back to the air box?
I wonder if some type of PCV valve in that line would help? Any one experiment with trying that? I'm also using the Shell Rotella 15/40 dino in my Savage. Guess I just need to start keeping a better eye on the oil level. Thanks for the reply. Carry on!! wiguzziman

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wiguzziman

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #4 - 07/22/22 at 12:16:46

Lancer: I've probably added over a pint to bring the oil level up to the full level in the site glass so far. Yesterday I went out for a 140 mile ride and was bucking a 25mph head wind about half of that ride. I was operating the bike in the 3,500 to 4,000 rpm range most of the time. Over winter I converted to rear chain drive (among other things) and 4,000 rpm the way I have it geared is 65 mph. Decided to check the oil level today and there was no oil visible in the site glass. Do you think that adding a PCV in the head cover breather line would help any? Carry on!! wiguzziman

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justin_o_guy2

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #5 - 07/22/22 at 13:15:03

Since I never even questioned how Exactly does that thing work, just that it was something that a car needs. So I went and looked it up.
I don't understand what I know.. So I'm continuing to follow this thread. I'm looking forward to learn about this.

https://help.summitracing.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5233/~/what-does-the-pcv-v
alve-do%3F#:~:text= The PCV valve serves a few purposes%3A,less%2C the valve opens more to... More

I tried, I really tried

[url]https://help.summitracing.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5233/~/what-does-the-pcv-v
alve-do%3F#:~:text= The PCV valve serves a few purposes%3A,less%2C the valve opens more to... More[/url]

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wiguzziman

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #6 - 07/22/22 at 13:52:49

Very interesting. From what I'm reading there it may help with the oil being sucked out of the motor via the oil/vapor mist that must be coming from the vented head cover on the Savage. Only down side on the Savage is there is no oil return line for the captured oil to run backinto the crankcase. That breather hose just goes to the air box. Guess I'll just have to keep a closer eye on the oil level in the Savage than I do on my other bikes (singles & twins). Carry on!! wiguzziman

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pg Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 5273 In Transit	Re: Oil consumption Reply #7 - 07/22/22 at 14:29:35 Mine uses it's fair share of oil as well and a number of different factors can affect oil usage. As it relates to the S40 it is my belief that these all contribute, in any order. The head plug can leak, rotella as good as it is can and does shear. Probably beyond the tensile strength of the rings, that is JMHO. Best regards,
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DragBikeMike

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #8 - 07/22/22 at 15:02:14

And I thought mine was using oil. I have been adding 6 to 8 ounces every 1100 to 1500 miles. Yours seems to be using waaaaaay more oil than mine.

If you are running the stock air box and a paper filter element, the oil consumption will increase if the filter is dirty. A dirty filter reduces the air pressure in the void between the filter and carburetor and tends to suck the oil through the crankcase vent. Check your airbox drain. How much oil comes out when you remove the plug?

You mentioned "PCV" valve. I don't think a PCV valve would work too good on a Savage. A PCV is intended to tie the crankcase directly to the intake manifold. It's a controlled method to constantly pull fresh air into the crankcase and evacuate the crankcase vapors into the intake to be consumed in the combustion chamber. I think it would be hard to set one up on a single cylinder engine.

This post installed a Hayden KrankVent. It's a similar concept but retains the circulation system originally intended for the Savage (i.e. return vapors upstream of the carb). It's working good for me and as I previously mentioned it's been consuming about 6 to 8 ounces every 1100 to 1500 miles.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1655271553/0

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justin_o_guy2

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #9 - 07/22/22 at 16:17:54

wiguzziman wrote on 07/22/22 at 13:52:49:

Very interesting. From what I'm reading there it may help with the oil being sucked out of the motor via the oil/vapor mist that must be coming from the vented head cover on the Savage. Only down side on the Savage is there is no oil return line for the captured oil to run backinto the crankcase. That breather hose just goes to the air box. Guess I'll just have to keep a closer eye on the oil level in the Savage than I do on my other bikes (singles & twins). Carry on!! wiguzziman

True, no dedicated oil return line, but by routing that vent tube so it is blowing uphill,then it has a chance to hit the wall and drain downhill to the motor.

If you ever have to pull it apart you'll see what looks like a chunk of a potscrubber it blows through. It never occurred to me before, but I'm thinking a small piece of a wound stainless potscrubber inserted into the vent tube at the end highest point to give the oil vapor a place to land Might be a decent idea.

I'll wait for a Guru to grade that idea.

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wiguzziman

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #10 - 07/22/22 at 16:54:55

Yep, I had the head/cam cover off last winter to fix the usual leaking head bolt plug. I did notice Suzuki's version of an "oil separator". Very crude, and apparently not very effective.
I'm also not a huge fan of the oil sight glass method of checking the oil level. One has to be down on your hands and knees and have a good lite to shine on the site glass to see the oil level properly. Sad

Maybe a bit more of the pot scrubber oil seperator material in the vent hose would slow the oil loss down a bit. Carry on!! wiguzziman

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #11 - 07/22/22 at 21:47:50

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 07/22/22 at 16:17:54:

True, no dedicated oil return line, but by routing that vent tube so it is blowing uphill,then it has a chance to hit the wall and drain downhill to the motor.

If you ever have to pull it apart you'll see what looks like a chunk of a potscrubber it blows through. It never occurred to me before, but I'm thinking a small piece of a wound stainless potscrubber inserted into the vent tube at the end highest point to give the oil vapor a place to land Might be a decent idea.

I'll wait for a Guru to grade that idea.

There's no uphill in the vent line, it's all downhill to the airbox.
You'd have add a significant length of line to go uphill long enough to do anything.
You'd need to add a catch can (see dbm link)
If you want to recycle this blow out oil, the breather line has to go to the bottom to suck out the accumulation.

Check the top of the piston, a lot of carbon ends up there.

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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Oil consumption Reply #12 - 07/23/22 at 03:52:19 Okay, I thought when I was in the area I was able to get it to point up for a few inches, by up I mean slightly unlevel,but it has been a coupla years since I've been near one. Stuffing a chunk of scrubby pad in won't help if it's uphill to get it to run back into the head.
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wiguzziman

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #13 - 07/23/22 at 07:02:29

Mike,
I'm running a K&N filter in the stock air box with a modified air box cover (material removed over the filter area), so I'm getting plenty of air to the motor (carb re-jetted to allow for the increased air flow). I guess I'll see how much room there is under the tank and see if I can make an upward loop in the breather hose before it runs back down to the air box. I may not be loosing as much oil as I thought due to the diffulicty of checking the oil level in that dang site glass. What a PITA reading that thing!! Sad

Carry on!! wiguzzimanDragBikeMike wrote on 07/22/22 at 15:02:14:

And I thought mine was using oil. I have been adding 6 to 8 ounces every 1100 to 1500 miles. Yours seems to be using waaaaaay more oil than mine.

If you are running the stock air box and a paper filter element, the oil consumption will increase if the filter is dirty. A dirty filter reduces the air pressure in the void between the filter and carburetor and tends to suck the oil through the crankcase vent. Check your airbox drain. How much oil comes out when you remove the plug?

You mentioned "PCV" valve. I don't think a PCV valve would work too good on a Savage. A PCV is intended to tie the crankcase directly to the intake manifold. It's a controlled method to constantly pull fresh air into the crankcase and evacuate the crankcase vapors into the intake to be consumed in the combustion chamber. I think it would be hard to set one up on a single cylinder engine.

This post installed a Hayden KrankVent. It's a similar concept but retains the circulation system originally intended for the Savage (i.e. return vapors upstream of the carb). It's working good for me and as I previously mentioned it's been consuming about 6 to 8 ounces every 1100 to 1500 miles.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1655271553/0

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verslagen1

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Re: Oil consumption
Reply #14 - 07/23/22 at 07:42:56

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 07/23/22 at 03:52:19:

Okay, I thought when I was in the area I was able to get it to point up for a few inches, by up I mean slightly unlevel, but it has been a coupla years since I've been near one.
Stuffing a chunk of scrubby pad in won't help if it's uphill to get it to run back into the head.

yeah, it points up for an inch or 2 and is slightly unlevel, but then it hits the bottom of the tank and has to go back down. But that's not enough time for droplets of oil to collect while the air flowing thru it a half liter at a time thru a half inch hose. No time to cool or let gravity take effect.

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