OK, so Kawi says I should change my oil every 4k miles...

But after 1.5K miles, the oil looks dirty and black!

Any thoughts on this?

[wastedincome420]

I think that everone has ther owen opinion on things such as that. Is your bike brand new??? If so I would change it before the 4k that kawi reccomends. Really I say its up to you. For the cost of oil and filters Id say change it if you fell its needed.
I myself will be changing my oiul every 2k regardless of what the manf. says
Just my 2 cents

[legalspeed]

Carbon or clutch plates.

Prolly clutch plates.
I change it when she looks like she needs it, feels like it needs it, or every 6 months.

[Stoneman]

Hmmm....black oil? Sounds like a HUGE problem...

How many miles, MS?

[Rye]

Don't wait for 4k. It's crap. That motor revs harder and higher than an auto and they recommend 3k in cars. I say every 1500-2000. I do mine at 2k religously. Whether you cahnge the filter also is a matter of opinion. I say it's probably ok to swap out a filter every 2nd oil change. But I do both outta being an obsessive compulsive.

[JJ]

I think alot of it depends on how hard you ride as well. If you hardly ever see redline or close to it you should be able to get more miles out of your oil. Personally I run Redline full synthetic in mine and have had no problems. I usually change oil twice a year, halfway in the middle of summer and in the fall when I park the bike. And now that it's back to semi-normal after mod install, the bike pulls real hard and has 31,000 on it. And no I'm not easy on it either, this bike see's redline everyday I ride it. I think it comes down to you get what you pay for. Cheap oil doesn't hold up to high revs and you also have to remember that your gears are using the same oil. So when it starts to shift a little harder, time for and oil change. But if it's black and smells burned in a short amount of time maybe it's time to look at some different oils.

[Stoneman]

I used to do my erl & filter every 2500 miles, no matter what. I've taken a different approach with my last coupla bikes and do 'em every 5000 miles. Lubricants are a bazillion times better than what they were just a few short years ago, and the API just keeps getting tougher & tighter with their specs...

'bazillion'??? What the fuck is THAT???

[RandyO]

I have 83,000+ miles on my SV now, and I haven't changed the oil any more or any less than what it specs in my owners manual... and contrary to what Rye sez, change your filter every time, its just as important if not more important than changing the oil

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by RandyO
... change your filter every time, its just as important if not more important than changing the oil

Yip, I change the filter every time too...

[Rye]

I believe my post read "it's a matter of opinion". Now if I'm changing my oil every 2k that would make a filter change every 4k. 1k earlier than Jay's 5k change. Randy, when you finish the lab results on whether that filter needs changing, let me know I'd like to see the results. BTW, mine gets changed every 2k simply because it is cheap insurance. Gets cumbersome posting here sometime.

Originally posted by Stoneman
Hmmm....black oil? Sounds like a HUGE problem...

How many miles, MS?

Approaching 10K FAST!!!

I bought it new last year, and since then, I've had no less than 4 oil/filter changes.

First at like 600miles, 2nd at like 2K, and every 2K thereafter.

In my opinion, the oil gets black for a reason. I don't think the oil molecules change color on their own after use, but I presume it's contamination. I guess it's really a matter of contamination tolerance, question is, how much?

And since the oil gets slowly darker as the miles increase, one would presume that the contamination within the oil increases with the milage, as "new" contamination is constantly generated as the engine runs. But to what point?

Obviously, that's what the oil filter is for, and thus, it has a maximum filtration capacity, where after which, one would presume the oil gets "dirtier" and "dirtier".

Hmmmm... After writing this out and thinking it through, I think Kawi has determined that the filters keep a tolerable amount of contamination up to about 4K miles, thus, the schedule.

I still think I'm going to keep changing mine at 2K even though it may be scientifically pointless, or until I get off my ass and write a letter to Kawasaki asking them to explain their logic about it...

[03f4ichick]

Originally posted by Rye
Gets cumbersome posting here sometimes.

BWAHHAHHHHAHHHHHHH

[TLRMan]

Combustion by products and heat = dark oil color...
color has nothing to do with the suspension qualities of the oil, and this is what you are after....Your crankshaft, cams, and rods "ride" on a thin film of oil, and not on the bearing surfaces...if they did, they would be junk very quickly. The military would reprocess oil, and guess what color it is??? BLACK...

The oil in the engines of today do double duty. It is a lubricant, and it also helps Cool the engine. Most have small jets that shoot oil up into the underside of the pistons. This is why most have decent oil coolers. If your bike doesn't, it wouldn't hurt to have one installed, with a temp controlled relief valve.

We should never rev the engine when first started...there is more wear done to an engine in this period than if you rode 10,000 miles...Let the engine idle, and warm up to temp, before thrashing on it.

2500 miles works fine with a filter change....synthetics will go longer, as long as the filter is up to the task. If the filter gets clogged with impurities, it will bypass the flow, and dump your unfiltered oil back into the system....Not good.