Quick Question about Next oil change

[jonathan180iq]

Just flip the bottle over and look at the back. It will have an API starburst somewhere on there that will look like this:



If it says energy conserving, then you need to avoid it as it can cause clutch slippage.
The part of the oil change how-to doesn't start to discuss this fact until a little later in the convo.

[Kalel]

Thanks Again... This is the one that I used... No energy conserving.... :2tup: So Jonathan, The Bike has 339 miles on it now, It is a 2006 , it is like new. Since I put synthetic oil, when would the next oil change should be? at 600? or 1k? thanks

[jonathan180iq]

Perfect!

You dumped the original stuff at 400 miles, and it also had 7 years on it at the time. Do you know if another oil change was done prior to that or if they valve inspection was performed?

Those two things usually happen at 600 miles as part of the first servicing.

I personally feel that there is nothing wrong with synthetic oil from the get-go. If modern engines don't break themselves in within the first couple hundred miles then they never will. If you already have almost 400 miles, I'd go ahead and do the valve inspection pretty soon. Then change the oil at 1,000 on the odometer and then start a regular oil change interval after that.

[Goose51683]

Since I basically have a brand new top end on my bike, I should probably do a 600 mile oil change right?

Also is there anything else I need to do during the break in period?

[jonathan180iq]

Since you're on a rebuild and with new parts, yes. I would monitor it slightly more closely than normal for the first little while.

I have quite a bit of experience with Chinese manufacturing and the note you made about chipped fins and things not quite being the right size is about on par with everything else I have dealt with out of china.

As far as internal parts are concerned, the quality is usually fine. But with exterior, as you can probably see from inspecting that broken piece of cooling fin, the casting process doesn't meet the same standards that exist in the more developed nations. I'll bet if you look at it closely you'll see the porous condition of the metal. Heat will affect that and it can cause metal fatigue in random places. For the first few operating periods, I would keep the revs down and let everything get used to the heat and vibrations. I would do an oil change at 300 miles and then the 600 inspection. Keep an eye on the oil level and visually inspect for cracks or wear for the first 1,000 miles. After that, you'll know if you have a solid piece of equipment and should be able to thrash it like normal. I took that procedure with my last China bike and put 15,000 miles on it.

[Goose51683]

Good deal, thanks Jonathan. I'd rather have bought from somewhere else but the pickings were pretty slim.

[jonathan180iq]

You should be fine. Just be cognizant of it.

I have to admit, flaws and all, the Chinese produce mass and their products aren't too far behind. Their system, with a few tweaks, will surpass everyone else... Just saying.

[Goose51683]

I know a handful of guys in the steel industry and for a time they Chinese were
Pumping out steel but the quality was horrible so US steel wasn't affected but it didn't take ver long for them to figure out what they are doing and from ht I hear US steel is having a very tough time keeping up.

I see the same in wind. Chinese turbines used to be cheap knock offs. That's not the case anymore. At the last AWEA (American wind energy association conference), the Chinese were the ones pushin the envelope with technology advances in every aspect of the wind industry. Gonna be interesting in the next decade.

[jonathan180iq]

That's the thing about emergent economies, and especially of that scale. They have an opportunity to completely design their infrastructure and technology towards being more conservatory.

Again, for their flaws, the Chinese to realize that conventional sources aren't going to power their system due to it's sheer mass. So they are adapting what they've learned about producing in mass while also upgrading quality to keep up with the output demand that will be placed on things like wind farms. On top of that, part of making sure that they don't have to use excess labor and remaining efficient in both design and function, they are insuring better profits. So it's really a win-win. They get lots of something that is good and they are making sure it doesn't break so they don't have waste anything making more of it. It's kind of exciting.

[Goose51683]

Exciting or terrifying.