Oil level

[11101110]

My oil is down to mid level in the sight glass, after the dance. I know it is still operating range but how much of an oil deficit is it at this level.

[Ozonkiller]

Personally I never run my oil level any higher than the center of the glass. I have found the bike runs smoother if it's in the lower half of the glass. At 105,000 miles my bike doesn't use any oil, so I'm comfortable running it at that level.

[Parrothead]

Ditto, at or near the top of the site glass I get a shudder near 3500 RPM. Below the center line the shake is all but gone.........

[Boffin]

My oil is down to mid level in the sight glass, after the dance. I know it is still operating range but how much of an oil deficit is it at this level.

 

6.6% down, or 250cc or 8oz, no where near enough to worry. The sight glass is 500cc top to bottom. Not that I would suggest it but you could be a litre down without and still have enough oil to keep your motor happy. The extra capacity of oil is there to ease the thermal load from cooling the motor and to allow the change interval to be up at 6K miles.

 

Andy

[Ken H.]

Look at glass + see oil = ride bike.

 

Beyond that it just plain doesn't matter.

[11101110]

Thanks all. One less worry now.

[breyfogle]

My oil is down to mid level in the sight glass, after the dance.

 

Center dot on the sight glass is where the level is supposed to be. It's not a deficit.

 

BTW: "11101110" is a clever ID for an (E)lectrical (E)ngineer

[ltljohn]

What I have noticed with my 02 rt is if I fill the oil to almost the top of the glass on the center stand, after my first 5 or 600 miles the oil is down to the center of the glass and I usually do not see any more loss after that between oil changes. So I only fill to the center now.

[T__]

I think some of the oil level variation people are seeing is just not getting all the old oil out at change time..

 

The bike must be hot first,, then placed on the side stand for at least 10 minutes (if not the oil cooler will trap oil),, then placed on the center stand & oil drained..

 

Late last fall I was doing my pre winter oil change so did the side stand,, then center stand usual drain procedure.. I wasn’t in any hurry to finish job so just let it drain for couple of days..

 

After the first normal drain period (about 15 minutes) I place a clean drain pan under the engine just to see how much would come out after sitting a couple of days.. I usually oil the cylinders at storage time so also install old spark plugs so as not to oil up new plugs on spring fire up.. So, while they were out I also turned the engine over with the rear tire a couple of revolutions (more oil instantly dribbled out of the drain hole)

 

Remember clean drain pan after 15 minute initial drain (filter also off) .. When all was said & done (after about 2 days of dripping) I poured the oil from that drain pan & had just slightly less than 6 oz in the measuring cup..

 

That is almost 6 oz that would normally remain in the engine at normal drain time..

 

 

Twisty

[11101110]

What I have noticed with my 02 rt is if I fill the oil to almost the top of the glass on the center stand, after my first 5 or 600 miles the oil is down to the center of the glass and I usually do not see any more loss after that between oil changes. So I only fill to the center now.

 

Interesting....When I bought the bike 2.5 months ago the oil was at the top of the glass. I have now put 5-600 miles on the bike and the oil dropped to mid level. It also just hit the big 50k mi.

[philbytx]

I usually oil the cylinders at storage time

 

Sir, what is this "storage time" of which you speak????