Since I'm whoring it up a bit. Figured I'd post it here too! It's finally done! Baja bound next Monday!
So I've heard that it's normal/common for these bikes to burn some oil when running them at freeway speeds for extended periods of time - wondering why, and if there's anything I can do about that. Got a pretty fresh engine, stock except for carb and exhaust, and I'm riding 75-150 miles at 60-80mph at a time. Street wheelset is geared for it (16/46), so I'm not revving the piss out of it. But it's consuming enough oil that I'm a little bit concerned about it.
It's not permanent but will be kept that way for the trip. It was a test config that's going to remain. 12v marine plug, HID ballasts for headlight, heated grips, relay for headlight, and everything else. I did the dual sport kit myself. Stuff is both zip tied and held in place by sticky sided velcro. Elastic bands will be used for tools later, and serve as a reminder that my air filter is in a zip lock bag inside the airbox and not to start it. Petcock also has duct tape on it to serve the same purpose. Only one way for engines to burn oil. It's getting past your piston rings. Either you rings/piston are wearing, or it's normal consumption with minor film along the cylinder walls getting past the rings. Although these engines are designed for desert racing, they are race engines. They aren't made for continuous highway commutes. They can handle it because of a well designed engine, but it's not designed to last 80,000 K without problems. We're just lucky they stand up to this abuse.
Really? Nothing else could account for that? Hmmm, guess a leakdown test would tell me what kind of condition my rings are in, right? What kind of results should I expect/hope for?
Since you seem to be looking for options, here is my approach. Some may consider it extreme but so far it has worked quite well... I installed a YTZ14SBS-AGM battery in a custom box mounted to the front of the skid plate.... I used this battery to replace the whimpy battery that was speced with the Baja Designs electric start kit.... This is charged with a Ricky Stator 200+ watt full DC system. I use this to power .. - heated grips - switch on panel - GPS - connect with double bullet connector - electric tire pump as required - normal auto socket - Aux LED lights - switch on panel Here is the panel... And the LED aux lights... So, it just depends on how far you want to go...
Actually there are 2 paths to oil consumption: - Piston rings as noted - valve seals Yes, a leak down test can differentiate between the the 2 possible causes. Measure your compression using a compression tester (Harbor Freight?). You should see at least 70 - 80 psi kicking it. Pull the tester from the spark plug hole, squirt in some motor oil, spin the crank a fer times to distribute it, reinstall the tester. If the pressure goes up, the rings are leaking. The oil temporarily seals the rings. Part of the reason with race type engines using more oil is the piston configuration. To keep performance up, they need minimum friction. To get this they use short skirted pistons with thin rings. A certion amount of oil blow by is desireable to lube the cylinder wall & decrease fiction further. Unfortunately, this is not so desirable for sustained hyway operation or long term engine life. Contradictory demands. All that said, the XR does an amazing job of bridging the two worlds. And oil is cheap! Put a sight tube on the bike, watch it, keep it full & RIDE!
Coyote bag. It is quite large. I had to put my MSR tent and shoes in the dry bag though. I wish I could pack lighter, but I can't leave the camping gear at home. I'm not one for sleeping in my riding gear under the stars.
would not last long on the rocky desert terrain we ride. btw - the XR650R was raced, and quite successfully....but it is not a "race engine", especially compared to it's Baja successor, the CRF450. The XR never spec'd top end teardowns and rebuilds at 20 or 30 hour intervals, and doesn't have a slipper skirt piston, etc. It's a very robust, and very overbuilt engine, designed and built to last. If you're burning oil at low rpms....( is there really room for a 16t in there?!), then your valve guide seals are the first place I'd look....not the rings.
Because (an educated guess here) it was never intended to race the 1000 in its stock configuration but rather the HRC specs. Even then it will still last but for the rest of us who don't need that much power it will go well beyond "long lasting".
Yeah, I don't think many people would classify this as a race engine. Know it wasn't designed for the type of highway miles I've been racking up lately, but can't see how that's really much different than WFO through the desert for miles on end. Seems like these should be easy miles. Going to test as suggested to see if it might be the rings or the seals. Thanks.
3 ways. Those two as mentioned plus oil mist from crankcase breather going into the airbox, then through the carby and on to the chamber.
Thought about the crankcase vent, but just cleaned my air filter (and pulled out the backfire screen - clean) and thought it'd be obvious if that had anything to do with it.
hi all ! slight dis mount can someone post a template for venting the Left side cover ? thank you in advance
