New bike, 240 miles ago. Oil was fine before a 75 mile ride yesterday. Went out to get ready to go this morning for a 150 mile ride and ZERO oil showing in the window. :huh No leaks or smoke. As luck would have it the shop is closed until tomorrow. They only want 10W40 or 10W50 oil in it, and the service manager told me they only run fully synthetic race oil out of their shop. Even though the owner's manual says it can be regular, semi-, or full synthetic. So I'm stuck until tomorrow. Grrr... Also, do any of you have a favorite brand of oil and why? Triumph recommends only Castrol.
Since it's "race" oil, will the bike go faster? I'm sure triumph recommends only castroil, because castroil pays for that privilege. I'm sure any oil of the same type would be ok
Did you let bike to sit for a while after ride before checking? Tigers do not "give oil back" quickly. It tends to stay in the system longer than you would expect usually. After you let bike stay off for like 10 mins - put bike dead straight up and let oil seep down for minute or so.
Yes. Went for a ride Saturday. It sat over night and I was getting ready to go Sunday morning and noticed no oil. Update... called the bike shop Monday morning. They said "...that's not right. We're coming to pick it up Tuesday morning." No word yet. :huh They should give me a Bonnie loaner bike until they figure it out.
Excuse me if any of this is obvious, but it isn't to a lot of people. 1. The oil window is only correct when the bike is up[right - no race stand or side stand. 2. Just about every bike I've owned with a window ( I've owned a few) requires that you warm the bike up, then let it stand for a few minutes before checking the level (see Point 1) 3. Any modern motorcycle and I even include HD in that these days, is defective if it uses any appreciable amount of oil. 4. ANY motorcycle rated oil of the correct viscosity listed in the user manual e.g. 10-40, 15-50 and so on will do. A good quality mineral or semi-synthetic is fine. Everything else is marketing bullshit or something that a truck driver putting in big mileages between changes has to worry about. 5. I don't discuss any of the above points, because any contrary position is pure bullshit.
Is it a dry sump or wet sump system? The dry sump system, if all you are used to is the traditional wet sump, can be aggravating to figure out the oil level. Several times on my S10 I would look at the oil window after the bike had been parked only to see nothing in it. It's normal. You would have to follow the directions EXACTLY to check the oil, i.e. let the bike run for 2 minutes, shut it off for 3, then check at 3:01. Edit, never mind, I googled the 800 and it is a wet sump system. You're fucked!!!!!!!!!!
Most user manuals explain the important points/symbols to look for. Viscosity modifiers that don't suit wet clutches are an example. So if you need to mix mineral and semi, its not an issue. Just make sure its good motorcycle rated oil.
Really? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_sump http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_sump http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?topic=3135.0
This is going to sound dumb, but have you run it a few minutes while watching the window with a flashlight? Shut off and keep watching window. What do you see?
The dealer said in fact the oil was low, but found no other issues with the bike. They topped off the oil and brought it back to me. No mineral oil or oil additives allowed due to the wet clutch uses the same oil reserves. 10w40 or 10w50 oil only. Can be dino, semi synthetic, or full synthetic.
Yes... ran it for 5 minutes, waited for 3, stood the bike up. Just as the manual states. Didn't change. Now that it's back from the dealer it's totally obvious that the oil level is correct. I'll just keep riding it and see what happens.
My bike was eating some oil when new. Replaced at 1000 miles with semisynth and then at 5000 with Rottela full synthetic. Level stopped dropping around 4 kmiles, and I ride hard, mostly backroads. Break it in
A close biker friend of mine bought a brand new Triumph 675 Daytona a few years ago, had the first service done by the Triumph dealer, a few days later we headed out on a 250 mile ride where the Triumph engine exploded internally as NO oil in the engine..........so weird. We were stranded a good 140 miles from home and had to organise getting it recovered back to the dealer etc. Triumph were NOT going to stand over it warranty wise as they said it was up to the owner/rider to check oil levels before EVERY ride, even though the 675 had its first service only a few days before the engine blew up. My friend wrote to all the motorcycle magazines and slated Triumph for the crap customer service he'd had. I think it took around 5/6 months to sort out before Triumph acknowledged it was their fault in the end. Total cluster story. But to this day we don't know why the bike all of a sudden had NO oil in the engine whenever it was serviced a few days before........(????).
It's a bit weird but not unusual for brand new bike or car. For example Opels I had always were same (and it is known) - until first 1000 or so km complete it takes lot of oil (diesel engine) - then after you already started wandering - oil consumption drops to almost none. I seen same with bikes (but brand new!) , so my dealer actually ensured oil level was at top when I got my bike. Then there is some obvious issues of course. For example known leak from allen bolt on rhs (oil gallery plug) that needs tightening up after few first km. And of course there is curse of all dealerships - crosstreaded or not tight oil drain bolt. One of my friends almost new Daytona ended up with blown engine and he ended up in ditch because oil drain plug dropped out, smeared his rear wheel and then engine locked. Dealer used pneumatic wrench to install oil plug and cross-treaded. But that one is easy to spot of course.
