I did not need to add oil from 0 - 6000 miles of riding my 14. I removed my flies at 6000 miles. After that, I had to add oil, about 1/4 liter every thousand miles. I have always seen a blackish smear of oil residue on the air box drain tube bottle but I have no idea how much flows out of it because the bottle is not capped. I have no leaks from the engine but changing the oil tonight, I noticed a small amount of dirty oil right along the edge of the filter where it seats onto the motor. It probably leaked a bit since I have been making a point to not over-tighten the filter. I still don't think that was the reason i need to add oil. There was no stream of oil crud along the bottom of the oil pan, just a dirty ridge along the edge of the filter. Doesn't look like much got out there.

Strange thing, I just went on a 400 mile trip and the oil level had not gone down at all. I would have expected to see some drop in level since I'm adding every 1000 miles. I did a lot of riding at 100 mph on this trip and that is higher rpm than i usually do in my city riding. Maybe the oil consumption is due to less consistent running conditions of city riding.

So, how much oil do you need to add to your 14 and at what odo reading are you? Any "hows" or "whys" on oil consumption also much appreciated.

Used Repsol full synthetic at 6000 miles and that's when i noticed I neede to add. Went back to conventional and no change, still needed to add.

Blue, was your break in by the book?

* Last updated by: Rook on 8/28/2009 @ 8:57 PM *

sounds like you have a leaking rubber seal or o-ring sweeping away somewhere. if ur saying that when u ride that long distance the oil level stays the same but when it starts to sit around more then it loses, definitely an o-ring somewhere, those things when heated up won't leak even if the is not a perfect seal

^^Nearly all of my rides are about 1/2 hour. I almost never do short trips except to dry the bike off after a wash. It's pretty rare that I take a nice long ride for a couple hours though. I'll have to start doing more long trips to see if that seems to maintain the oil level.

yea, you have to basically troubleshoot the problem there, these new bikes nowadays shouldn't have to get oil added anytime except when changing it. poke around, any oil anywhere outside the machine is a no no, look around the fill cap, drain hole, oil filter. you said there was some around the oil filter. clean everything up with contact cleaner, or brake cleaner, same stuff, and then ride around and see if there are any new leaks or seeps...hate to see a nice machine like this one have leaks

^^I had no choice. I didn't have the experience to ride the bike hard when i first got it so My break in was also by the book.

rcflyer, I'll keep an eye out for grimy oil buildups but I have been checking and I see none so far. At the rate the oil is being used, i would sure have seen a drip because it would be major. I think it has to be burning or getting expelled from a drain tube. I might just try capping that airbox drain tube to see if any oil collects over a few days. I know I found oil on my flies when i took them out and I remember seeing a post with pics of oil/water goop in somebodies airbox. The oil does travel up there. It's just a matter of how much and how often.

did u try smelling the exhaust while its running, if it has that really strong burning oil smell? or even pull the spark plugs and look at the electrode and see if there is coked up oil on them, if ur saying that there isn't any obvious leaks anywhere, my next guess is a piston ring blowin oil by too much...if thats the case, its a bit of a project, time consuming yes, but not that bad to do, just being patient with it is all it takes

Maybe the oil is being overfilled. The 100mph crankcase windmill effect might be moving that oil up the ram chamber to show a loss of oil. But then again, are you, 'overfilling' the oil so it more like pumps out on the higher rpm runs.

When we wet the o-ring, that oil tumbles over the o-ring on the outside. This will move down the filter from the outside and begin to accumulate dirt around the filter. Like you said, that filter would drop steady being pressured to push drops out onto the floor or under the sump cover when running thru the air.

No oil loss here and I run my bike hard as possible and when ever possible. I would think if you were burning that much oil one of your riding buddies would give you the blue smoke report. It will be interesting to see how you make out after this oil change. Lets go with bad filter seal and pray it all works out. Cheers.

Hub wrote:

Maybe the oil is being overfilled. The 100mph crankcase windmill effect might be moving that oil up the ram chamber to show a loss of oil. But then again, are you, 'overfilling' the oil so it more like pumps out on the higher rpm runs.

I don't think I'm overfilling. 4 quarts + ~ 200ml more and that brings it to a liitle above centered between the marks. When I add, the oil has dropped below center. I tried running on 4 quarts and that amount also decreased.

rcflyer wrote:

did u try smelling the exhaust while its running, if it has that really strong burning oil smell? or even pull the spark plugs and look at the electrode and see if there is coked up oil on them

I'll check those clues. Haven't noticed a burning oil smell, i don't think. Actually, my exhaust smells rather nice, almost a fresh pine scent on start up LOL! If i have a leaky ring, it will have to get pretty bad or start affecting performance before i bother with something that invasive.

* Last updated by: Rook on 8/30/2009 @ 9:37 PM *

lol, yup, gotta love that start up smell... yea u would notice it if its really bad, but sometimes u won't because it won't happen at idle and u need more pressure buildup, the best way is pullin the plugs, those things can tell u the history of the engine by lookin at them, just outta curiosity, what type and brand of oil do u use? some oils tend to disappear because they can't handle the higher heat and their volume decreases

I only put in 4 quartz- I've never put more than that.

You might be overfilling with oil- all the threads I read about oil leaks
and bad seals are on bikes that are ran with more than 4 quartz.

^^Mass, I'll try 4 qts again. 4.3 qts is spec when filter is changed. I'll have to make that call when I change oil again. I wouldn't want to run the motor hard on anything less than the spec 4.3 qts (with filter change) because of the rod bearing nightmare stories I've heard.

rcflyer wrote:

just outta curiosity, what type and brand of oil do u use?

Kawasaki 4 cycle premium engine oil, 10W-40 first four oil changes. Never noticed a big enough drop in level that I felt I had to add. Stored for winter and changed to Repsol 4T race oil. I did notice a drop in level after running a while in the Spring and added about every 1000 miles. Went back to Kaw oil and found the same drop in level. Just changed and am on Kaw oil again but not enough miles to determine if it's used any oil.

thats odd then, ur def eatin it up somewhere, its just a matter of findin it, sounds like its gonna be a b*tch lookin for it, i wouldn't be too concerned about it though, once u have to start adding way more then i'd be doin compression checks and what not to find the bad seal somewhere

^^That's what I'm thinking. It's not a performance problem now so I'm not going to bother with it. Just keep notes on what it does under certain conditions so that I will have some clues if i ever need to go in there and fix it.

i went 7500 miles on the castrol syntec and it used about 1/2 pint of oil. i know that normally when an engine has oil residue in the air box it is caused by blow-by which is going past the rings, into the sump, and blown out the valve cover vent tube which normally goes into the air box to be reburned to lower emissions.

The older bikes like my 06 and some 07 had a problem with the valve cover leaking. I haven't heard much about that lately.

It can only be going ONE PLACE if there's NO visible leaks anywhere,right?That ought to narrow it down some?I"m thinkin the RCflyer's on the right track here.I NEVER had to add any at any time-no matter what type I used.I've got Royal Purple in there now.So far,so good-shifts VERY nicely.I'm with Mazz on this-4 qts period along with filter.Full syn 10/40w.Done alot of high speed runs-up to 180+.Never burned any oil.Only had the valve cover gasket seepage-but corrected that a long while back.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/20/2009 @ 12:24 AM *

My oil level only changes when the oil is changed :)

As much overtime as I put in this year which meant almost no saddle time means my only problem is I need to ride it between oil changes.

I have an 08 ZZR1400 ABS - 5k on the clock and mine uses some oil the same as yours - does not leak anywhere and friends (those that keep up ) have not told me about any puffs of smoke on overrun. A recent trip from the Uk to France & Spain I did 1400 miles and the level went from the top mark to the bottom mark. The bike goes like stink so I am not unduly concerned - but I need to keep an eye on the level.

My previous bikes - ZX9 F2 and ZX12 B6F never used any oil between changes.

* Last updated by: ninjabob on 10/20/2009 @ 4:16 PM *

Sounds like oil blowing up to the airbox as I had initially suspected was happenning with mine. Not a lot of people seem to think their bike uses oil but I have seen several posts about concerns over oil in the airbox. It's normal and there is a drain tube that it gets expelled through.

I think that drain tube is for moisture in the airbox, not oil. Oil shouldn't be blowing up into the airbox, if it is, something is wrong.

It doesn't do that on mine, either. Mine is dead stock, other than the carbon fiber cowling, horns, and HIDs.

I guess I'll ask my tech, he knows the 14 inside out, doesn't even complain about my carbon fiber (which is harder to take off and put back on than the plastics). I'm curious if this should be an issue with a stock 14, or if it a symptom of some problem.

Here's a couple details to tell your tech. The flies had oil on them when removed. The bottom flies were glossed with oil too. I felt a thin residue of oil on the bottom of the airbox. I've seen 3 or four posts from people who mentioned the same thing. It doesn't appear to be a lot going up there because I do not see any change in the drain bottle. There is a black streak in bottle but never a drip on the floor. Could have been just over full at one point.

I definitely have noticed that it uses about 200 ml between 3000 mile oil changes.

* Last updated by: Rook on 10/21/2009 @ 8:43 AM *

When a bike starts using oil I clean it up,trade it in and get another one! Get a green one dude.