Your thoughts on oil change interval?

I have been changing mine at 1200 mile cycles, not sure if that is over the top. My bike is still below 7500 miles, and I was planning to use conventional up to 7500 mile point, then switch over to exclusively synthetics.

1200 sounds about right to me although that is a lot of oil and filter changing. I go 2500 but the last thousand miles are not as good as the first.

7500 sounds like a reasonable wait to switch to synthetic. A lot of people seem to switch a lot earlier but I'd rather wait just to have the assurance that the engine is properly broken in.

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The 2013 manual says to use either regular or synthetic oil. It makes no mention of waiting until a certain mileage to switch.

My Husky came from the factory with synthetic in it.

You can feel the transmission starting to get 'less smooth'...no matter what mileage.That's the time to change...IMO.I'm taliking OVER 1200 miles...but you can feel it happening.Full syn is what I went with on all my 14's...lasts longer for one thing.The new 14R specifically says 'yes' to full syn...so I say....why not?I don't think the gen 1's had this option from the factory...even though filling with full syn on my 07 didn't affect the wear factor...that I could tell.

IF you start to smell any burning odor when you check...if you do..you should replace...just to be safe.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 4/21/2014 @ 4:38 PM *

when using a good synthetic like mobil 1, what is a good OCI? I have been doing 3000miles

I think that's great but many people wait like 5000 with good synthetic. I think it depends on the oil. I used Repsol synthetic racing oil one time and it was no better than conventional after 500 miles. Smooth as silk before that.

I've been using Rotella synthetic for a five years and I dump it every 2500. Rotella is as cheap as conventional motorcycle oil (even cheaper at Walmart) and it doesn't seem to feel much smoother than conventional after 2500 miles. IMHO it doesn't feel much better when you first put it in either. Fresh conventional is about as good.

Someone made a good comment recently on a dif thread about oil change intervals. 'You can't change your oil too often. If the gearbox doesn't feel as smooth as it was with the fresh oil, time to change.'

I think 500-1000 miles is about when I first notice the oil is starting to break down. I dump it at 2500. It's not good enough beyond that with the oil I use. and it is always refreshing.

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I go by taste

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I'll wager 98% of the forum membership, me included, changes their oil WAY before it's spent.

But what're you gonna do when you love yer Ninjee?

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it's nice to be nice to yer Ninjee!

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I've heard good things about Rotella. Hey Rook, is it the Shell Rotella T6 synthetic in the blue jug you use? I was looking at some today. I was reading the specs on the back and it has all the required "JASO MA" ratings recommended in our owners manual.

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when using a good synthetic like mobil 1, what is a good OCI? I have been doing 3000miles-Bigjoe

I've been going 5K for a while now on Mobil 1 4T. Used to do 6K, but 5K intervals are easier to remember and there is ZERO shift quality deterioration at 5K. At 6K, it begins to thin a little and the level will start creeping down slightly.

Rotella is good as long as you don't go beyond 3K.

* Last updated by: Danno on 5/4/2014 @ 5:54 AM *

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Hey Rook, is it the Shell Rotella T6 synthetic in the blue jug you use?

Yes. That's the one. When I switched to synthetic, the head cover gasket started to leak but that was not from Rotella. It was Repsol synthetic that I first used after breaking in the bike. The leak continued and got worse over the next year. I found that the valve cover bolts were not torqued to spec. I did the washer fix and that slowed it down, I believe it has now stopped completely. So use Rotells T6 but I think you'll find that it is not going to last any longer that conventional. It is as cheap as conventional and hopefully it performs better. I can't remember conventionaL oil feeling any worse than Rotella but I think it looked darker and dirtier when I dumped it.

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Ok, thanks. I'm at about 5,200 km's now and ready to switch to synthetic. It's on sale this week so I'm gonna pick up a couple of jugs of it. What weight do you use? They have 5W-40 and 0W-40 where I'm going to buy it.

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Thanks for the insight guys!, Yeah I agree most on the forum change their oil before it is necessary.

On my previous honda and suzuki, I changed at 4-5k with mobil 1 synthetic. There were a lot of UOA's floating around to read about. When it came to the zx14, I could not find much and the ones I did find were on rotella, and were advised to replace around 2500ish. Did not know if that meant the zx14 engine is especially harder on oil than 600cc sport bikes so I played it safe with 3000m OCI.

In cars, I go as long as 10k on mobil 1, UOA advise that even longer is possible.

What weight do you use? They have 5W-40 and 0W-40 where I'm going to buy it.

i use the 5W-40. That's the only weight I have seen in Rotella synthetic.

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Nice, that's the weight I bought. I first saw this Rotella last year when I was taking a motorcycle maintenance course at a local community tech school. A young auto mechanic apprentice swore by it for his GSX-R 750. Where I bought it from was a place called Canadian Tire, an auto and hardware store up here. They have conventional 15W-40 and the 2 weights of synthetic. 0W-40 and 5W-40. I imagine they sell the 0W-40 as a winter type oil for easier cold weather starts? Thanks again.

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Sure. Give it a try. It's very popular. If I didn't change oil so often, I might try a more expensive synthetic but I believe the best oil, regardless of anything else, is fresh oil.

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