Author Topic: Burning oil (Read 3490 times)

bikeb4cage · « **on:** July 08, 2007, 07:30:02 PM »

Took a 3 day road trip this weekend with a bunch of others - left Atlanta for Deal's Gap - 1000 miles round trip - 10 runs of the Dragon - some high speed runs - lots of twisties and aggressive riding. A few comments:
- Race Tech gold valves are terrific - installed these before the trip - damping was really controlled - the bike felt very planted (I have a Hayabusa rear shock - rear sag is 28MM, front 33MM).

- The brakes were pretty good, though not as good as my buddy's FZ1 (4 piston monoblock) - the Bandit was working pretty hard to stop (blued the rotors), but overall the brakes were very good (2 finger stopping).

- The B12 kept up fine with the FZ1 and Blackbird XX (158 dyno on the Blackbird) - yeah there were times when they would pull away, but the Bandit for the most part was able to keep up.

- Oil consumption...think I have an issue - burned 1 quart in 1000 miles - there was visible smoke when riding (friend behind me on the Dragon saw it) - for sure there was smoke on decel...so maybe that is a valve seal issue? Hard to say...it's manageable, but I think I need to fix it (1216 kit?)..don't believe the original owner got the pistons swapped (I bought from the 2nd owner and he did not know).

Overall, great trip, great bike -

Jay

Red01 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 08, 2007, 11:12:09 PM »

Decel consumption is usually valve guides/seals, as you said.

A 1216 kit alone doesn't do anything to the head, though most folks that do one go ahead and play with the head, too. So if you're looking for an excuse to go to a 1216, sure, why not!

Blade · « **Reply #2 on:** July 09, 2007, 12:15:51 AM »

Being you have an 01, you might have and oil burner and the pistons may not have been swapped. Once I did my 1216, my oil consumpsion dropped a lot.

I was burning a quart of oil in 250 miles, that is how bad mine was and Suzuki's logic since I was one of the first ones it was the valve seals. Well even if you did not install them, they would not burn that much oil.

Here is a link to my issue:

http://www.billsbikesnservice.com/suzuki.htm

bikeb4cage · « **Reply #3 on:** July 09, 2007, 12:37:11 PM »

Checked with my friend who was riding behind me...he said it seemed to smoke more on decel - I was riding in 1st gear, so taching to 10K or so and then closing the throttle (this would make the valve seal leakage most apparent) - any checks I can do, other than the visual while riding, to confirm it's the valve seals? pull the exhaust and look at the valve stems for oil/discoloration? wonder if maybe I have a pinched crankcase breather tube...or if this would make the issue worse - haven't heard of any other Bandits with this issue, so I am a little curious as to how it has come about (if the seals are an issue) - suppose it could just be a fluke - but it is curious as I do have an '01 and can't confirm if the original owner did the piston recall.
Am going to top up the oil and ride the next 1000 miles a bit more gently and see how it does. thanks for the help!

Jay

Red01 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 09, 2007, 05:04:08 PM »

A cylinder leak-down test will tell you where the oil loss is coming from for sure.

bikeb4cage · « **Reply #5 on:** July 10, 2007, 09:58:58 PM »

thanks!

bikeb4cage · « **Reply #6 on:** July 18, 2007, 08:10:19 AM »

Had a thought while riding in - I'll bet it's the valve seals...the evidence (white puff on decel) certainly points towards that...but, I have always noticed a lot of mist out the top end vent (stage II) - could be a bad exhaust valve seal that is allowing spend gasses to leak past a seal? Common sense would say path of least resistance is the exhaust, but....

Either way, leak down tester arrives today, results to follow...

Jay