Does a first service/oil change at 500 miles sound "normal" for a 2024 RTL

OldAge said:

Hey, my first car was one of those 41 Fords. I paid $50 for it, drove it 5k miles and never changed the oil!! Of course it used a qt every 50-60 miles so I didn't see the necessity. LOL But you are right, some are still behind the curve.

To carry it further, I remember a service station when I was a kid advertised Kendall oil as being good for 1000 miles. Just a good day or two ride, now.

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Kenda Tires VS Kendall Oil

That was back in the day that a Kenda rear tire would last longer than the Kendall oil change!

JayBros said:

Do Not get suckered into wasting your money on an oil and filter change at less than 3,000 miles. A dealership that would tell you such horse you know what is simply trying to get into your wallet.

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I know I sometimes descend into evil thoughts. But it isn't without precedence. It occurs to me that the dealership could do nothing at all and you'd never know the difference. I know... Bad Robot!

But I believe the factory turns the engine for some period of time, coupled to a running engine. Then couples it to the next engine and runs it. Then drains and replaces the oil. It's not like the old days.

Unless the engine is run in some extremely hazardous conditions. A 500 mile service is completely unwarranted. So, you have to ask the question, why?

And if this is the case. You're going to need an oil service quite often from then on. This would only be necessary if you were constantly running the dirt roads in Baja, or similar.

Bob from Florida said:

Over 500 miles on new Spyder now. Checked the oil - ran engine for > 10 minutes and it has sufficient oil on dipstick. Took several tries to be sure as the clarity was "like new" oil. Service is under pressure - across all industries - to provide as much revenue as possible. Planting an idea that the first service be done way sooner that OEM intervals is such an easy way to get extra revenue. To Ron's point, with oil so clean - how would you know if the work was done?

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You can't see the particles that could damage the engine.
The only way to know for sure is an oil analysis.

Cobranut said:

You can't see the particles that could damage the engine.
The only way to know for sure is an oil analysis.

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Typically, if there is enough contamination getting past the filter to damage an engine, the oil is going to be noticeably darker. Except for a diesel. Which will have black oil 5 minutes after an oil service.

CO Rider said:

I'm wondering the same thing. I just purchased a 2024 S2S with 375 miles on it. I just came in from a ride and turned over 1000 miles.
3000 miles seems a lot for the first oil change so I'm considering having the dealer do one soon. Mostly because I don't have the jacks and stands for it yet.
I'll be interested to hear input from the forum on this. Is 3000 miles really a reasonable mileage?

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HI CORider,

Yes, 3,000 miles is recommend on the "1330 Ace" engines for the 1st oil change. Be sure the oil is WET Clutch Protection which helps the to prevent slippage for smoother shifting and maximum performance. The Spyder 2014 and up models have the "1330 Ace" Engines in them.

In 2014, BRP did a lot of major upgrades (like the 1330 Ace Engine, moving the fans away from the driver's feet, bigger wattage alternators, ECO mode, comfort seats, AM/FM bluetooth capability, floorboards, quieter engine, smoother ride, ABS Brakes).

Deanna

OldAge said:

Hey, my first car was one of those 41 Fords. I paid $50 for it, drove it 5k miles and never changed the oil!! Of course it used a qt every 50-60 miles so I didn't see the necessity. LOL But you are right, some are still behind the curve.

To carry it further, I remember a service station when I was a kid advertised Kendall oil as being good for 1000 miles. Just a good day or two ride, now.

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If you were riding the roads back then, you wouldn't do 1000 miles in two days.

We're in the Philippines right now, and to go to my wife's childhood home is 17 miles, or a little over 2 hours.

I had the dealership change the oil in my 2025 Canyon at 1,000 miles. They asked why I wanted it changed before the 3,000 mile recommendation. I explained that I was about to leave on a 2,000 mile road trip and wanted so start it with new oil. They complied. I just completed the second oil change myself at 7,500 miles with full synthetic 5W40 Ma, Ma2 compliant (as specified in the owners manual) Rotella T6. I intend to continue conducting all future oil changes myself at 7,500 rather than 9,300 mile intervals (because the math is easier).

Tslepebull said:

I had the dealership change the oil in my 2025 Canyon at 1,000 miles. They asked why I wanted it changed before the 3,000 mile recommendation. I explained that I was about to leave on a 2,000 mile road trip and wanted so start it with new oil. They complied. I just completed the second oil change myself at 7,500 miles with full synthetic 5W40 Ma, Ma2 compliant (as specified in the owners manual) Rotella T6. I intend to continue conducting all future oil changes myself at 7,500 rather than 9,300 mile intervals (because the math is easier).

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With the 10/40 Amsoil, we recommend sevice intervals at 10k. After testing our own and several customer's oil with great results, we settled on this number for the same reason. Very easy to remember.

Testing the BRP XPS oil, we consitantly find it shearing down to 20 weight between 5,000 & 5,500 miles. Surprisingly, even at 10k on the XPS oil, it still comes in at 20 weight.

Good information Ron. Not having to carry the 5 would make my math even easier.

Tslepebull said:

Good information Ron. Not having to carry the 5 would make my math even easier.

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I'm not saying that Amsoil is the only product that will go 10k in the Spyder while maintaining an excellent viscosity. It's just the only one we've tested extensively that has. It would be fun to do a genuine comparrison using various lubricants with real machines running in realistic conditions. I'd be very interested in the results of this kind of test.

My dealer recommended 3000 miles (5000 km) for first oil change on both my 2021 RT LTD and this new 2026 S2S. I think 600 miles is a bit of a money grab, honestly.

I'm not quite sure I want to go 9300 miles between subsequent changes. I'll probably continue going every 5000 miles as that corresponds with time.

I'm sure things are better now XPS has changed from semi-synthetic blend to a full synthetic oil, but who knows what full synthetic means in the US. I'm going to keep doing 5,000 miles.

When I had my shop, many years ago, We used Kendall Black Label 20 50 or DA Speed/Sport in the Nortons and BMWs and Torco 2cycle in the Bridgestone and Bardahl Synthetic in the Montesa's. But then we were dropping the oil every 1000 to 1500 miles in 4 strokes and the 2 strokes were self changing

pegasus1300 said:

When I had my shop, many years ago, We used Kendall Black Label 20 50 or DA Speed/Sport in the Nortons and BMWs and Torco 2cycle in the Bridgestone and Bardahl Synthetic in the Montesa's. But then we were dropping the oil every 1000 to 1500 miles in 4 strokes and the 2 strokes were self changing

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Yes, I used to change the oil every 2,500 miles on both my BMW R100 and a Laverda triple years and years ago. My experience of my friend's Norton Commando was it seemed to drop many more things than just oil every 1,500 miles (Lol).

I think the oil I used back then was ELF as it was the one recommended oil brand listed for both bikes. The only specialist American oil I can recall in the UK back then was Bel-Ray.

The BMW R100 did over 100,000 miles before I gave it to a friend when I emigrated to the US. It still ran well enough for him to tour Italy on it from the UK and well beyond.

My Yamaha RD350LC I actually ran factory Yamalube in it, and that ran about 40,000 miles before a much needed full top and bottom engine rebuild. That was pretty good mileage for one of those though.

I think you can't beat regular oil changes with a quality oil and filter of the correct specification. Which brand of high quality oil doesn't matter as much in my mind as making sure it (a) meets the manufacturers specification and (b) it's changed regularly. Everyone has their own favorite for sure.

Never in all my nearly 50 years of riding and driving have I had a directly oil related failure. Even my children's beater cars when they were younger, I used to do oil changes every 5,000 miles with synthetic oil at Jiffy Lube and they still ran to high mileages. I run Jaguar Land Rover vehicles and have never had the problems that other people have had when they follow the JLR insane recommended 10,000 to 15,000 mile oil change intervals. I've done mine every 5,000 miles and had no issues even with their recommended "water like" 0w20.

Oh happy days.

mecsw500 said:

My dealer recommended 3000 miles (5000 km) for first oil change on both my 2021 RT LTD and this new 2026 S2S. I think 600 miles is a bit of a money grab, honestly.

I'm not quite sure I want to go 9300 miles between subsequent changes. I'll probably continue going every 5000 miles as that corresponds with time.

I'm sure things are better now XPS has changed from semi-synthetic blend to a full synthetic oil, but who knows what full synthetic means in the US. I'm going to keep doing 5,000 miles.

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Have it tested. It's the only way to get beyond guessing. We've had customers who had their oil tested every 1,000 miles. That really tells the story. Not suggesting you do that. They were getting it done for free through their work. But testing at oil change can be very informative.

BajaRon said:

Have it tested. It's the only way to get beyond guessing. We've had customers who had their oil tested every 1,000 miles. That really tells the story. Not suggesting you do that. They were getting it done for free through their work. But testing at oil change can be very informative.

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For sure. But the reality is this is just a relatively normal automotive type engine design from a reputable manufacturer, Rotax. It's not like it is a typical motorcycle style engine design with a very peaky power curve and a high rev ceiling required to make most power. It also has a relatively large oil capacity compared with most motorcycle wet sump designs being a dry sump engine.

BRP themselves state 3,000 miles which is usually a $600 service interval so they perform other work to check on the state of the machine after it has run in for a while.

Yes, I can see doing it at under 3,000 miles if you are especially cautious, I did my previous 2021 RT LTD at about 2,000 miles but I did all the 3,000 mile first service items at the same time. However, 600 miles would seem to be particularly cautious as you are probably going to have to get it done again at around 3,000 miles for the other servicing components to likely be required to maintain the warranty.

As apparently the 2026 model year Spyders do now come with the fully synthetic version of the XPS oil product from the factory rather than the blended concoctions of old, I'm even less concerned about not doing a 600 mile oil change. I might do 2,000 miles again for the first service, we shall see.

As for testing oil, I can understand it at every oil change for most of us regular folks. Every thousand miles if somebody else is paying for it, that would be informative when watching what should be fairly consistent values between change intervals? Well, if you have problems occurring between 1,000 mile intervals beyond the normal margin of error of testing (which is non zero) then the engine is probably very sick indeed.

Rotax aero engines generally require a first oil change after half the regular 50 hours flight time, so after the first 25 hours. So assuming an average speed of 50 mph for a Spyder that's about 1250 miles instead of the regular 2500 miles. Now, aero engines operate generally at closer to their rev limit than Spyder engines do so that's understandable but bad things happen when aero engines have an oil related failure of course. At half the regular oil change intervals, say 2500 miles, instead of my usual 5,000 mile interval, I think I should be good to go beyond 600 miles without too much concern.

So, considering many Rotax aero engines are actually dry sump designs and they go half the normal change intervals for the first oil change I think I'll be good to go on my Spyder at beyond 600 miles.

Of course, others might have different opinions and be more cautious than I am, but I think I'm pretty cautious with oil change intervals on all my vehicles. After five decades of riding and being cautious about oil changes I don't think I've ever had a problem per se.