2015 STL Oil consuption sanity check

[garageguy]

During a 4400 mile ride through the north central plains, my wife's ST went through 1-1/4 quarts of oil. (We were using Amsoil synthetic 10W40). Other posts in this forum say many times that 998 oil consumption is the nature of the beast, but is this excessive for lots of highway riding? Now that we're back, going to change the oil to XPS blend to see if that makes a diff.

Just wanted to check.

 

[safecracker]

I will use more oil if the temp is 85 degrees of higher. The most i have used between oil changes is a quart. I ride double 80% of the time. Bruce

 

[BajaRon]

Running a lot at high RPM will use more oil. Also, overfilling will tend to cause more oil to be used. Are you checking the oil level correctly? If not, this may be a big contributor to the high oil usage.

Depending on how many miles you have on the motor, this can also be a contributor. As the engine breaks in, oil usage will usually go down.

 

[DGoebel]

Pretty normal usage, I just did 4,800 miles in 10 days and burned just over a quart.

 

[Rob Rodriguez]

I use about a quart between oil changes (4600 miles) but I have noticed now that I'm up around 20K miles it uses a lot less. I've ridden 1200 miles on the last oil change and haven't added a drop.

 

[garageguy]

Running a lot at high RPM will use more oil. Also, overfilling will tend to cause more oil to be used. Are you checking the oil level correctly? If not, this may be a big contributor to the high oil usage.

Depending on how many miles you have on the motor, this can also be a contributor. As the engine breaks in, oil usage will usually go down.

Yes, I'm pretty diligent about checking the oil on a warm engine, letting it idle first. I fill to the max mark or a little less

 

[garageguy]

I will use more oil if the temp is 85 degrees of higher. The most i have used between oil changes is a quart. I ride double 80% of the time. Bruce

Interesting comment, because we were riding pretty much the entire trip at 90 to 100F

 

[fulltimer]

Just to add another engine.

I find that if I (or we 2 up) ride around 4K or less RPM, my oil consumption is marginal. But if I start exceeding that, regardless of gear, meaning freeway or running harder through the gears, I will burn about 6 oz in about 400 miles. This concerned me for a while, but after reading the forums on this subject I calmed down.

 

[BajaRon]

Yes, I'm pretty diligent about checking the oil on a warm engine, letting it idle first. I fill to the max mark or a little less

Many people will check their oil at the beginning of a ride after letting the Spyder idle for awhile. This is not only hard on the engine, but will not necessarily give you an accurate oil level reading.

Idling will get your coolant temperature to operational levels. But your oil will still be cold. What you want to do is check your oil after riding several miles to get the oil up to operating temperature. Many people check their oil at the end of a ride. This works very well as you get an accurate reading. And you know you're good for the next ride.

 

[Warlock]

Many people will check their oil at the beginning of a ride after letting the Spyder idle for awhile. This is not only hard on the engine, but will not necessarily give you an accurate oil level reading.

Idling will get your coolant temperature to operational levels. But your oil will still be cold. What you want to do is check your oil after riding several miles to get the oil up to operating temperature. Many people check their oil at the end of a ride. This works very well as you get an accurate reading. And you know you're good for the next ride.

That is my method of checking the oil. If I ride 20 miles or 300 miles once I pull into the shop and check the oil and like you stated ready for the next ride just get on her and go. Of course after a visual walk around.
David

 

[Bob Denman]

1 1/4 quarts of oil in about 4400 miles?
That sounds just about right for the 998s! :thumbup:

 

[ingramwc]

I will go for a short ride, 10-15 minutes come back, check oil level, add if necessary, normally add a small amount every 500 miles or so.
I do not baby the engine, I very seldom ride below 5,000 RPM!:thumbup:

 

[ARtraveler]

You are using the "normal" amount for most 998's reporting. I would keep checking and not worry as much. :yes:

 

[buelldude]

I see this is a bit old but being that I have one in my garage and keep it up for her. She now has about 600 miles on it after buying it from someone that I'm not sure knew how to take care of it???? We got it and put on about 200 miles and I checked the oil before her first trip and it wasn't reading on the stick. I wasn't close to a shop to get oem oil but seen that you could use other things in its place. We put on another 200+ miles and it needed a 5th of a qt. I'm getting a bit worried but I did bring oil with us and added what was needed. I read a few older post about catch cans and how it was adding the oil from them back into the engine (I still need to read them over some more) from the airbox. I have a 2014 spyder st.

 

[Rob Rodriguez]

I see this is a bit old but being that I have one in my garage and keep it up for her. She now has about 600 miles on it after buying it from someone that I'm not sure knew how to take care of it???? We got it and put on about 200 miles and I checked the oil before her first trip and it wasn't reading on the stick. I wasn't close to a shop to get oem oil but seen that you could use other things in its place. We put on another 200+ miles and it needed a 5th of a qt. I'm getting a bit worried but I did bring oil with us and added what was needed. I read a few older post about catch cans and how it was adding the oil from them back into the engine (I still need to read them over some more) from the airbox. I have a 2014 spyder st.

If its an SE5 is it shifting OK? Low oil typically causes hard shifting. I'm not saying you aren't but you need to be sure you are checking the oil per the manual. You need to warm the bike up to operating temp but also drive it and run through the gears to be sure the oil gets a full run through the transmission as well. I've never checked my oil and had it not read on the stick. Even at the low oil level mark the transmission will shift hard so that always tells me its time for oil if I haven't already checked it.

 

[GearHd]

I see this is a bit old but being that I have one in my garage and keep it up for her. She now has about 600 miles on it after buying it from someone that I'm not sure knew how to take care of it???? We got it and put on about 200 miles and I checked the oil before her first trip and it wasn't reading on the stick. I wasn't close to a shop to get oem oil but seen that you could use other things in its place. We put on another 200+ miles and it needed a 5th of a qt. I'm getting a bit worried but I did bring oil with us and added what was needed. I read a few older post about catch cans and how it was adding the oil from them back into the engine (I still need to read them over some more) from the airbox. I have a 2014 spyder st.

My wife has a 14 ST-L we bought brand new. I will say, that thing used quite a bit of oil for a long time. It's now got 12,000 miles on it and we just got back from a 1200 mile trip and it didn't use a drop of oil. I just think they're very slow to break in.