Bill Hoddinott - VA (guest)  |
| Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:51 am |
| Long Mileage Test |
Hi folks, we had a nice spate of sunny 70s weather here in Tidewater Virginia recently and I got my bike out for a hop, and to do the biannual oil change.
My '88, some will recall, got an '01 engine change a while back, at 87K miles, and at the moment the total mileage is 114K miles.
The '01 engine had 1700 miles when I put it in, so it is up to around 29000 miles now. When I installed it, I checked the valve tappets, and for an experiment, I decided to just run this engine and leave it alone, except for oil changes twice a year (about 4500 mile intervals).
So far it starts instantly in all weathers, with the essential use of the choke according to the air temperature, and has run perfectly, cruising nicely at 70-75 mph much of the time when I take it out, and giving 70 mpg of 87 gas all the time.
I have this theory that if any of the valve tappets tightened up enough to hurt anything, it would show up with poor idling or running, and the clearance could then be corrected with no harm to anything. So far nothing, it idles perfectly at the correct 1300 rpm. Likewise, the spark plugs have not been touched from the factory, and the hot and cold starting are perfect, with no indication of misfiring under full load or any other time.
I have been using 5w-30 ordinary car oil in the engine, only, year around including the tropical summer heat we have here, and seen nothing adverse from it, nor any indication of low oil pressure such as the oil light coming on at idle.
Now this is just an experiment, on MY responsibility, and I recommend YOU run your equipment by the Owners Manual.
One or two here grumble about my 'dogmatic' pontifications, but my authority arises from my 50+ years of continuous motorcycling experience. I run my equipment on the basis of getting the maximum of good service for the minimum cost, and I assume there are plenty of practical riders out there who want the same thing. So if something works for me in that line, I offer it to you assuming that if you do what I do, you will get the results I get. But hey, we're all free to do what we please with our own equipment. That's Freedom.
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Long Mileage Test — Bill Hoddinott - VA, Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:51 am -
Re: Long Mileage Test — Papaflynny, Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:14 am
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Here's Bill's full 100k report, for those who haven't read it before — M, Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:07 pm
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Re: Here's Bill's full 100k report, for those who haven't read it before — KawiDavis, Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:04 pm
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Re: Long Mileage Test — cyclopathic, Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:58 am
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Re: Long Mileage Test — zed_zr, Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:06 am
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Re: Long Mileage Test — Bill Hoddinott - VA, Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:07 pm
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Re: Long Mileage Test — cyclopathic, Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:36 pm
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Re: Long Mileage Test — bugsy, Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:24 pm
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Re: Long Mileage Test — vksgeneric, Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:08 pm
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Re: Long Mileage Test — bugsy, Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:26 am
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Re: Long Mileage Test — vksgeneric, Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:41 am
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Interesting road test..and no clutch problems with the 5w30 oil ? (n/t) — sonny, Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:18 pm
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No. (n/t) — Bill Hoddinott - VA, Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:12 pm
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why would there be? — beaterbike, Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:46 pm
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You really Like putting your foot in your mouth, don't you? — BrianM, Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:34 pm
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QUESTION MARK = ASKING A QUESTION if you couldn't tell — beaterbike, Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:09 pm
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Re: why would there be? — Ian, Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:26 pm
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At some time will you check the valve clearances... — BrianM, Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:30 pm
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Re: At some time will you check the valve clearances... — Bill Hoddinott - VA, Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:30 pm
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Us INTJ types can't resist it, can we; Being detail oriented and all that. (n/t) — kiwi_outdoors, Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:10 pm