Winter Oil Change at what mileage??????

[FZ1fun]

I tried to search for something on the issue without any luck so I apologize if this is posted somewhere else.

I'm getting ready to winterize my bike and part of that process includes changing the oil and filter. My question is I have a little over 500 miles on my last change do I really need to change it? I want to do what is best for the bike but that's $50 for only a sixth of the oil life! I'm using Mobile 4T synthetic 10W-40. Thanks for the help.

 

[NJFZ1]

I tried to search for something on the issue without any luck so I apologize if this is posted somewhere else.

I'm getting ready to winterize my bike and part of that process includes changing the oil and filter. My question is I have a little over 500 miles on my last change do I really need to change it? I want to do what is best for the bike but that's $50 for only a sixth of the oil life! I'm using Mobile 4T synthetic 10W-40. Thanks for the help.

If you only have 500 miles I would leave it alone. Can't imagine that it's that dirty at this point.

 

[Dustin]

I think the idea behind a 'winter oil change' is to remove the old oil which becomes acidic as it gets used up in the motor while it's running.

That said, I can't see an oil with 500 miles on it posing any real danger whatsoever. I think it's all a bit silly, but I've never really stored a bike before so I've not seen anything as a result.

 

[Oldschool]

Me, with that few miles on the oil, I would leave it alone until spring. Up here if you store a bike in an unheated garage or shed, it is a good idea to change the oil in the spring. This is to get rid of oil that may have been contaminated with moisture from the freeze / thaw cycles of being in an unheated storage place. If you store it in a heated garage or in a climate that is unaffected by the extremes of winter then I would just run it in the spring and change it when it is normally due.:2cents:

 

[Howard Roark]

Don't leave the 500 mile oil in the engine over the winter. It is acidic and will be eroding the innards of your engine. Oil is cheap, so why keep it in? Often people spend big $$ on synthetic boutique oils to baby their bike then they leave the acid filled stuff in there...it don't make any sense. It don't take much blow-by between the rings to add enough combustion debris to cause the acid build up, and in fact water is a by-product of combustion and that along with other byproducts will make the oil acidic very easily. Additionally, oil that is in the engine will oxidize because it is out in the open air, even if it is in your engine, and that oxidation conspires to increase the acidness of the oil.

Even if you store the bike in a heated garage, oxidation will occur and this is reason enough to put the cheapo stuff in over the winter months.

I would drain the oil, fill it with cheapo regular whatever is on sale, and change the filter too with the cheapest you can find. And leave that in the engine all winter, then drain it out and replace with a good synthetic...the filter you installed at the beginning of the winter can be used in the spring.

Also, fill the tank to the very top and add gas stabilizer. Use the center stand, remove the battery and put a tender on it, and you're cool until spring...don't go cheap on your bike!

 

[Dustin]

So knowing that oil is acidic after 500 miles, why is it safe to run the engine with said oil for 3000+ miles? What is the danger from having the 500 mile oil sitting in the oil pan for a couple months vs running the bike during those months?

 

[FZ1inTX]

At 500 miles, it's not going to be very acidic and likely would be ok to leave it. But, when changing it for the winter, I wouldn't put expensive oil in. Go get a gallon of the cheap dino oil, still meant for a bike, and drain your 500 mile oil into a clean pan. Take that oil and put it in a clean container and store it in a non-freezing area for the winter such as the basement. Come spring, go reverse this process and run your 500 mile oil while storing the cheap stuff for next winter because it wasn't run at all.

Next year, you could even try and plan/stretch your oil change so that you've ended with a change and not be stuck winterizing a bike with a fresh oil change. This is typically my plan but sometimes that doesn't work out and I either go a lot more miles than planned or not nearly enough because life got in the way.

 

[gtbigup01]

When you guys store bikes for winter, does that mean you never turn it on? ie You prep it for longterm storage? I mean it get down to the high twenties here and i am not preping either of my bikes for winter. Whenever it's mid-high 40's I head out and turn them on for a little. That should be suffice. Unless you're in sub zero temp for the winter i don't see a reason to winterize your bike but that's just me.

I've only prepped my cruiser once, and that's because I was heading to Iraq for 15months. 11 Months later, I came home and she started up after a few tries. Battery was on a tender every other week or whenever my son remembered.

With that said I wasn't in subzero area, however it did see teens and 20s

 

[Johnnylane]

At 500 miles, it's not going to be very acidic and likely would be ok to leave it. But, when changing it for the winter, I wouldn't put expensive oil in. Go get a gallon of the cheap dino oil, still meant for a bike, and drain your 500 mile oil into a clean pan. Take that oil and put it in a clean container and store it in a non-freezing area for the winter such as the basement. Come spring, go reverse this process and run your 500 mile oil while storing the cheap stuff for next winter because it wasn't run at all.

Next year, you could even try and plan/stretch your oil change so that you've ended with a change and not be stuck winterizing a bike with a fresh oil change. This is typically my plan but sometimes that doesn't work out and I either go a lot more miles than planned or not nearly enough because life got in the way.

Smart idea.

 

[NJFZ1]

When you guys store bikes for winter, does that mean you never turn it on? ie You prep it for longterm storage? I mean it get down to the high twenties here and i am not preping either of my bikes for winter. Whenever it's mid-high 40's I head out and turn them on for a little. That should be suffice. Unless you're in sub zero temp for the winter i don't see a reason to winterize your bike but that's just me.

I've only prepped my cruiser once, and that's because I was heading to Iraq for 15months. 11 Months later, I came home and she started up after a few tries. Battery was on a tender every other week or whenever my son remembered.

With that said I wasn't in subzero area, however it did see teens and 20s

Well unless you're going to take the bike for a 15-20 minute ride every few weeks in the Winter you're better off not starting it at all. Idling is not exactly the best thing for an engine and the battery is not getting a full charge at idle either. For those of us in the colder climates it's best to change the oil, fill the gas tank with fresh gas and some sort of fuel stabilizer, put the battery on a floating charger and let it sleep until the Spring

 

[Oldschool]

When you guys store bikes for winter, does that mean you never turn it on? ie You prep it for longterm storage? I mean it get down to the high twenties here and i am not preping either of my bikes for winter. Whenever it's mid-high 40's I head out and turn them on for a little. That should be suffice. Unless you're in sub zero temp for the winter i don't see a reason to winterize your bike but that's just me.

I've only prepped my cruiser once, and that's because I was heading to Iraq for 15months. 11 Months later, I came home and she started up after a few tries. Battery was on a tender every other week or whenever my son remembered.

With that said I wasn't in subzero area, however it did see teens and 20s

If it did not get any colder than that I would ride all year, but up here it gets to -40 C, sometimes for weeks, and stays sub-zero for months. I have a battery tender that you can plug in and forget about for as long as you need. (Optimate 4). It checks and charges only as needed and can't overcharge. It kept the FZ's ticker in great shape last winter. My shop although unheated, is so well insulated (including the doors) that it was still toasty warm this morning when it was -7 C outside. The heat radiating from the 1.4 L engine (as it cooled)in my old Toyota was all it took.

I will use the oil that I just put in the bike in the spring with no worries. I was never all that fussy with the old FZ 600, and 25 years later it is just fine, at least as far as internal engine components and compression goes. Same basic engine as the bike that sniper is redoing for his daughter.