You gotta change your oil! We can’t believe how many riders change their oil about once a year and think it’s okay.
It is okay if your ride is a garage sculpture and you only ride it a few miles a year and never get it submerged in wet, sloppy muck or water.
However, if you’re reading this, it probably means you’re an avid enthusiast and are probably using your ride a lot – and likely challenging yourself with some pretty radical riding conditions. Just change it!
Alright, since you’re going to change your oil more frequently now, do both your wallet and your machine a big favor and think hard about the kind of oil you should be using.
The el-cheapo brand from the grocery store just isn’t going to cut it if you’re riding in extreme conditions.
We suggest at the bare minimum you buy a brand name SAE approved 4-stroke oil and if your riding a lot of mud and water, change it every couple of weeks.
Contamination is a big issue and you’d be surprised how badly moisture can mess up the lube qualities of not just tranny and diff-oil, but motor oil as well.
Dry, dusty conditions can bring havoc to your oil, too – especially if your air filter isn’t in great condition or serviced regularly.
If you don’t have EFI, over-choking and flooding your engine will contaminate the oil quickly, too – and in winter or cold weather all engines, EFI ones included, are washing more gasoline down into your crankcase than in ideal warm temps.
Ethanol fuel can be a factor, too – especially in damp, cold weather.
If you really want to max out your engine’s life span, use a high quality synthetic oil.
These products have the ability to transport more contaminants into your filter and will outlive conventional mineral based oils by at least two to one.
Their lubrication capacity is much higher and your engine will stay cleaner internally and wear on valve gear, piston rings, wrist pins and bearings will be greatly reduced.
Hey, if you’re lazy or cheap and don’t want to do oil changes very often, then at least use a synthetic. Your mill will say thank you.
Check out www.amsoil.com to get some very good tech info.
