Oil change before storage?

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 13:16:30 -0400 Humma Kavula
wrote:
> Is it necessary to replace perfectly good oil (2000 miles) before
> storing the bike? The Yamaha owner's manual mentions all the usual
> stuff (gas, cylinders, battery, etc.) but nothing about changing the
> oil.
>
> What about at startup in the spring? I expect any humidity would
> quickly burn out.

Ride it for 100 miles once a week.

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 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:33:13 GMT, "L. Ron Waddle"
wrote:

>Humma Kavula wrote:
>> Is it necessary to replace perfectly good oil (2000 miles) before
>> storing the bike? The Yamaha owner's manual mentions all the usual
>> stuff (gas, cylinders, battery, etc.) but nothing about changing the
>> oil.
>
>I would do so. Combustion produces various acidic byproducts. Usually
>oil splash keeps them away from various important internal bits and
>pieces, but over a period of months the oil splash will drip off your
>parts, leaving them exposed to any acids that evaporate from your oil.

Malarkey. Modern oils are buffered with enough chemicals to
effectively neutralize a hell of a lot more acids than would
accumulate in 2,000 miles of riding. There is no acid eating away at
your crankcase metals.

If it makes you feel better to drain the oil anew go right ahead. Most
of what people do to their bikes is to make them feel better about
themselves vs. an actual maintenance requirement.

I for one would just stick to the interval and ride the damn thing all
through the winter. Of course this means exposing your precious
motorcycle to salt, which prolly eats a lot more metal than any amount
of combustion acid.

But what's the point of life anyways? To preserve a bunch of toys in
perfect condition so they look unused by the time you die? Or to just
have fun with them?
 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 13:16:30 -0400, Humma Kavula
wrote:

>Is it necessary to replace perfectly good oil (2000 miles) before
>storing the bike? The Yamaha owner's manual mentions all the usual
>stuff (gas, cylinders, battery, etc.) but nothing about changing the
>oil.
>
>What about at startup in the spring? I expect any humidity would
>quickly burn out.

You probably already know this, but since no one else has mentioned
it, don't start your bike between now and the spring unless you're
going for a ride. Some people will start a parked vehicle every week
or so and let it idle for five minutes to "move the oil around" or
some other such nonsense.

Unless you get everything up to full operating temperature, the water
produced during combustion will rust out your exhaust system in fairly
short order.


--
Scott Gardner

"One tentacle, one vote."
 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

On 23 Oct 2005 10:38:24 -0700, "Bacon Eater"
wrote:

>
>Humma Kavula wrote:
>> Is it necessary to replace perfectly good oil (2000 miles) before
>> storing the bike? The Yamaha owner's manual mentions all the usual
>> stuff (gas, cylinders, battery, etc.) but nothing about changing the
>> oil.
>
>The problem is the sulfur content of your oil and gasoline. Sulfur
>combines with water condensed in the oil and the resulting sulfuric
>acid eats away at the steel parts of your engine all winter.

it is actually pretty hard to produce sulfuric acid from the
combustion products. You need to produce SO3, and you need a catalyst
to do that. That isn't to say that sulfur and other combustion
products cannot produce corrosive chemical , they just don't happen to
produce sulfuric acid. You certain can, and do get Sufurous Acid
(H2SO2) which is certainly corrosive, and CO2 forms carbonic acid in
contact with water... In the days of Lead Tetraethyl, the lead salts
created by combusion were what tended to do in exhaust systems and
mufflers. Lead isn't very active, so it was easily replaced by other
metals
 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

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Humma Kavula wrote:

> On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 23:32:07 +0100, Shep© let slip this dark secret:
>
> >Man invented the machine to be used.When the machine is not used it
> >ceases to be anything.When we return to the machine that has not been
> >used,it is nothing.
>
> Good weeds, dude?

It evens things out.

Charles

--
Charles Soto - Austin, TX *** 1999 GSF1200S, DoD No. "uno"

("Meepmeep" is "rr," as in Roadrunner, my ISP.)
 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

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Shep© wrote:

> OK.Just go round the block a couple of times a week.Your bike will
> thank you for it

Even in warm weather, I find it takes about 10 miles or better
on the freeway to get the bike up to operating temperature.
I don't think a couple times round the block would do it.
 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

Humma Kavula wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 01:32:20 +0100, Shep© let slip this dark secret:
>
> >OK.Just go round the block a couple of times a week.Your bike will
> >thank you for it
>
> I can't fault you for not understanding what real winter is. So I'll
> give you an example.
>
> For the last few months of last winter, my whole street was convered
> in a layer of ice approximately 8 inches thick. In the spring, after
> the city crews managed to rip the ice off the street and the sidewalk,
> some of my neighbors could no longer get up and unto the thick layer
> of ice on their driveway.

As I remember it, you're supposed to cover the street with
enough rock salt to instantly eat through everybody's car
and that gets rid of the ice. Problem solved.
 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

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 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:38:02 -0400, Humma Kavula
wrote:

>On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 01:32:20 +0100, Shep© let slip this dark secret:
>
>>OK.Just go round the block a couple of times a week.Your bike will
>>thank you for it
>
>I can't fault you for not understanding what real winter is. So I'll
>give you an example.
>
>For the last few months of last winter, my whole street was convered
>in a layer of ice approximately 8 inches thick. In the spring, after
>the city crews managed to rip the ice off the street and the sidewalk,
>some of my neighbors could no longer get up and unto the thick layer
>of ice on their driveway.

You do live in Winnipeg.
--
Bob Mann

"Without pain there is no gain.
Without pain there is no glory"
-Geoff Capes
 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage? 

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:38:02 -0400 Humma Kavula
wrote:

> For the last few months of last winter, my whole street was convered
> in a layer of ice approximately 8 inches thick.

Ice spikes on the tires, like the ice-racers use?

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 >> Stay informed about: Oil change before storage?