Ok so I am looking for some opinions here. I know this topic had been beaten to death but I really haven’t read to much about my particular situation...

I am a freak about changing oil. I changed in all my other bikes in the past about after every 2 hour ride sometimes even more often. My KLX250s will see more trails then street. And from what I read and know is that trail riding beats on oil and fast. So I can’t decide what I want to do....

Mobile One 4T/Royal Purple/Amsoil (all full synthetic, just have to pick one that I can get a hold of easily)

OR

Regular 10w-40 motorcycle oil (like valveoline)

I look at it this way, A full oil change with synthetic with filter is about 20 bucks.

With regular with filter it's about $10.50

Now I plan to keep the bike for the long run (so I hope) so synthetic sounds like the way to go but if I changing the oil frequently and keeping it clean I don’t see the harm in regular and it seems like a waste with synthetic.

Opinions/Suggestions welcome but I don’t really want to start a debate lol
Thanks,
-Nick

 

First, you are throwing money away changing perfectly good oil every two hours of riding. Second, if you are going to continue to throw money away on changing perfectly good and servicable oil, may as well just stay with dino oil as you are not gaining the benefit (or should I say using) that synthetic offers, which is longevity between changes.

 

Do the Mototune break in method and use dino oil up to about 1200 miles before switching to synthetic (if you are going to synthetic). We run standard dino Kawasaki oil and change every 1000 miles with a new filter. Works for us.
db

edit: If the bike isn't new forget about the Mototune break in. Also, buy HiFloFiltro filters online for about $3.00 each. Of course she mainly rides on the road and hard pack logging roads fire lanes etc. If you are hard on the bike change it every 500 miles. If it starts to shift hard it probably needs an oil change as thats a first sign.

 

Nick,

Any chance you can convince yourself that by using synthetic oil, you can extend the change interval from 2 hours to 4 hours? (you'll actually save $1)

The fact is, heat and dirt do the damage. If you keep your air filter as clean as your oil, dirt shouldn't be a problem. Full Synthetics handle the heat better. The KLX runs best at higher rpm's, and that makes alot of heat. In the mid 70s (yes, I'm old) when I first started researching synthetic oils, Mobil ran a small-block chevy continuosly for the equivalent of 25,000 miles. The cylinders still had the honing marks on them. My daughter ran a car with a water leak until it was so hot it stopped. After cooling off, it started right up. I run full synthetics in all of my vehicles. And the wet clucth in the KLX loves the stuff!

 

If you are going to be riding mostly off road I would recommend the KLX300 oil service interval of every 1000 kilometers/600 miles.

 

The bike only has 450 miles on it. And I think im going to switch over to synthetic around 1000 miles.

I understand it sounds like i was wasting oil. But it was on my Honda CRF150 that I changed it a lot. It was only 1 quart so I figured what the heck. Same with my YZ80 and that was only a half quart (bottom end).

So with this info I look at the 500-600ish oil changes and air filter cleanings (maybe sooner with the air filter depending on conditions) when I know I have been in the trails for most of the time. I also hope to do some more exploring on some of the back roads so with that in mind it looks like 1000 (depending) with the use of synthetic. Also with synthetic should I change the filter each time or every other?

"HiFloFiltro filters online for about $3.00 each." - Where can those be purchases? I only could find Fram for 5 and Purolator for 7 at the store.

 

The "TT" store. ThumperTalk.com
db

 

Any chance you know the manufacture part number? I’m currently am making an order with Denniskirk.com and they have them for 3.40 but I dont know the number.

Thanks,
-Nick

 

The way I look at oil and filter changes is that if you ask 100 different people you'll get 100 different answers (and they all could be right).
I use synhtetic oil (Repsol) and change it when the oil in the sight-glass starts to get dark, I also always change the filter.

But I have friends that use automotive dino oil in their bikes and change it maybe once a year and the bikes run forever, I just know that if I followed that manteneance schedule my bike would blow up in my face 50 miles back into the primative area though.

I think there is a certain amount of "feel good" in using good quality oil and filters and changing it way to often, if you don;t get this feeling then you maybe wasting your money.

 

I used the Kawichem oil for the first 3000 miles, then I switched to Amsoil 20/50 full synthetic. At least go 500 miles between oil changes. The only time I've heard of anyone changing oil every two hrs is a full out MX racer. A clean air filter is more important than changing oil every 2 hrs.