Oil, oil and more oil

I did my first oil change @350 miles (no filter), used Suzuki's 4 stroke oil. My second oil change @700 miles with a new filter. I am using ELF oil, a synthetic blend for 4 stroke engines. The oil claims to reduce clutch slippage encountered in wet clutch applications.
I am not a huge fan of full synthetic, but I have had favorable results with blended oils in my previous 4 stroke bikes.

ELF also has a full synthetic available.

oldirt wrote:

I did my first oil change @350 miles (no filter)

I'm surprised you are so particular about your oil, yet didn't change the filter the first time. The filter is more important than any oil, no matter what kind of oil you use. And ESPECIALLY on the first oil change. That is the one that has the most debris from break-in.

I can't say that I get all hyped over oils, I have experienced in the past that certain oils work better in specific applications.

My first oil change was some what of an after thought, I was going to go by the book since the oil in the sight glass did not look that bad, so I just did the oil. Since I had only gone another 350 and was introduced to this oil, figured it was about time. Some will only change filters every other service. This particular oil, maybe I should have waited till 1000 miles just to make sure. Sometimes to good of an oil will prevent the parts from wearing in. You are likely right, that was a lapse in judgement.

Side note, my transmission feels smoother.

oldirt wrote:

I was going to go by the book since the oil in the sight glass did not look that bad, so I just did the oil.

Yes, but what you see in the sight glass is not a true reading of how the oil looks. All the fine particles and debris are sitting on the bottom of the case where you can't see them, and hopefully most of them are stuck in the filter, which you also can't see through the glass.

So the manufacturers recumended oil change/break in process...why do they say to do the first oil change at 300 and not ride it hard?
So that you dont damage the engine right? But idk why they just dont say take it easy for the first oil change and then change it at 20 or 50 miles?
I just got my WR250R this past saturday and am trying to find the best break in/ oil change rate.

I've had conflicting responses on this whole thing. I decided to go into a detailed conversation with the tech I know well who is a personal friend. He told me that the procedures the book says is a baseline...BUT....the bikes come with a break-in oil, that is supposed to remain in the bike for the first 1000km. Nowhere in the manual or the owner's rag does it tell you this. I was going to change mine at the 50 and then the 500 and was told NOT TO because the oil wouldn't have had the chance to work. So I waited and did mine at the 955km mark. Oil was a dark honey color, not much for metallic swirl, and the filter did have some fine particulate in it, but nowhere near what came out of my ATV. Wear indications upon getting the oil analysis back showed excellent wear properties, and minimal metal flake. That in itself was a rather handy evaluation. I'll be sending the rest of my oil in and get them analyzed, if not just for peace of mind. It will show at the earliest stages when something is wearing out prematurely, or at all.

Are you sure about the break-in oil? At least for all bikes?
Cause i talked to the macanic before i left the dealer and he said that he put in yamalube 10w 40. But did not say anything about no special break in oiL???

The tech told me that all NA WRR/x's have the break in oil. It is 10/40, but there are special additives in it for breaking in new engines. I'm just going on what I was told, but hey...to each their own, right?

ok gotcha...can anyone else varifi this? or heard of this? Just wondering

Yamaha does not ship engines over here from Japan with oil in them. The DEALER adds the oil when the tech removes the bike from the crate and assembles it. Yamaha may have run the engine at the factory with some sort of break-in oil, but it is drained before shipping.

Interesting...the tech got the info about the other NZ bikes right thru the rep. If that's the case then maybe not all dealers put it in. I know all the ppl I've talked to around this area who have it had that stuff in the case.

perhaps dealers in your area are nice, and use something like "Mobil Extra 4T semi synthetic 10w-40"

that's what Triumph considers its break in oil.

Break-in oil? and pig fly backwards!
Oil Company’s oil test? Marketing is more to the point that sells oils!
Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story! That is why there is no
real standard comparison testing between oils of the same grade! Really!
No disrespect meant, just that I work with Oil Company’s and I have no respect
for them.
As for you guy's and girls your all great!

Oil in this household has been tested with the same outfit for years, regardless of what oil is used, it's merely a tool to see where you are getting wear in your engine, and what you need to look out for. Designed specifically for heavy duty diesel engines, it still works great with any vehicle as long as you supply them with oil. Rotella T, Delco 400, Castrol, whatever....any oil can be analyzed and the end result is the same. To catch any failures about to happen BEFORE it happens.

SheWolf wrote:

Oil in this household has been tested with the same outfit for years, regardless of what oil is used, it's merely a tool to see where you are getting wear in your engine, and what you need to look out for. Designed specifically for heavy duty diesel engines, it still works great with any vehicle as long as you supply them with oil. Rotella T, Delco 400, Castrol, whatever....any oil can be analyzed and the end result is the same. To catch any failures about to happen BEFORE it happens.

Shewolf, who do you use for oil testing? I've use Blackstone Laboratories for years on my cars. After this next oil change, I'm going to start having the WRR's oil analyzed at every change.

Caterpillar, or Finning. SOS Oil Analysis.

The quality of the oil between Oil Company’s for the same
grade is what I am talking about. Some of the cheaper mineral oils are much
better than the dearer full synthetics. And real if you are changing your oil
regularly with respect to time and mileage they are really a waste of money,
moisture in the oil is a real killer for machinery and this happens over time i.e. sitting around not being use.


With respect to wear some of the expensive race oils are the
exception but at $50+ per litre?


Picking up failures before they happen with oil testing,
very rare! In heavy industry it is normally an explosion or you notice a drop
in Lub oil pressure or some other indicator but not oil samples. The manufactures of the machinery
like you doing these test as it is more of a marker for them. The only real reason why we do oil testing in
my industry is because we purifier the oil and don’t change it unless the TBN
number is low or for heavy water or fuel contamination.

It might be rare, but rare enough in the respect that we caught the front bearing in the 3406E headed out in the truck...that spared us a whack of cash and the dealer had us in and had the in-frame done. Better to have that then 50 miles out in the backwoods with a full load. it's showed us a lot of things, like soot count and any small leaks from antifreeze which indicated a cracked head gasket, where the level hadn't dropped significantly enough in the tank to cause alarms. So for me, as the consumer and the owner/operator, it's been a god send.

We had that happen with the 95 truck where that vacuum indeed was there, but the leak wasn't with the head gasket it was with the damned liner! It was a pretty significant leak, to say the least. Again we noticed with the samples in the old 79 we had, which had a Silver 92 Detroit, antifreeze leaking. Upon further inspection we found it drooling out of the breather vents underneath. Rather messy. The 07, mind you, with the new 3406E (this was the last one made before they went to all that pollution crap...and the prices jacked WAY up) the leak was so small that there wasn't that vacuum leak like there was in the 95.
I'm going to go through all the analysis sheets and look online to see what the reading count was with that bearing failure. Too bad we didn't have the tranny oil done back when we had the 79...stupid pilot shaft crapped out and took out the main leaving us waiting for a self loader and a wrecker.

Interesting, point taken truck engines have a hard life, mine is a marine background, where normally the engines have a constant load. The management system is a little better, like you can see individual bearing temperatures and cooling pressures, exhaust, etc. So you would pick most faults up there with experience. If you didn't by the time you got the results it would be to late. I have seen high oil results too that didn't mean anything.
Just out of interest what do your oil samples cost and what do they test for.

The analysis costs $15, which is not bad considering what it's saved over the years. This is from the new truck, just to show what the analysis checks for.

i use amzoil in all my bikes ,snowmobiles trucks and cars.amzoil

Still pretty cold here for riding any amount of time or distance but I have managed to get a couple hundred kms on the X. Rather than wait till 1000 kms or whatever the recommended first oil change is, I like to get the factory oil out of a new bike as soon as possible. I also like to open up the oil filter for the first few oil changes to make sure nothing catastrophic is about to take place.
Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pics even though I found nothing and everything looks normal. One thing though is I usually see more aluminum than steel in that first oil filter. After running a magnet through the filter, it look like about half of the particles are iron based (you can see the particles on the top of the magnet). Anyway, I figure it's just the tranny getting broken in.

Nice pics. That looks about normal for the amount of time you have on it. Too bad Yamaha doesn't put a magnet on the drain plug from the factory. There are ones available from GYTR though.