[Verdayne aka Wingnut]

Why the 06 model, says to have the oil changed at 1 month or 600 miles? I've never changed the oil sooner than 4k until now. Since MH says to change the 06 oil so soon, I went ahead and had it done. I've done some checking, & the 06 model is the only year with this requirement. The 07 models are the same, as the 01-05's. I wonder if Honda screwed up some way with the 06's. Should make for some interesting comments, I hope. :wink:

 

[cosmic_chariot]

It cannot be.... Mother Honda does not make mestakes...!

cosmic

 

[Verdayne aka Wingnut]

It cannot be.... Mother Honda does not make mestakes...!

cosmic

Could be. Maybe they figured oil was so high in 06, that they could make a little extra profit. :wink:

 

[Dive Master]

My 06 manual says 4000 miles. Hmmmmm must be an airbag thing. lol

I know there has been some dealers telling people that. Guess they need the extra cash.

 

[Red]

My 06 manual says 4000 miles. Hmmmmm must be an airbag thing. lol

I don't have the air bagger and my manual also states one month or 4,000 miles. The Honda service manual states the same thing.

Just something to get you back into the dealerships. That's not a fact, just my opinion!

 

[All Boots No Saddle]

Why the 06 model, says to have the oil changed at 1 month or 600 miles?....

What page is that on?

 

[Fred H.]

The 600 mile number is pretty much the standard that most bike manufactures tell you to do the first oil change. Lots of metal particles flake off the bearing surfaces, and it is best to get them out of the engine as soon as possible.

 

[Dive Master]

I don't either Red, but wingnut's is a bagger i think. sorry just trying to be funny. Thought since his had the bag maybe his manual was different than mine.

 

[Red]

[quote="Verdayne aka Wingnut":f1h0o6q4]Why the 06 model, says to have the oil changed at 1 month or 600 miles?....

What page is that on?[/quote:f1h0o6q4]

It's on the maintenance schedule, page 136, of the owners manual. It's also in the service manual. Mine says one month or 4,000 miles, not 600 miles.

Fred... Honda has always recommended the first change on the Wings at 600 miles until the '01 model. I wonder why it was changed? Ideas?

 

[Dive Master]

On my VTX and still on them it says 600, but my manual and my dealer both said 4000 on the wing. Still new to the wing so i don't know. Just do what i am told. (sometimes)

 

[Fred H.]

Fred... Honda has always recommended the first change on the Wings at 600 miles until the '01 model. I wonder why it was changed? Ideas?

My guess would be that this was done not by the engineers, but by the Bean Counters who want the bike to appear to need very little maintenance. They (Honda) have started doing the same thing on some of their cars, increasing maintenance intervals so they can advertise lower maintenance costs through the life of the vehicle. It seems to be a fairly common practice these days as more manufactures are trying to advertise the first tune up isn't due till 100k miles. To that, I say HOGWASH.

Chrysler and Toyota have had a rash of engine oil sludge problems in the heads of some of their engines, and the first thing they ask folks who bring in an engine that has sludge problems for a warranty claim is how often they changed the oil. While they advertise a 8K mile oil change interval, if you read the fine print in the owners manual, it specifies a much lower interval for what they call "Harsh driving conditions" or "Heavy Use". The definition of heavy use is anyone who drives in dusty conditions, or in stop and go traffic, or does any towing or high speed driving, or frequent short trips. That pretty much covers anyone who drives. So in reality, everyone should be using the shorter "Heavy Use" interval, which is between 3 - 4 K miles depending on the manufacturer.


I can guarantee you that you won't do any harm to your bike if you change the oil too often (unless you strip the drain plug out ). I can't say the same about not changing it often enough.

Do what you like, but when I spend close to $20K on a motorcycle, you can bet I am not going to wait till 4K miles to do the first oil change. Engine metals may have advanced in recent years, but to my knowledge, no one has made a bearing surface that doesn't flake off metal during the break in process. Look in your oil pan the first time you change the oil and see for yourself the shiny specks in it.

 

[All Boots No Saddle]

[quote="Verdayne aka Wingnut":3jnzad8z]Why the 06 model, says to have the oil changed at 1 month or 600 miles?....

What page is that on?

It's on the maintenance schedule, page 136, of the owners manual. It's also in the service manual. Mine says one month or 4,000 miles, not 600 miles. [/quote:3jnzad8z]
I saw your previous post regarding what your manual says, but I was wondering where Verdayne was reading the 600 miles. Surely he wasn't just trying to start another oil thread by making stuff up, right?

 

[Fred H.]

Read the fine print in the owners manual. Look at the notes below the maintenance chart. (page 108 in my book)

At higher odometer readings repeat at the frequency established here (whatever that means??)

Service more frequently if the motorcycle is ridden in unusually wet or dusty areas.
Service more frequently if the motorcyle is ridden often at full throttle.
Service more frequently if noisy.

I could add some of my own. Like:
Service more often if you ride two-up in the mountains
Service more often if you start the bike in cold weather often
Service more often if you like to drag race Vettes at stop lights
Service more often if you ride in temperatures over 95 degrees
Service more often if you ever see your temp needle go over 3/4
Service more often if you just like to flog your bike down a twisty road

 

[24 Carat]

Please tell me where I'm wrong here:

1. Full "pressure" oil system.

2. Oil filter.

3. If filter becomes packed with contaminates it bypasses oil.

4. Then and only then, you get metal where it's not supposed to go.

5. The "600 mile" oil change is the ultimate "Warm and Fuzzy" decision.

One question:

Is my GL1800 engine not going to go 200K since I waited until 4200 miles for the first oil change?

Bradford

 

[Fred H.]

Please tell me where I'm wrong here:

1. Full "pressure" oil system.
2. Oil filter.
3. If filter becomes packed with contaminates it bypasses oil.
4. Then and only then, you get metal where it's not supposed to go.
5. The "600 mile" oil change is the ultimate "Warm and Fuzzy" decision.

One question:
Is my GL1800 engine not going to go 200K since I waited until 4200 miles for the first oil change?

Bradford

Here is where you are wrong. Not all the lubrication is done by pressurized filtered oil. The entire crankshaft, rods, rod bearings, etc all get lubricated by splash as the crankcase is filled with oil and the crank dips into the oil and splashes oil all over the bottom half of the engine. This is the same oil that drains out when you pull the plug. Not to mention the transmission and clutch.

I am not saying your engine is going to blow up cause you didn't do the first oil change till 4K miles. I am just suggesting that if you really want to keep your bike in absolute top running form, you might want to consider changing it sooner and more often.

Remember this. The two cheapest things you will EVER buy for your motorcycle will be gas and oil.

 

[n9frp]

Remember this. The two cheapest things you will EVER buy for your motorcycle will be gas and oil.

You left out Crush Washers !

 

[24 Carat]

Sorry for my simplified post. Yes, I realize the majority of oil movement is by splash. My contention is that all of the oil will be passing thru the filter in a given amount of time.

I guess the real question is, with the degree of precision of manufacture and assembly and quality of materials Honda uses. Is there going to be any appreciable amount of metal contamination that the rate of filtration will not be more than ample to handle the task?

Bradford

 

[KYBLUE]

As Fred says, WHY NOT??? It's not that expensive, come on....

Harley is the same, use to be 500, not 1000...still way before 4000....

I changed mine at 500 miles, will change again at 4000.....change over to synthetic at 8000.....couldn't hurt.....

 

[Fred H.]

Sorry for my simplified post. Yes, I realize the majority of oil movement is by splash. My contention is that all of the oil will be passing thru the filter in a given amount of time.

I guess the real question is, with the degree of precision of manufacture and assembly and quality of materials Honda uses. Is there going to be any appreciable amount of metal contamination that the rate of filtration will not be more than ample to handle the task?

Bradford

I can't give you a definitive answer, as I would have to tear down several engines and weigh components and do some real science to say for a fact that I know it makes a difference.

I can tell you when I drain the oil on a new bike I can see metal flakes in the oil, and though they may eventually make it to the filter, the fact is that they are loose and free in the crankcase and have been collecting there for some time.

Engine materials, manufacturing, and tolerances have gotten much better, and it is true that engines do not have to be broken in as carefully as they did in 1960, but that doesn't change the basic facts that you have many metal parts rubbing each other and bearing surfaces breaking in to each other. While they may not need to break in as much as they used to, they still need to break in and the surfaces need to marry to each other. This process of the surfaces "marrying" will inevitably produce free metal into the engine.

If the filter was capturing them all, then when you drained the oil you shouldn't see them, as they should be in the filter. The fact that you can see them in the oil when you drain it tells me that many of them aren't making it to the filter.

 

[Hardway]

Fred H wrote:

The 600 mile number is pretty much the standard that most bike manufactures tell you to do the first oil change. Lots of metal particles flake off the bearing surfaces, and it is best to get them out of the engine as soon as possible.

The dealer and a mechanic friend told me the same thing. I changed the oil at 600 miles on my VTX and changed the Wing oil at 1,100 miles. I bought the Wing used with 1,100 miles and I changed the oil when I drove it home as the dealer couldn't tell me if the previous owner of the Wing had ever changed the oil. Oil is the blood of the bike. I just don't take chances with my vehicles and they last a long time that way.