ZX6R uses too much oil

[ecoartist]

Riding my 1997 Kawasaki ZX6R(23,000 mls on the clock) almost every day- 80 miles a day-, rides lovely, great fun but have to keep adding oil every other week sometimes after a week if I make more miles. Because I forget red light comes on and gets an air lock, I have to put oil start the bike and unscrew the filter while accelareting gently.

Is it normal for Kawak to use that much oil? My previous bikes never used oil like this. (600 Bandit, GSX750)

I am considering to get a sensible Versys if I can't sort it out.

Many thanks

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Oil does evaporate, but not that much.
I suspect a leak or worn piston rings.

Don't let the light come on again and get a compression test.



Hopefully some more experienced users will offer more ideas.
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[hornetmike]

Sounds like valve oil seals or pistons rings letting go, compression test to check its all fixable
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87 Honda CG 125 - 97 ER5 - SR 50 -81 Z250- 96 CBR 600 F- 94 GPX600R 88- GPX 400R- 87 GS 125 - 2006 Honda CB600F- 2003 ER5 - Honda CBF 1000 2009 - Honda CBR 600 RR 2011
Current BMW R1200GS 2010

[ecoartist]

Thanks for your replies.
God.... all sounds expensive
There is no oil leak. Why would that happen as the milage is not really high?

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Wear happens.
Maybe that particular engine is susceptible to premature wear, maybe the previous owner skipped oil changes and valve clearances. Maybe they thrashed it as soon as the key was turned.

Does it emit blue smoke when you first fire it up? Best seen when the weather is above 10 degrees. Or how about going down a hill off the throttle then cracking it open, does it puff out smoke?
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[ecoartist]

its pretty cold now and haven't noticed blue smoke. Previous
seemed like a very orginised businessman all services done, paperwork properly filed.

Is that mean that many hours of £45 labour?

[Noxious89123]

Is all the mileage genuine? Got old MOTs to prove it?
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'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi

[ecoartist]

need to check the MOT s but I'm sure I checked them when I brought the bike,

[0l0dom0l0]

My guess is that its ridden hard from cold... do you let the bike warm up fully before riding it hard?

You'd have done a good job to knacker the valve stem seals at 23k miles, so my guess is on rings.

Best thing to do is do a compression test, then add some oil into to the bore and do it again. If there is a big difference between the 2 readings (the oil being the higher of the two) then you rings are shot.

If not, it's possible the stem seals are fucked.

Neither are a massive job to do but it will be expensive, and in the long run I expect it'll be cheaper to get a new engine if it turns out the rings are the problem. You'll need a new set of barrels as I'd expect the ones you've got will be oval and hence the high consumption.

If the compression test comes back that the rings are fine, it'll be around £80 to do the stem seals. If the rings are gone, I'd say a minimum of £200.

Personally, in the long run it'll be cheaper to just use some cheap oil and keep topping it up. The time for change is when the bike just becomes impossible to start from hot or cold.

HTH
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CBT Passed: 30/08/2009, Theory Passed: 31/08/2010, Mod 1 Passed: 6/9/2010, Mod 2 Passed: 13/09/2010. Restriction ended 13/09/2012.

Bikes: 2007 Derbi GPR 50, 1998 Yamaha Fazer 600 (written off), 2002 Yamaha Fazer 600, 1994 CBR 600F, 2003 Triumph Daytona 600, Kawasaki ZX6R J1.....Current: 2006 Yamaha FZ6, 1998 Suzuki TL1000R and a Honda VFR 400 NC30.

[Fizzer Thou]

From experience the sport Kawasakis tend to run a loose piston skirt to liner clearance - except the ZX12R,which used impossibly tight clearances and people wondered why the engine seized.By running a loose clearance the engine suffered less from power loss due to friction.But this showed up at a later date as needing attention to the engine far sooner than say a Honda,which run with clearances that seem to control oil consumption much better.

It is not a big deal to replace piston rings if on your engine the barrel is seperate to the top crankcase.I did the piston rings and valve guide seals on my 'H' reg Exup 1000 due to high oil consumption and it did make a differance.I do not use fully-synth but semi-synth oil.I have heard of poeple using mineral oil for high oil consumption engines,but this can hurt performance.If this is not a consideration then it may be an option instead of ripping into the engine.

Another engine from a breakers may well have the same problem as you are experiencing,so cheaper in the long run to do the job yourself.
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[Robby]

You haven't said how much you are putting in, but it sounds like you are topping up every 800 miles or so. I would expect that the bike could easily burn half a litre in 1000 miles.

However, you mentioned the oil (red) light coming on. In most bikes, althought not on the odd kawasaki, this is the oil pressure light (on some kawasakis, I think the GPZ500 is one, it is the oil level light). By the time this light comes on it is really just telling you that your engine is toast. If you carried on riding with the oil pressure light on, your engine is definately toast.

You're doing quite a few miles too, you must be servicing it every two months, assuming a 4000 mile oil change interval. The air lock thing is bollocks, oil systems do not air lock, but it takes a couple of seconds to get oil into the filter when drained down. If you have run so low on oil that the pump is full of air, you've broken it.

I would just change the engine. It's burning a lot of oil, you've had the oil pressure light on. It is possible that the crank is fine and the rings are worn out, but to re-ring that engine would cost an easy £200 in parts, assuming you do all the work yourself. Valve stem seals being a problem is fairly unlikely, they get killed by age and lack of use (drying up over several years sitting). They can get killed by extreme heat and lack of oil (blocked oil feed to the head) but if this was the case your camshaft would be knackered.

[dangerousdave]

[ecoartist]

Just wanted to say thank you so much to all you helpful people, I'll check a bit more during this weekend, will check blue smoke and start making notes on every time I add oil to see if there is a pattern. I do ride the pretty revvy in summer but kind of calm in winter.
I'll check this week and get back to you fab people.

many thanks

[Walloper]