How are "other people" checking their oil?

 

People I talk to face to face, people online and even people here in ktmforums seem to have different ways. One says he leaves it on the side stand, one says he does it cold and there's another version I can't remember.

 

same reason people ( not me of course ) think other oils or change intervals are better than the book says. People are creatures of habit and superstition and they do what they feel is right. You can get away with different methods sometimes.

For example. I know that my truck says check trans fluid hot and in drive. So once I know it's on the money hot and in drive, I can make a mark on the dipstick at the cold and turned off level. And now I can check the trans without starting the truck.

 

same reason people ( not me of course ) think other oils or change intervals are better than the book says.

Guilty as charged, m'lud I change oil twice as often as the book says.

 

Me too. I change oil when I'm bored. Than cut the filters open to see if they caught anything interesting.

 

Good idea

 

Always wondered why you have to check it hot - cos I dunno wot's wrong with just lifting the bike to vertical and having a peep before you rack off

 

The 4-stroke KTMs I've checked are semi-dry sump. I don't know all the details of 'semi' as I haven't stripped one down yet.

But traditional dry sump means that by the time the engine is cold, some oil may have leaked down from the galleries and reservoir (where it belongs) into the sump, or it may not. One day can vary from another, so you don't know what you are checking.

Inconsistent results. So, you run the engine to fill all the galleries and pump all spare oil up into the reservoir, where you check the level. To be sure, run until it's warm, which gives enough time and makes the oil move freely. That gives the most consistent results.

As I said, semi-dry is a bit different and I can't say much on the differences, except that KTM know their own bikes and recommend a certain procedure and I'll stick by it until I can claim to know the engines inside out

 

My question is why do so many people do it differently? Did KTM get it wrong somehow?

I think its just factual that when the motor is warm that all galleries and lines are filled with oil.

 

Certainly, when it's cold outside it takes a while for the oil to rise in the sight glass when you pick it up off the sidestand. Other than that the difference between cold and hot on any bike I've had in the last decade it two is minimal. I usually check the Duke before a ride and then after any ride where I caned it -- largely because it often uses a lot of oil on those rides. I change the oil at least every year (which works out to about 3k miles on each of the street bikes) or when oil consumption seems to increase after a couple of thousand.

 

I have to agree with Maddog on this. It's easy to balance the bike and check the oil level after a ride. Why second guess the factory recommended procedure?

Here's a very good description of the difference between a dry sump and semi-dry sump design, and why a dry sump is a good thing:

http://www.ashonbikes.com/content/semi-dry-sump-lubrication

Many years (decades) ago, I read an article about building a race bike. (It was a Suzuki 1000cc bike if I remember correctly. In that article the builder welded a "wiper" into the crankcase to strip oil from the crank. --Google 'crankshaft wiper' for more info.-- The idea was to reduce the drag caused by the sloshing of oil by the crank. After running the motor, and a tear-down, the wiper was bent away from the crank. The pictures indicated a huge amount of energy was involved. Lesson learned; The crank imparts a LOT of energy to the oil it spins in. That's HP that doesn't make it to the rear wheel. A dry sump eliminates that loss of HP.

On a similar note, a guy that lives down the road from me is a Sprint Car racer. He runs a vacuum pump that pulls a vacuum on the crankcase of the motor. He gets a +25 HP by using the pump. The reason is that the motor doesn't have to move as much air inside of the crankcase.

 

Here's a very good description of the difference between a dry sump and semi-dry sump design, and why a dry sump is a good thing:

http://www.ashonbikes.com/content/semi-dry-sump-lubrication

Interesting link! Thank you

 

Be careful using a swingarm stand to check the oil; at least on my Duke there is a considerable difference between what is in the sight glass on that satnad and when it's flat. I got one of the stands below for that reason. As for leaky BSA's, there is a spring loaded ball bearing check valve to prevent oil draining into the sump. After not so many years the spring gets too weak to do it's job. I always drain the sump of the Gold Star before checking the oil and starting it. It's always full.

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