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Hello all. I'm about to do an oil change and noticed in the manual it said the oil should be changed every 6 months! Does anyone actually do this? I do very little mileage on my bike so what will happen if i don't change it this often. Thanks for any repies.

Are you sure it says 6 months ? Haven't looked at it in a while.

From use oil gets contaminated wether that be low or high mileage. Used oil siting in your engine will break down and over a long term period can cause problems with internal seals.

I would be prone to changing once a year If I wasn't doing the service schedule miles requiring a change. They say to replace filter every 2nd change, I do it every change - your saving a fiver by not doing it but saving your engine and your oil by doing it.

Your call.

MM!

Well according to my L4 manual it says change oil every 6000 miles or year, whichever comes first, and the filter at the same interval. I've always changed the oil at 3000 or every year (usually when getting it out after the winter lay-up), and as it is obvious that Kwak intend from the service schedule that the filter should be changed with the oil I do it, irrespective of the mileage. As MM says, the cost of a filter is bugger all in the scheme of things so not worth skimping.

You can get an oil filter cheap from Halfords. They sell Champion filters, which are high quality. You want the F306 from the motorbike section. £6.29 when I bought one earlier this year (A fiver to MM as everything is cheaper in Japan ).

Tirpitz wrote:.....usually when getting it out after the winter lay-up...

Best to do it before laying the bike up for winter so the engine is sitting with clean engine oil in it

Theoretically I'm with you there MM but trouble is I'm usually doing work on the bike during the lay-up. This may, or may not, involve dropping the oil (depends what I end up doing). So I don't want to put fresh oil in then end up dropping it. Nor do I like leaving it stood empty as I may need to start it up So I tend to do the change after the winter. It's a compromise but as I only lay it up for about 12 weeks max. I don't reckon it matters too much. Now if you were storing it longer term there's no doubt that's what I'd do.

Thanks for the replies. I have the L9 book and I've checked again and it says every 6 months or 6000 miles (whichever comes first). I changed the oil with Shell Advance Ultra 10W-40 oil when I purchased this bike in June 2008 with 9200 miles on it. It now has 12414 miles on it so after reading the above I'll be doing this as a matter of urgency. What oil do you use? I still have 2 x 1L bottles of the shell so I'm going to use this. Just noticed spark plugs also need changing at 12,000 miles.

Deffo won't be changing my oil at 6 months, that's way OTT. And are Kwak seriously suggesting that in the several years between the L4 and L9, with all the advances in oil technology, that they reckon an oil change needs doing 50% sooner than before? Someone is having a laugh there, once a year is fine. And are they seriously suggesting the oil would be ok for 6000 miles at 1000 miles a month? (if you did less than that you'd reach the 6 month limit before the mileage limit). I'd say 250 miles a week, every week is heavy use. Their logic doesn't stack up to me.

I use Silkolene PRO 4 10w-40 fully synthetic. I've always used Silkolene oils for more than 20 years and I highly recommend them. Not the cheapest but worth the money, looks after your engine a treat. If it's good enough for a race engine it's good enough for the road.

That Shell you have looks like a good oil mind you so if you're happy with it stick with it.