Sensitivity To Oil Change?

[tom65]

The previous owner of my '09 K13GT was meticulous about services and recalls, but he didn't put a lot of milelage on the bike in the last five years. The last oil change was March of '22 for the 24K service, but the previous oil change was less than 100 miles prior to that (although over a year). Just for ****s and giggles, and before I head to the rally, I had Bob's do an oil change yesterday, along with the annual service (damn light was on).

Prior to the oil change, the bike was running a bit rough at the low end; nothing terrible and frankly I barely noticed it. However, when I started the bike up after the work was done and pulled away, I immediately noticed a difference in the smoothness of the engine and the clutch felt a lot less snatchy. The oil level was fine when I brought it in, so definitely not an oil starvation issue. Same oil was used as previous. Total mileage since the last oil change was a tick over 1000.

Is the engine just that sensitive to oil changes?

 

[classicvw]

The previous owner of my '09 K13GT was meticulous about services and recalls, but he didn't put a lot of milelage on the bike in the last five years. The last oil change was March of '22 for the 24K service, but the previous oil change was less than 100 miles prior to that (although over a year). Just for ****s and giggles, and before I head to the rally, I had Bob's do an oil change yesterday, along with the annual service (damn light was on).

Prior to the oil change, the bike was running a bit rough at the low end; nothing terrible and frankly I barely noticed it. However, when I started the bike up after the work was done and pulled away, I immediately noticed a difference in the smoothness of the engine and the clutch felt a lot less snatchy. The oil level was fine when I brought it in, so definitely not an oil starvation issue. Same oil was used as previous. Total mileage since the last oil change was a tick over 1000.

Is the engine just that sensitive to oil changes?

You say Bob's did an annual service so why wouldn't you think that they took care of the roughness, like maybe changed plugs or did an adjustment somewhere?

Or maybe your previous tankful of gas was too old or contaminated with water?

 

[tom65]

You say Bob's did an annual service so why wouldn't you think that they took care of the roughness, like maybe changed plugs or did an adjustment somewhere?

Or maybe your previous tankful of gas was too old or contaminated with water?

The only items on the bill were the oil, the filter and the crush washer (no plugs, gaskets, or anything else they could charge), plus labor. I watched the tech who did it so I could do it myself next time, so I know there was nothing more done - it would have been fairly obvious if he changed the plugs, since you have to remove the radiator to get to them. I've put roughly 1000 miles on the bike in two months and run Techron a few times just to be sure, so bad gas is not likely. Besides, it had the same gas in the tank as before the oil change.

 

[pauls1150]

Maybe Bob's used a "different" oil? Whatever it was, it made the bike happier, so it ran better.

 

[manitou_commando]

Maybe Bob's used a "different" oil? Whatever it was, it made the bike happier, so it ran better.

Marvel Mystery Oil, perhaps?

 

[classicvw]

The only items on the bill were the oil, the filter and the crush washer (no plugs, gaskets, or anything else they could charge), plus labor. I watched the tech who did it so I could do it myself next time, so I know there was nothing more done - it would have been fairly obvious if he changed the plugs, since you have to remove the radiator to get to them. I've put roughly 1000 miles on the bike in two months and run Techron a few times just to be sure, so bad gas is not likely. Besides, it had the same gas in the tank as before the oil change.

But you did say an annual service was done, right? Or do you just mean an annual oil change?

Whether one was done or not, there are 22 items in an annual service, not just an oil change.