I have been having to add a little oil between changes at 6Kmiles for the past few changes.
I did a compression test and leak down test this past winter, everything checked out okay. Quite good as a matter of fact.
I sometimes ride aggressively, drop a gear or two and wind the rpms well up toward the red for a pass, or running higher rpms while pushing the ride in the uphill twisties.
The bike has always blown a puff of black smoke when I do this, but during a recent ride around Vermont a fellow rider said it is more like a trail of smoke rather than a puff. The smoke is black, not blue like we used to see with oil burners. But I wonder does synthetic oil burn blue?
I've been using Mobil 1 for some time now and seem to remember someone (Saddleman?) saying that there were reports of Mobil 1 getting used up more than others. (I did switch to good ole' petroleum based oil (Advance Auto Parts store brand if you want to know ) just to see if it makes a difference.
If it were just a black puff of smoke, I'd attribute it to the KLT's tendency to run a little rich under such conditions, but with the increased smoke, and increased oil consumption I'm wondering about other causes. Another note is that the gas mileage hasn't changed noticably, and is pretty good.
The thing that comes to mind is valve stem seals. Anyone had a problem like this? Has anyone changed out the valve stem seals?
I did a compression test and leak down test this past winter, everything checked out okay. Quite good as a matter of fact.
I sometimes ride aggressively, drop a gear or two and wind the rpms well up toward the red for a pass, or running higher rpms while pushing the ride in the uphill twisties.
The bike has always blown a puff of black smoke when I do this, but during a recent ride around Vermont a fellow rider said it is more like a trail of smoke rather than a puff. The smoke is black, not blue like we used to see with oil burners. But I wonder does synthetic oil burn blue?
I've been using Mobil 1 for some time now and seem to remember someone (Saddleman?) saying that there were reports of Mobil 1 getting used up more than others. (I did switch to good ole' petroleum based oil (Advance Auto Parts store brand if you want to know ) just to see if it makes a difference.
If it were just a black puff of smoke, I'd attribute it to the KLT's tendency to run a little rich under such conditions, but with the increased smoke, and increased oil consumption I'm wondering about other causes. Another note is that the gas mileage hasn't changed noticably, and is pretty good.
The thing that comes to mind is valve stem seals. Anyone had a problem like this? Has anyone changed out the valve stem seals?