Oil Changes

Written by phildave on February 18, 2009 – 2:49 pm -

I know this is a bit off topic, but the principles ally to almost all scooters, Lambrettas included.The most important thing to do is regular oil changes for four stroke engines. Two stroke engines burn up their engine oil, and so you do not have to trouble yourself with changing it. Scooters only accommodate roughly a quart of engine oil. The larger Yamaha scooters have got oil filters, but Hondas do not have filters (only a small screen). Given the small engine capacity of nearly most scooters, they incline to get run hard. The low volume of oil, lack of an oil filter and high rpm use results to oil breakdown much faster than your in car. Ideally change the scooter oil about every 1000 miles. This might sound intense, but consider these couple of points :
How long does it take you to reach a 1000 miles? Unless you’re driving a 250cc scooter on the motorway every day, it will in all likelihood it will probably take a few months. It’s not as though you need to change it weekly. If you are putting on a lot of motorway miles, the engine is probably not being stressed with a lot of stop-and-go riding. You also are less likely to run the engine through a lot of hot/cold cycles. In this case you may be able to draw out the oil change time.

Given that most scooters take only about a quart of oil - what’s the cost ? Even the very best synthetic oil is only £8.00 a litre. As for oil, use a top quality oil made for smaller engines (Castrol or Mobil for example). Rember that changing your oil is far more inexpensive than an engine replacement.
Note that the 80-125-150-250 Honda’s have a small window in the speedometer. The window alters colour from green to red every 1000 miles. It is to prompt you to change the oil. After you have changed it, just place the key into the slot on the lower left side instrument panel and push. This resets the colour back to green.

Transmission oil?
Honda and Yamaha scooters have a small transmission system. It’s concealed away in a small area close to the rear wheel. Don’t forget about the transmission oil! There is only about 200cc’s of oil here - a very little amount. Almost all scooters use standard high quality engine oil and a few take gear oil. If your scooter needs engine oil, it should be changed fairly often. The gears put a lot of stress on the oil, reducing its effectiveness over time. It is decidedly a annoyance to change this oil and add the fresh oil, but it must be done. If not, the oil will in time turn to a dense dark, molasses like stuff. Your bearings and gears will suffering, and they will in time fail.

Tags: Oil Changes
Posted in Maintenance |