Gearbox oil change

[PallOlavsson]

Hey.

Ok, so I change my gearbox oil every 600miles..

But I just had a look in the Aprilia Use and maintainance book for the 04 RS50..

And it says 300miles for the first change..
And then 2500miles for the rest of the bikes life..

But changing the gearbox oil every 2500miles seems as too long between every change..

So what do you think?
Do you wait 2500miles between every change?

And isin't it better for the engine to change every 600miles rather than 2500?

[PallOlavsson]

I need an fast reply please! :P

Having an arguement with my father over this atm :P

He says gearbox oil at 6200miles
And I say at 600 :P

[rs50 '03 steve]

change every 1000 i say. 6200 no way. its when its starting to go black or the gearbox is playing up.

[williamr]

I need an fast reply please! :P

Having an arguement with my father over this atm :P

He says gearbox oil at 6200miles
And I say at 600 :P

2,500 miles is very conservative for gearbox oil. In cars it's about every million miles - I can't ever remember having a car for long enough to change it lol - or at least about every 40,000 miles, so I'd guess that going by the book will be more than safe for your bike. Because bikes have a primary reduction the gearbox input is no faster than on a car - slower than a car at peak revs - and there's nowhere near as much load.

Rob

[Strid]

I would change the gearbox oil twice a year. Once before your first ride when the winters over, and once mid season.

Rob, I don't think you've ridden an RS50 lately, lol. These gearboxes are .. well .. crap. Shifting gear can be terrible and even more so with dirty gear box oil. Also remember that the gearbox oil is shared with the clutch, so everything that is worn down from the clutch (may no be much if you're decent driver or it's not a track bike) will be mixed into the gear box oil.

Id say around 1000-2000 km, which is around your 600 miles. When you change the oil at 600 miles, how does it look??

EDIT: My point is, you probably don't need to flush your oil that often - it doesn't cause any harm to the bike. But for the sake of not going through false neutrals all the time, it's better to flush it more often.

[PallOlavsson]

if i put the new gearoil next to it.. it looks exactly the same, just 20% darker :P

[01dabreoo]

I'd say 6k is more than enough, if you can change it at 300 then you just have to much money.
I didn't change it atall on my RS, think i did about 7/8k. If i did an oil change on my 400 every 2.5k, i would be changing around 5 times a year @£125.

[williamr]

There is a paranoia across motocyclists about oil. There is a real belief that it has to be changed far too frequently. It doesn't.

Strid - if the bike is put away for the winter, the last thing you do is any oil change befoer the new season. That leaves old and contaminated oil in the box (or engine on a 4-stroke), never gettting hot to burn off the contaminants and corroding happily away at the internals. You always change the oil before laying up the bike so that it's stored with clean oil.

For most UK riders that's not an issue as bikes aren't usually put away for the winter.

On low mileage bikes an annual oil change is more than enough. On my ER-6, where the oil lubricates the engine as well as the clutch and box, Kawasaki have just revised the reommended oil change interval up to 12,000 miles. No way is a small gearbox running proper gearbox oil going to need anything more frequent unless it does less annual miles than this.

Change more often if you like, but all you're doing is wasting money, and wasting time that you could be riding.

Rob

[bourney2007]

I'd say 6k is more than enough, if you can change it at 300 then you just have to much money.
I didn't change it atall on my RS, think i did about 7/8k. If i did an oil change on my 400 every 2.5k, i would be changing around 5 times a year @£125.

£125 a time to change oil

How do you work that? do you get a garage to do it for you?

or do you mean £125 for all 5 changes? if you do and a garage does it for you then thats not bad i suppose.


Changing the oil every 300miles is just reatrded, unless you meant 3,000

[01dabreoo]

£125 a time to change oil

How do you work that? do you get a garage to do it for you?

or do you mean £125 for all 5 changes? if you do and a garage does it for you then thats not bad i suppose.


Changing the oil every 300miles is just reatrded, unless you meant 3,000

I mean in total it would cost me 125 .
£25 for oil, do the rest myself. Although, i didn't include a filter on that, so add and extra few quid a go.

EDIT: Just seen that Halfords now sell the oil i use for £27, so including a filter i am looking at £31/32 a pop.

[PallOlavsson]

I change the oil every 600miles..

£10 per change..

And I didin't say that I change at 300..

I sayed that the Aprilia manual recommends, if you buy the bike brand new, that the FIRST gearbox oil change is at 300..

[01dabreoo]

I change the oil every 600miles..

£10 per change..

And I didin't say that I change at 300..

I sayed that the Aprilia manual recommends, if you buy the bike brand new, that the FIRST gearbox oil change is at 300..

Did you then read on after that?
First service always has an oil change much sooner.

[01dabreoo]

Taken from the RS50 workshop manual.

Change the gearbox oil after the first 500 km (312 miles) and then every 8000 km (5000 miles) (*), see (CHANGING
THE GEARBOX OIL AND THE ENGINE OIL FILTER).

[PallOlavsson]

hmm, another mysterious questions..

Does the Minarelli engine have an oil filter xD ? :P

[01dabreoo]

It's a 2t, so no.