P500 My 500 burns oil - does yours

[jimhutch43]

I am using Rotella T6 synthetic 5-40 oil. (2015 Pioneer 500 ) I burn a little over half a quart in between oil changes. Does your 500 burn oil between oil changes? Change the oil every 600 miles as recommended. Never get to the hours recommended. I have changed the oil 3 times. usually add oil after about 300 miles.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

I am using Rotella T6 synthetic 5-40 oil. (2015 Pioneer 500 ) I burn a little over half a quart in between oil changes. Does your 500 burn oil between oil changes? Change the oil every 600 miles as recommended. Never get to the hours recommended. I have changed the oil 3 times. usually add oil after about 300 miles.

None here. I'm coming up on my 4th change, but checked level just this week. On 3rd change, went to syn.

 

[ehart814]

I am using Rotella T6 synthetic 5-40 oil. (2015 Pioneer 500 ) I burn a little over half a quart in between oil changes. Does your 500 burn oil between oil changes? Change the oil every 600 miles as recommended. Never get to the hours recommended. I have changed the oil 3 times. usually add oil after about 300 miles.

I added a few ounces of oil one time between changes. Honestly, I rarely check it. Even though nobody likes oil consumption, I would bet that Honda will tell you that is normal consumption. Honda considers a quart every 1,000 miles normal for their car engines - at least they did 6 or 7 years ago when I last worked at a Honda dealer.

I know a lot of people use diesel oil for motorcycles and similar engines, since it's technically okay, but have you considered going back to a motorcycle oil and seeing if that changes anything? I really doubt it would make a difference, but if it was me that's what I would do. Full synthetic, of course.

 

[Montecresto]

Post 1970's, I've never had anything burn that kind of oil save lawn mowers and generators with s***ty Briggs and Straton motors. You have a problem. Does it put out any blue smoke?

 

[Chooglin]

with s***ty Briggs and Straton motors.

Love my B&S Vanguard engine..........a little over 1,000 hrs on it and no oil consumption!

 

[Montecresto]

Love my B&S Vanguard engine..........a little over 1,000 hrs on it and no oil consumption!

You sound like me with my Polaris Ranger, you must have got the good one. B&S started out making very good small engines here in America back in the 50's. Not any longer. I have generators on three properties, they're all Honda!!!!!!

 

[trigger]

It's the synthetic oil. You can read about it all over the web.
I've ran Royal Purple in my little Cobalt since it had 15,000 miles on it. It now has over 282k. Has went through oil since the change over and doesn't leak a drop. I was going 12,000 between oil changes and went too long without checking it once, running 85 mph, back and forth to Ohio. Didn't read on the stick, put 2 qts in, didn't read, put another one in and was 1/2 qt low. 3 1/2 qts low and it never made a tick, just knew I better check it.
$10 a qt but good stuff. Synthetic is worth it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[iowaguy]

I am using Rotella T6 synthetic 5-40 oil. (2015 Pioneer 500 ) I burn a little over half a quart in between oil changes. Does your 500 burn oil between oil changes? Change the oil every 600 miles as recommended. Never get to the hours recommended. I have changed the oil 3 times. usually add oil after about 300 miles.

I had a boat that came from the factory with reg.oil in it,the owners manual said to change out oil to syn. after 20 hour's,and if you noticed oil usage to go back to reg. oil for 20 hours,this allowed engine to break in,then return to syn. The idea behind this was syn. oil didn't allow wear and things had to wear into place,but this was years ago and I know engines come from the factory with syn. in them now ,so the thinking behind this has changed,
P.S. just went to the Volvo Penta website and it looks like they still do this ,it is at 50 hours not 20 like I said,It allows the pistons to seat,This was on the 5.0 V8

 

[JCart]

Hmmmm guess I'd better check, I'll let you know. Have never checked between changes, perhaps I'll monitor for a bit just to see.

j

 

[jimhutch43]

Thanks everyone for your info. I'm going to switch back to 15-40 diesel oil and see if it still uses oil. I used 15-40 diesel oil in both my Rubicons and went the recommended 200 hours between oil changes and never had to add oil.

 

[trigger]

Thanks everyone for your info. I'm going to switch back to 15-40 diesel oil and see if it still uses oil. I used 15-40 diesel oil in both my Rubicons and went the recommended 200 hours between oil changes and never had to add oil.

Heard you're not supposed to do that. Once you go synthetic, it puts a coating on everything. When you go back to regular motor oil, it has a lot of detergents in it that wash the coating out and cause oil consumption. That's my understanding anyway.
@joeymt33 is the oil guy...what do you think joey, does that hold water?

 

[ohanacreek]

Ive always used the Honda speced oil in every Honda product I own. I figure their marketing is heavily based on reliability, their engineers are probably smarter than I am, they did design the engine and used that oil as a part of that design. It'd probably be in my best interest to just use what was in the owners manual.

NEVER had an issue out of any of the 30+ Honda/Acura products I've ever had, at least none that I can't directly contribute to something stupid I did.

 

[joeymt33]

Heard you're not supposed to do that. Once you go synthetic, it puts a coating on everything. When you go back to regular motor oil, it has a lot of detergents in it that wash the coating out and cause oil consumption. That's my understanding anyway.
@joeymt33 is the oil guy...what do you think joey, does that hold water?

I would not change viscosity much. Sure it increases oil pressure, but that high pressure means the pump is working harder and is working harder to force oil thru passages. If there is a pressure rise on one side of the oil passage, that means it's more than likely lower on the other side. This could mean bad things. Heavier oil will starve the engine at start up until it warms and flows better.

The old story about synthetics causing oil leaks only applies to tier 5 oils. Tier 4 oils are true synthetic and totally safe to switch back and forth. I believe tier 5 oils had poor seal swell and and could actually make them brittle over time.

These things are not tested by me but only research from others that I've read.

I tried to compile a lot of information here.

Oil education




SIGNATURE:

Quote by DrFubar: joeymt33, this could be your next signature: "I should be more understanding. I should know by now that a little hill to me probably is a big hill to you."

 

[jimhutch43]

here is a link to some of the myths surrounding motor oil.
Top 7 Urban Legends About Motor Oil
and
Why Synthetic Oil? read the myths

As for Honda oil. First Honda does not manufacture(refine) oil and if the oil they recommend is anything like the tires they install at the factory, I would be very hesitant to recommend it to anyone!!

 

[ohanacreek]

here is a link to some of the myths surrounding motor oil.
Top 7 Urban Legends About Motor Oil
and
Why Synthetic Oil? read the myths

As for Honda oil. First Honda does not manufacture(refine) oil and if the oil they recommend is anything like the tires they install at the factory, I would be very hesitant to recommend it to anyone!!

They don't manufacture their motor oil, they have it made to their specs.

Just like 90ish% (not sure of exact market share as of today) of all automotive batteries sold in the US (plug in/hybrid/standard deep-cycle and starter) are made in the same plant. BUT each line is different they are made to differing specs.

Also the machines were tested and designed using these oils, their varying viscosities with respect to temperature ranges etc....

Besides if you use what's spec'd at spec'd service intervals there's no argument there on warranty.

The tires are crap but I'll bet Honda saved $200 cost per machine that they were able to put somewhere else on the machine and for Joe average they are fine.

 

[JACKAL]

I am using Rotella T6 synthetic 5-40 oil. (2015 Pioneer 500 ) I burn a little over half a quart in between oil changes. Does your 500 burn oil between oil changes? Change the oil every 600 miles as recommended. Never get to the hours recommended. I have changed the oil 3 times. usually add oil after about 300 miles.

No oil consumption from my P500 machine, even using same oil as you for last 900 miles.

 

[trigger]

I only started running synthetic because my mechanic recommended it for the amount of miles I was putting on. He said I could run 15,000 on Royal Purple for a $75 oil change. At $25 for regular motor oil, every 3000 miles, it was more cost efficient. Had to change the filter at 7500 though. Now they have better filters that can go the full 15,000.
After reading through the myths and legends links posted here it seems even the experts are all over the map...whatever you use, just change it frequently.

 

[jimhutch43]

They don't manufacture their motor oil, they have it made to their specs.

Just like 90ish% (not sure of exact market share as of today) of all automotive batteries sold in the US (plug in/hybrid/standard deep-cycle and starter) are made in the same plant. BUT each line is different they are made to differing specs.

Also the machines were tested and designed using these oils, their varying viscosities with respect to temperature ranges etc....

Besides if you use what's spec'd at spec'd service intervals there's no argument there on warranty.

The tires are crap but I'll bet Honda saved $200 cost per machine that they were able to put somewhere else on the machine and for Joe average they are fine.

I would like to think that Honda has specs for their oil, but when I look at the tires (which is something that is easy to check), I find that the specs say that with the proper inflation the 500 will have 9.6 inches ground clearance. If you measure the ground clearance it is just over 8.25 inches with the tires inflated to factory specs. Also, if you check the speedometer or odometer they are not accurate with the tires installed at the factory. The odometer and speedometer both over-record. Which means that the recorded mileage is greater than the actual mileage, which means we are actually servicing our machines more often than what the specs recommend!! (with profile 26 tires the ground clearance is still not 9.6 inches but the speedometer/odometer is correct)
So my point is if the Honda engineers cannot calculate what size tires to install in order to give the proper ground clearance and the correct speedometer/odometer reading then why would anyone believe that their oil has any better specs?

Don't get me wrong. I really like my 500 and I have had 2 Rubicons and a Goldwing and I liked them all. I buy Honda because I go along way back in the outback and I feel confident that my Honda will get me home.
I just don't buy into all the Honda hype.

 

[Montecresto]

Thanks everyone for your info. I'm going to switch back to 15-40 diesel oil and see if it still uses oil. I used 15-40 diesel oil in both my Rubicons and went the recommended 200 hours between oil changes and never had to add oil.

Wait, you didn't answer my question about the smoke. I was trying to determine whether your P5 is leaking slowly somewhere (perhaps being absorbed in mud and trash caked above the skids), or whether it's burning oil?

 

[jimhutch43]

Wait, you didn't answer my question about the smoke. I was trying to determine whether your P5 is leaking slowly somewhere (perhaps being absorbed in mud and trash caked above the skids), or whether it's burning oil?

I haven't noticed any smoke. My first thought was that it must be leaking, but I have gone over the bottom quite vigorously and have not seen any sign of leakage. I don't ride in a lot of mud. I live between the Rocky Mountains and the Purcell Mountains, so most of my riding is on hard packed or rocky trails.