[Raz]

My bike was a 'user' from day 1. It was never a bad habit at first. Maybe a 1/3 of a quart between oil changes. It didn't matter what brand or formula I tried, it always burned some oil. Somewhere around 28k, it started using a bit more and a bit more, so I switched to the harder stuff (20w50) and that seemed to satisfy it for a while. It would get it's fix with about 1/2 a quart of the harder stuff and be happy! Then, out of the blue it turned into a full blown junkie! Quit it's job and moved into a commune with other social miscreants where it spent most of it's day drinking itself to death! It went from mild mannered closet user to full blown oil junkie in under 500 miles!

Perhaps it is time for an intervention with your bike! Get it to quit before it is too late!

Thanks Scrap, you made my Day!

Hm.
Kept finding empty oil quarts behind stuff in my garage.
Now I know!

Actually, I have my sport bike for when I want to play.
I'll just leave the cruising to the C50, and see how far past 50K she'll go.
After that, I have some truly evil plans in store for a bar scooter!

Tmotensen are you there?
Love to know miles and oil level!

Cheers!
-Raz

 

[MoDZuKi]

Hey Guys I wonder here if with the Modified rear drive... you have to give it a bit more gas to giddy up... Possible the Fuel injection is getting fooled?.. and running rich on accelleration?.. washing lubrication off the cylinder walls and creating more wear than normal?..
The injection on the earlier bikes has no 02 sensor feedback- so I just wonder IF the fuel injection takes its cues from the air flow and RPM and speed?. with a modded rear- possible the injection gets fouled up?..
Just thinking outloud!
Dave

 

[Skrapiron]

No. The drive on the bike is irrelevant. It is something to do with the metallurgy or the construction of the engine. Break-in does not seem to matter, oil viscosity does not seem to matter, oil type does not seem to matter. The bikes roll along fine then pretty much out of the blue start gulping down the oil....

 

[MoDZuKi]

A ***** in the Armour of the M50/C50 Volusia... Hmmmm I guess nothing lasts forever!.

 

[Steve Gray]

The injection is either just a simple speed-density type that uses a lookup table of Manifold Air Pressure, and engine speed to determine how much fuel to inject as a baseline, or an Alpha-N system which uses only throttle position vs. RPM in a table. Then there are "modifier" parameters like coolant temp, air temp, etc. that add or subtract fuel to the baseline. This is a very simple system, but the drive would have absolutely nothing to do with it. It will see the lower RPM and your increased throttle position, look at the manifold pressure (lower due to increased throttle opening) and calculate the needed fuel. No problem.
I tend to think the piston seal problems have more to due with the piston rocking in the bore, wearing it unevenly. This type of plated bore is common across many motor platforms that don't have these problems, as is the metallurgy.

 

[Steve Gray]

One interesting thing that I've found:
It's been said on here many times that the C50 motors use a 2-ring piston design. I'm not sure where that info comes from, but the fiche on bikebandit clearly shows 2 fire rings and an oil control ring... so that is misinformation, at least for an 05. So much for that theory.

 

[MoDZuKi]

Ouch- These are just a Plated bore?... not sleeved- THAT in itself would answer a lot.. Not talking MUCH wall thickness before wearing thru onto Aluminum?.
Hmmmm I did not know they were just plated.. I am not too impressed

 

[Skrapiron]

Which is what may explain the early expiration of so many of these bikes.... How hard would it be to properly sleeve the cylinder, put a slightly under-bore piston and rings in place and ride on into the sunset?

 

[Steve Gray]

OK, so now I'm getting skeptical of the information I've seen on here. Who said it was a plated bore? The cylinder head I saw on ebay looked to be a sleeve, and the service manual doesn't say anything about replating after boring it for an oversized piston.
The plated bores hold up. Check out the GSXR models, for example. The only problem is that you have to replate them if you have them bored out.

 

[DanChamp]

Hey Guys lets just have fun, do your maintenance, ride a lot, make some freinds and when the motor goes oh well now you have something to do or a reason to get a new bike.

Part of the fun is working on them for some but most of all look at how Scrap is happy with his new purchase and now he has something to mod again.
Most of us use these as toys anyway:wayhappy::wayhappy:

 

[MoDZuKi]

true- A Toy fer sure- Purely recreational here.. I would never commute with the animals that inhabit these roads in the morning!
I'd be dead in a week! lol

 

[Moto-Suzzi G50]

Lol, I hope my bike lasts long enough to make the install of all the new goodies worth while. :moneyeyes: . Have a great weekend.

 

[DrLame]

So, after reading this thread last night I had a dream where my engine lost power and started making a loud knocking noise. Not cool =P

 

[DanL]

Guys, we have got to get to the bottom of this...

Between my one-mile commute that I can only do on the bike about four months a year (don't want it to get rained on, heaven forbid) and the short trips we really enjoy making, I pile up - gosh - 1200 miles a year. That means I only have another 30 years before this baby starts using oil. ;-)

Like DrLame, I'm sure I'll start having nightmares about this as well. :wayhappy:

 

[baxtc1]

I had my cam chains replaced at 54,000kms, the rings were replaced at the same time, didn't touch the bores as they were "immaculate" to quote the service manager. Didn't have oil consumption issues before or since.
Back to the original post, he said oil level was very low but that had no oil warning light, so that should be enough oil pressure to keep the bottom end safe. Would be nice to hear back from him about how he is going with it.

 

[curbshot]

is this just a c50 issue or is it also for the older vollys? Mines up to 26k (03 vol), running rich, not lean, just did 1200+ over a weekend at superslabs speeds (80-90 mph). should i go trade the bike in now before it dies? seriously.

 

[cali-c50]

I used a qt. in 600 miles of riding at 70 75 mph. I think a new bike is in the near future.

 

[Skrapiron]

That's what mine was doing. You need to either get the engine rebuilt or start looking for a new bike.

 

[Jmbrad]

I'm curious as to whether the old 800 intruder had the same life cycle as the Vol/C50. Aren't our engines based on the old intruder engine? Intruder had twin carbs and ours has a single?

 

[Steve Gray]

I had my cam chains replaced at 54,000kms, the rings were replaced at the same time, didn't touch the bores as they were "immaculate" to quote the service manager. Didn't have oil consumption issues before or since.
Back to the original post, he said oil level was very low but that had no oil warning light, so that should be enough oil pressure to keep the bottom end safe. Would be nice to hear back from him about how he is going with it.

I'm assuming when you said "didn't touch the bores" you meant they just honed them when they put the new rings in, right? Otherwise, the new rings won't seat.