new oil,smoky exhaust

[Pat Conlon]

Hey Silas, it gets hot in Tenn in summer so a 20w-50 oil should be ok for those hot months. Be sure to drain and install a 10w-40 for winter cold weather riding. IMO You do not want to run 20w-50 in cold weather, you could damage your top end.
Re: Oil Useage; We don't know the mileage of your engine or the compression numbers, but on my old FJ engine with low compression (110) and 142k miles on the odo, I have found that on long rides certain oils burn quicker than other oils. The best oil for preventing burn off I have found to be is Redline Oil. A full ester based synthetic oil in the 10w-40 or 20w-50 weight. I am sure other ester based synthetic oils are just as good like Amsoil, Royal Purple, etc, I just found Redline oil years ago (thanks Jon Cain) and have stayed with it.
In my old engine it was not uncommon to need to use a 1/2 a quart oil after a long day of riding. With Redline oil this oil use almost completely stopped.
Do a compression test, or better a leak down test, on your engine and see exactly what is, or is not leaking.
New Valve seals also could be a good inexpensive investment but not if your engine needs a rebuild.

Cheers!  Pat

[movenon]

Just as a note. I stupidly over filled my oil once and it smoked like a pig.... Now I make sure the oil level is under the upper sight glass mark by a bit. On the center stand after the oil has drained down. My FJ doesn't like to be over filled. Just my experience. .

[jack02]

Just as a note. I stupidly over filled my oil once and it smoked like a pig.... Now I make sure the oil level is under the upper sight glass mark by a bit. On the center stand after the oil has drained down. My FJ doesn't like to be over filled. Just my experience. .

As the starter of this thread, I think this was also the cause of my woes. I'm pleased to report that my bike's smoking problem has completely resolved itself without any intervention from me. I noticed the other day that the oil level was over the sight-glass,though I'm sure I'd got it right at the time of filling. I'm guessing that the heavy 20/50 I used for the first time took much longer to find its way to the sump. It's still got too much in so it obviously had way too much when it was smoking. Seems no permanent harm's been done,but something to watch for in future.