Sorry... oil question

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Larry710
On the street
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:51 am
Country: Canada
Suzuki 2-Strokes: 1977 GT500

Sorry... oil question

Post by Larry710 »

I am sure this has been discussed over and over again, but my search has failed/frustrated me. I've searched for engine oil, oil change, transmission oil, oil quantity....
I have a 77 gt500b, I acquired this in boxes, and rebuilt from the crank up over last winter using only a parts manual. I have no shop/repair manual, everything I need to find that the parts manual couldn't help, I found from this message board.... I THANK YOU ALL!

Now that the bike is running, it's time to change the oil, Something as simple as that is embarrassing to ask for help! LOL

What is the designated oil drain plug? I know I had the cases split, but I can not remember which one to use.

How much oil? It says 1400cc, so I measure and put in, but the oil check bolt hole pukes oil before I finish! Maybe it has to be on the side stand when checking?

What is the recommended oil? I typically run shell rotella 15/40. but I've been finding the clutch kind of grabs a little and its hard to shift to neutral when idling. (I spent a lot of time adjusting the clutch cable, and its as good as it is going to get)

Thanks
GTandcbr
Yeah Man, the Interstate
Posts: 590
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:35 pm
Country: WALES
Suzuki 2-Strokes: suzuki gt 550j
Location: Wales

Re: Sorry... oil question

Post by GTandcbr »

http://www.ozebook.com/compendium/suzi/suzidata1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Plenty of help and info here
98 carb Blackbird and GT550j
Craig380
Expert racer
Posts: 1250
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:52 am
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: Sorry... oil question

Post by Craig380 »

Have a look here in the "Engine" section: http://www.oldjapanesebikes.com/mraxl_G ... /index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are two drain plugs, 21mm heads. The manual says use them both.

Let it drain a couple hours, then put 1400cc of oil in. Don't worry about the so-called level plug, just measure in 1400cc.

In terms of oil, that's a can of worms :lol: but any motorcycle-specific 10W40 4-stroke oil with the JASO standard on the bottle is good, and way better than what was available in the 70s. It must be bike-specific because these oils don't have the anti-friction additives that most car oils do (Rotella is an exception as it doesn't have those anti-friction additives either).

But take your pick of what's in your local store - a semi-synth 10W40 bike oil from Castrol, Shell, Silkolene, Bel-Ray, Putoline, Mobil, Motul, whatever ... they'll all work well.
1976 GT380 - wounded by me, and sold on
2006 SV650S - killed by a patch of diesel and a kerb in Feb 2019
2017 SV650 AL7 - naked and unashamed
Zunspec4
Expert racer
Posts: 1087
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:37 am
Country: UK
Suzuki 2-Strokes: T500R, SV1000S, TS125, Seeley T500
Location: Trowbridge UK

Re: Sorry... oil question

Post by Zunspec4 »

Hi Larry,

I annotated this photo of the underside of the cases for a similar question that came up on Facebook. Note: later cases than these did not have the crank drain facility. Personally I remove all three of the main plugs to ensure that all the g/box oil drains, but do not operate the gear leaver until the shift drum items have been re-installed. There will also be some oil in the clutch cover so this also needs to be loosened to completely drain the oil. Forget the oil level screw in the clutch case and re-fill with a measured 1400cc.

Image

Cheers Geoff
dollydog
Yeah Man, the Interstate
Posts: 630
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2017 7:09 am
Country: england
Suzuki 2-Strokes: several gt250 ramairs

Re: Sorry... oil question

Post by dollydog »

after rebuilding over 100 gt250 engines and boxes, i've only ever found one with any appreciable wear in the gearbox and that was a bloke who had a leak from the neutral light switch and never bothered to top the gearbox up. that is the only one, and yes, the centre main bearing was kaput as well, due to oil starvation. my point is: every one of these engines had normal common or garden cheap as chips 20/50 in them.[apart from one and that had 2 stroke oil in it :D ] no synthetic, no semi, just ordinary 20/50. some of them might never have had an oil change for all i know - how many 17 year olds bothered changing the gearbox oil? i use normal 20/50 on mine, changed every 3000 or so miles and never had a problem. suzuki recommended 20/50 and as has been said, oil has moved on a lot, so imho normal 20/50 will do just fine. here endeth the sermon :D
cheers, dd.
GTS250 road registered. TS250 engine, Ramair frame.
GT250 big bang road registered. Both pistons fire the same time. USD forks.
GT285 road registered. Overbored - 58mm and TS125 +2 pistons fitted.
GT10 road registered. '65 T10 engine, GT250 frame.
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