Yamaha TTR230

[BigJohn]

So here's the story.....

Recently bought a Yamaha TTR230 for the wife and kids. It is a 2007, that appeared lightly used, as it still had the OEM tires, chain and sprockets. It was hard to start, but I chalked that up to bad gas in the tank and maybe a poorly tuned carb. (I was right about both.)

Now to the issue..... When I got it home, I found that the sump had less than a quart of oil in it (It only holds 1.1 quarts), but it was way too low. I decided to just top it off and run it for a couple weeks. The bike ran great. Then two weeks later, I dumped the oil, installed a new filter and poured in the highest quality, detergent rich synthetic I could purchase.

Houston....we have a problem..... After the first ride, the bike started blowing smoke on start-up like a coal burning locomotive. I panicked and dumped the high-dollar oil and poured in a dino HDEO, 15w40. Over the past few rides the smoke out of the pipe has decreased to nearly nothing.

What are everyone's theories here?

 

[bubbatime]

I've seen this a thousand times on power equipment. Customer brings in 30 year old widget. THey ask for synthetic oil. I advise that's a bad idea. They insist, so I install synthetic oil. They come back a day later yelling and screaming that I broke their widget. Seems that now their widget smokes like a chimney, and didn't smoke before, and therefor, I must have damaged it somehow.

I change the oil back to conventional and the problem goes away, the engine now runs happily without smoking.

It most likely has to do with stuck piston rings and/or worn out cylinders.

 

[yeehaw1960]

Watched a big scruffy biker dude almost come to tears after putting synthetic into his large street bike. The clutch began slipping soon afterwards. He stood at the bike shop and stared in disbelief while the parts guy reminded him again (he told him not to do it a week before) it wasn't a good idea to change to synthetic for a "well broke in" (worn) motor that had regular oil in it all it's life.

Now, when I buy a dirt bike (anything for $100 or less on Craigslist), I stress when I change oil because you can't always tell if it has synthetic in it. Is there a sure fire way to tell after it's all ucky?

 

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted By: yeehaw1960
Watched a big scruffy biker dude almost come to tears after putting synthetic into his large street bike. The clutch began slipping soon afterwards. He stood at the bike shop and stared in disbelief while the parts guy reminded him again (he told him not to do it a week before) it wasn't a good idea to change to synthetic for a "well broke in" (worn) motor that had regular oil in it all it's life.

Now, when I buy a dirt bike (anything for $100 or less on Craigslist), I stress when I change oil because you can't always tell if it has synthetic in it. Is there a sure fire way to tell after it's all ucky?



To be honest with you.....especially after reading the exceptional UOA's on the HDEO oils.....I am going to stick with Rosella 15w40 on all my bikes moving forward. The exception would be.....I buy a bike off the showroom floor and I do the break-in, etc...

I just don't think I am going to pay for synthetic in my motorcycles any more.

....

 

[yeehaw1960]

When I catch Valvoline 20w50 racing oil on sale at the parts store I pick up 4 or 5 quarts to keep on hand for the kid's dirt bikes and the little Yamaha RT 180 I putt around my yard with. Only the best oil for a 90s bike with missing rear spokes, leaky tires and a custom rear fender made from a cut down 5 gallon bucket.

 

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted By: yeehaw1960
When I catch Valvoline 20w50 racing oil on sale at the parts store I pick up 4 or 5 quarts to keep on hand for the kid's dirt bikes and the little Yamaha RT 180 I putt around my yard with. Only the best oil for a 90s bike with missing rear spokes, leaky tires and a custom rear fender made from a cut down 5 gallon bucket.


I am sure that is decent oil....but wouldn't, just about any 20w50 be good stuff for these bikes? for that matter....the wally-world 15w40 would be good.....RIGHT?

 

[sunruh]

yep anything works
the ttr230 is a very low hp motor...well for a dirtbike
its cc to hp ratio is about on par with a hardley or a weak car

 

[yeehaw1960]

I'm sure almost anything would be fine as long as it was changed regularly. My 50 weight racing oil OCD is caused from it being drilled into me when I got my first bike. It was a stripped down 1971 DT1, 250 Yamaha. The slowest, heaviest piece of junk ever to rip up the streets in my old neighborhood. I thrashed it until there was only second gear and a couple of recognizable knobs on the back tire left. You could probably just put cheap house brand ??w?? in almost any bike and get good results, but what's the fun it that? By the way, I love Super Tech. I use their HD30, 5w30, 5w20, and 10w30 in (many, many, many) mowers, snow blowers, and any Honda engines, respectively. My extensive knowledge of oil is limited to slipping around when I step in it. Wonder what James Bond sprays out of the back of his car to make bad guys slip off the road.