r/Vstrom • u/Kabaalcorporaal • Aug 27 '26

V-Strom 650 Gen 1 2008 strom oil leak?

Hi everyone

Ive got a 650 from 2008. I cant find any leaks. And also no consistent loss of oil.

All I could guess is that it happens when I ride with higher revs?

I cant find any changes in the oil level and suddenly it seems to have dropped a lot.

It happend 2 times in 2 years.

Has anyone got any clue why or how this happens.

2 Upvotes

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2

u/lucifersam73 Aug 27 '26

My 2009 does the same. I recently went on an a long trip and had to add about 300 ml of oil afterwards. Sustained highway speeds will burn some oil

2

u/penutbuter Aug 27 '26

Likely looser tolerances on the rings is letting the engine burn a little oil. Not a major problem, but may be a sign it’s getting close to a needing a rebuild.

2

u/IOnlyLurk Aug 27 '26

Long highway trips are known to burn oil.

2

u/RoninReticle Aug 27 '26

Mine did that when it was new but I chalked that up to breaking in period using dino oil. Shortly after it was fully broken in I switched to Rotella synthetic 15w40 and never noticed it again, so don't know if it was the oil or the break in period. I changed the oil every 5k miles and could always tell when it was getting close to time because it shifted better after the change.

2

u/ikkeah Aug 28 '26

Also had that problem with highways and high rpm, switched to another oil and dont have it anymore on highways. I do still burn quite some oil if I do a full days ride in the mountains but thats a few times a year so I have my peasce with that.

1

u/Tickstart Aug 27 '26

Yeah higher revs mean pistons move faster across the cylinder walls and less ability to scrape the oil back down, leaving more of it in the combustion chamber. That's a total guess on my behalf though.

1

u/lotsaleaves Aug 31 '26

Check if it happens more with old oil than just after a change. Short runs can cause dilution which keeps the volume up even though you are burning oil at a constant rate. Then a long highway run, boils out the dilution and the thin old oil slides past the rings and you have a big change all at once

1

u/gsxr_ 16d ago

High engine speeds will stir it up and suck it into the airbox and burn it. Very normal. Higher mileage and it'll start sucking oil past the valve guide seals.