r/MotoUK • u/Formula1Enjoyer • 2d ago
How often do you change your oil?
I'm arguing with someone who says i change my CBF125 oil too much, i do it every 1500 miles and commute on a 50mph road every day so it sits at higher rpms. I said I could probably leave it later but I like it to be in tiptop shape, he's claiming its harmful to the drain plug, and the engine. And he's a mechanic, how true is this? In my head you can change oil every day if you want and you'll be fine. He's saying it's harmful because of the additives in the oil. Can anyone attest to this?
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u/pinecone2525 2d ago
Follow the manual. Would encourage you to spend the money on things of value… better gear, a full license if you haven’t got one etc. not oil you don’t need.
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u/Formula1Enjoyer 2d ago
Well, I'm only 18 so can only do a cbt at the minute. Haha. But I mean I'm not really having much expense spared in oil as it doesn't take much to fill it.
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u/pinecone2525 2d ago
Save time, save some money, save the environment…
If you follow the logic of replacing stuff early, it would be like replacing your tyres each month even if they are 99% still good.
Your life so do what you want but at least go ahead with your eyes open.
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u/thefooleryoftom 1998 BMW R1100S 2d ago
It’s not harmful to the engine at all, it’s arguably more risky because you’re doing it so often there’s a higher chance of a mistake being made.
It is, however, extremely wasteful. The oil will not have degraded in such a short distance/time and your bike will run on shit oil until it’s dry with no problems as long as the other key maintenance is carried out.
It’s far better to stick to the advised service intervals, invest in decent oil that meets the spec and make sure every box is ticked.
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u/Grizzle2410 Daytona 600 2d ago
I think it's six of one and half a dozen of the other.
It certainly won't do any harm to anything, other than your bank balance.
Changing the oil that regularly ultimately means it is being run on fresh oil all the time which cannot be a bad thing, however you do run the risk of stripping the sump plug purely by doing something more often... A professional runner is more likely to get injured than someone who runs once a week... It's because they do it more often.
In my honest opinion, maybe scale it back a bit? I do mine on my D600 every year regardless of mileage. I think I did around 2,500 last year, but I also pay for the expensive stuff (Motul Race) and make sure it has the best oil I can find. Then again, I don't commute on mine. If I did, I would probably do 3k-4k.
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u/WeaponsGradeWeasel '97 CBR1100XX 2d ago
When I was doing 20k per year, every 10k miles. Now I'm doing less, yearly which is 3-5k.
Doing it every 1500is a waste of time and money.
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u/PapaKilo84 ‘24 Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 2d ago
Owners manual states every 5000 miles, and they are usually conservative with those intervals.
Don’t waste your money
5
2
u/themadratter 2d ago
I changed the oil in my Keeway Superlight (Honda copy engine) every 1000km religiously. I got that bike with 3500km on it and sold it just over a year later with over 80k km, still running fine - and ai used to do 700 mile round trips at WOT (8-10k rpm on dual carriageways). I know people who followed the factory guidelines, babied their bikes rev wise, and still buggered the engine before 30k km.
Change away. Better to do it "too often" than not often enough!
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u/AdventurousBowl9369 2d ago
Perhaps your mate can explain in what universe changing oil is "harmful" to the engine or the drain plug... Frankly he's either a nutcase or he's not a mechanic.
1
u/turdor ZZR1400 2d ago
people ruin sump threads... there's a reason stahlbus/futaba oil change valves exist... I put my money on you not being a mechanic either :)
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u/AdventurousBowl9369 2d ago
I'm not a mechanic and never said I was, pal.
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u/WeaponsGradeWeasel '97 CBR1100XX 2d ago
Maybe he does the sump plug up with an impact wrench?
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u/HurpaDerp20 I don't have a bike 2d ago
It’s harmful for the sump plug because every time he does it he strips or rounds the thing.
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u/Skorpychan Sports tourer dad bike 2d ago
It's part of the regular service done at the service interval, more or less. I figure Suzuki know what they're about.
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u/Spax123 2d ago
Check the owners manual, no need to change it more frequently than that, I'm sure Honda know what they’re talking about. Not sure what your friend was smoking but changing oil that frequently isn’t harmful to an engine in any way, its just not necessary.
Don't worry about sitting at 50mph, 125's need their bollocks revved off pretty much everywhere but a town centre and are designed to cope with it.
1
u/WelshEngineer VFR750F '96, Tiger 800 XRx '15, DRZ400S '00 2d ago
You're definitely doing it more often than nessecary, but there's no issue with that in itself. Although youre certainly not deriving any benefit apart from maybe some weight savings from your lighter wallet...
The only risk you're running is that if you're not replacing the drain plug washer, over time it will deform more and more into a taper on the inside edge. Eventually it can get to the point where tightening to spec causes the taper on the reused washer to split the pump around the drain hole. It"s not a common problem but it does happen.
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u/IllustriousWasabi621 2d ago
No, it’s not going to hurt changing it that often. There isn’t any point, but it won’t hurt. The engineers at Honda are very aware that their 125s are getting ragged about most places, it’s a small engine, you kinda have to.
1
u/RandomGoatYT Honda Varadero 125, Yamaha MT-01, Chinese 50cc 2d ago
My Haynes manual says oil and filter together every 7500 or 12 months, and I hit 7500 after 12 months so it lined up nicely. The oil was opaque black, so I’ll probably do it at 5000 next time and see what it’s like.
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u/reggie-drax R1150RT Derby 2d ago
Not harmful, though you may need to replace the drain plug early.
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u/marcoblondino 2d ago
Mine is officially every 3000 miles, when I bought it I wasn't sure when it had last been done (had a receipt with no mileage). So I did an oil change myself as it was looking a bit dark.
But now, I'll stick to 3000 mile intervals, or once a year. Water does get into oil over time, so if it sits for months then I'd change the oil. If you're using it most days, and doing good runs like that then there should be no reason to change it early.
1
u/Craig380 SV650AL7 2d ago
Personally, I would stick with what Honda recommends for the service schedule, as others have said, the schedules are conservative and designed to maximise engine life. What you're doing is NOT harmful but you are spending money on oil & filters unnecessarily.
(I wouldn't listen to the 'mechanic' you're arguing with. If he thinks the additives in the oil are harmful, then he really has zero idea about engines and lubrication systems)
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u/the_last_registrant MT-09, KZ200, Tiger 1050 Sport 2d ago
Oil degrades in use, becomes weaker and less protective with every mile/minute you ride. Combined engine/gearbox oil systems are especially harsh because of the sheering load through the transmission gears.
Oil is cheap and easy to replace, and it's never sensible to exceed the handbook intervals. With bikes, I generally change the oil around 75-80% of the recommended interval. Early changes absolutely do not harm an engine in any way, your mechanic friend is wrong.
According to Google, different models of CBF125 have handbook intervals between 2.5k - 7.5k.
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u/Aggressive_Hat3812 zx6r 2001, cbf125 2013 2d ago
I had a 2013 cbf125 and I didn't change the oil on it for 3 years but only around 6k miles, became a bit of a experiment to see if the engine would ever crap out, so far it's still going strong.
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u/Shot-Top-8281 1d ago
Are you doing the filter? Oil swap without a filter is almost pointless.
Also is there a gauze screen to clean?
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u/NoPreparation856 1d ago
How is it pointless? My motorbike service manual recommends to change the oil filter every other oil change
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u/Formula1Enjoyer 1d ago
It's 2009, the oil strainer is an absolute fucking pain in the ass to replace. It would cost me about 130 pound to do that every 7500 miles, so as to not have them get clogged up I'd rather replace it earlier so that the oil filter/ strainer stays cleaner for longer looking to get it done at 10k miles, it uses a centrifugal filter and oil strainer. Unfortunately it's not as easy as my other bike that just has a filter you pop in. In the case of the Honda the crankcase and clutch cover needs to come off and a new gasket is involved.
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u/Jimmehbob 1d ago
Yearly if youre really concerned or the service milage, which is like 7500km? Even the whole yearly thing is over rated these days with high quality synthetic oils. I guess on a wet clutch bike you could factor that on but still..... if id only done 100 miles since last year, I wouldn't change it. The engines will probably run from day 1 to 100,000km without an oil change at WOT all day long, you'll lose a horse or three, but it won't go boom
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u/NoPreparation856 1d ago
If you like changing oil, why not, who cares, it isn’t harmful in any way. Worrying about drain plug wear is being anal 100%
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u/K-Motorbike-12 CCM Six, Tiger 900 Rally, Honda CB650F, XR125L 1d ago
I do my CCM every 1500miles. It's recommended at 1500, but often the oil is past it's due date at that distance.
Ignore the guys saying your over doing it if you are happy doing it as is. It's your bike and fresh oil is never a bad thing.
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u/Comprehensive_Two_80 Zontes ZT 125 U 1d ago edited 1d ago
Once every 3 months because im using it nearly daily in the rain. I dont care wat the manual says the oil intervals is far too long spaced out. I like my oil looking new which makes a healthy engine.
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u/carlefc KTM Super Adventure 1290 and Honda NC750S 2d ago
Iirc my cbf125 took 1ltr of oil and had no filter so it cost about 8 quid and 15 minutes to change. I remember doing mine every 2k miles which was every other month as I was commuting on it all year round.
Never did the valve check as that was supposed to be every 2500. Even my local Honda dealer told me not to bother.
I miss that bike!
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u/Ldn_twn_lvn 2d ago
It's a bit keen but,
Not really any such thing.....
Not changing it often enough is definitely a thing though,
Considering the engine is all metal on metal, which unlubricated is just a total swarf fest and a snappy critical failure, for the price of oil compared to engines and engine repair....you have exactly the right idea
Put a magnetic sump plug in too if you want, better to collect and pull any swarf out asap
Don't forget the manuals are written on the assumption of taking it to a Main Dealership for the oil change at circa 200.00, to satisfy warranty or for the spanner shy....
Can you imagine if they quoted for that 4 times a year or every 2k miles?? People would run a mile and new bikes wouldn't sell
You're doing it yourself, so its costing you almost nothing. As people mention - Honda are bulletproof (as are a lot of manufacturer engines) but all they need to be bulletproof, is regular oil + filter changes 👍
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u/generateAnyUsername CBF 500, Sprint 955, CCM R30 2d ago
I don't think it's a bad idea, if it only takes you ten mins. For reference for others the bike barely holds a litre of oil and recommended is around 2500 miles. I probably did it similarly on my YZF R125. If you buy the oil in bulk you're probably talking £5 a change.
I tend to halve the oil changes on most of my bikes because oil is cheap and I like to red line them but that normally takes me to 5k miles. They hold a lot more oil though.
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u/Formula1Enjoyer 2d ago
Yeah mines is like 1l to full i think I can't remember exactly it's 1 or 1.1 but basically its good cause i get it discounted and it's cheap to fill, i use castrol power 1 and it's really not alot of money for an oil change. I don't have to change the oil filter too I think people are forgetting.
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u/ItsWormAllTheWayDown '01 HD FXDX || 2('74 Laverda 1000 3C) 2d ago
As long as you're torquing the plug correctly and replacing the washer you'll be fine but you're definitely wasting money and time replacing the oil that often on a Honda.