Exhaust manifold and oil usage

EotS1

EotS1

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Joined
Oct 19, 2014
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67
Location
Petoskey, MI
My 01 SXR 600 redhead had two problems at the end of the season last year, getting ready for this season.

First, the exhaust manifold lost a few bolts and came loose. I bought some Nordlock washers and will rectify this soon.

The second problem was heavy oil usage. I checked my cable gap and it was within spec, so I was thinking I'll probably have to replace my oil pump. But it recently occurred to me to ask: Could the exhaust system problem have caused the excess oil usage?
 

EotS1 said:
My 01 SXR 600 redhead had two problems at the end of the season last year, getting ready for this season.

First, the exhaust manifold lost a few bolts and came loose. I bought some Nordlock washers and will rectify this soon.

The second problem was heavy oil usage. I checked my cable gap and it was within spec, so I was thinking I'll probably have to replace my oil pump. But it recently occurred to me to ask: Could the exhaust system problem have caused the excess oil usage?
Click to expand...
i would recommend a cometic gasket the gets crushed instead of stock one. it solved all of my oil leaking from exhaust. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cometic-Ex...ash=item5b3f9fec0c:g:4SYAAOSwrhhZ6AWe&vxp=mtr
 
How much oil were you using?
Most redhead 600 & 700 triples seem to burn around 50:1 witch is alot of oil but probably one of the reasons why they last so freaken long to.
 
I don't remember the actual usage right now, but it went waaay up last season - probably using 2x-3x what it was.

It did foul a plug for a moment once, started running on two cylinders, but it cleared up itself.
 
I already got the stock replacement gasket and tightened it up last year, but I'm planning on taking it apart and putting in Nordlocks before we start this year.

And yeah, it's an SX-R redhead. I had to check and make sure I didn't type SRX, because I mix them up all the time as well. :)
 
Did you happen to add a riser? I added a 3" riser a few years back and left the cables stock. I started to use a lot more oil. When I checked the gap is was correct, but it turns out, that every time I turned the sled to one way, the oil cable would pull.
 
Yeah, I'm aware of that issue. It does have a 1.5 or 2" riser on it, but that's been there since I bought it 3-4 years ago, and oil usage has been normal all along. I have checked to see if the cable pulls when turned in the past, but it wouldn't hurt to check it again in case anything got relocated on a carb cleaning or something...
 
I was talking to another sled buddy the other day, and we're both pretty sure the manifold being loose increased my oil usage - he had a similar experience. Once I get that all buttoned up with Nordlock washers, I'll be going through my carbs to get ready for the season and I'll check all of my cable specs out again. Then I'll run it and see if oil usage went back to normal.

If not, next steps...
 
First winter I owned my sled I drove for an entire week and racked up a few hundred kms before I clued in that my sled had a noticibly different sound to it. Turned out both bolts that hold the exhaust header to #1 cylinder weren't doing anything. One fell out and the other was half way out. Few other bolts were loose on the other cylinders too. ( blue locktight to the rescue). Long story short in my case the oil consumption was unaffected by it.
 
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