Another oil question

[chief]

Cheers.

[scwilli]

Took a while to reply, but no oil problems.  The glass was etched causing false readings + me not letting the bike sit upright long enough.  Thanks for all the help on the false alarm

[chief]

Usually the fogging is due to condensation and will correct itself... but it could be etched. You should drain and run some clean oil thru if you think there is that much crap in the sump.

[scwilli]

The window is fairly "fogged" up, I have the bike up at work and waiting for my days off to drain and check if the new oil is not showing up well.  Got thinking about it today and maybe the window was clouding up when I added oil and stirred up the dregs in the bottom.......?

And no insult taken cheif.  I am an idiot when it comes to bikes, I would prefer people to say the stupidly obvious in case I missed it.

[chief]

Don't mean to insult, but ensure the bike is level when checking the oil... not on sidestand.

There is no place for 1.5 qts of oil to go when its not running and is sitting still. It is still in the bike...

It takes the oil, especially when cold, a few minutes to level properly when the bike has sat for a while... like overnight. Also, good clean oil can fill up the glass and look like its empty. Always check with the bike level.

Overfilling is very bad for the bike, so ensure you are looking at the glass with the bike level and oil reasonably warm.

The bike is full when it reaches the full mark on the glass... not a completely full glass.

You might want to consider draining the oil (including filter) and measuring what you get... pour into old oil bottles etc. If you get around 3 qts... you are good.

I cannot think of any way you could loose that much oil with the bike sitting still.

[scwilli]

Forgot to add, according to that oil window, it went from the full line to the empty line last night  Without running the bike, no oil on bike/ground.

A buddy suggested that the oil could be leaking into the transmission.  Is this possible?

This is a WTF experience

[aclone]

Sounds like your losing oil oniy when the bike is running.  ( when the oil is under presure)  Fill it up turn it on and see where it's leaking from. Check around the oil filter first.
Mark

[scwilli]

I bought my 99 drifter 1500 not too long ago.  When I had the oil changed right after buying it, there was maybe 1/2 to 1/3 of a quart of oil in the bike.

Long story short, the shop put in 3.5qt of oil when they changed the filter and oil.  A couple days later I checked and there was no oil visible on the inspection window at the bottom of the bike.  I was hoping that this was just the engine filling up with oil and put 1.5qt more into the bike to almost top off that window.  One day later the little window was empty again with only 3-4 miles put on the bike.

There are a few small oil leaks from the round plugs at the top of the engine, but nothing near what i would call a leak big enough to drain 5qts in 2-3 days. There is no oil on the ground where I park, and no smoke when I run the bike.

Out of ideas.  Thinking about keeping it topped off, hoping that since it was run dry before it is just taking more oil than normal to refill, but I'm afraid something bad is going on.  Anyone have suggestions/ideas/knowledge/etc?