Modern Vespa

I just had to top up another 250ml, I've went through 700ml-ish over the last couple of months.

Not got any leaks, no smokey exhaust emissions, none of the usual suspects.

*Are you checking the oil with the dipstick screwed all the way in?

It's a pre leader, so only the dodgy sight glass

Plus, once the engine has run, the oil has this wee froth in the sight glass, is that normal ?

some oils do that if they have high detergents in them.

What oil are you currently using?

Small amounts of consumption is normal especially if your doing more higher speed riding like on the motorways.

A little froth is okay. If your present oil level is where it shows in the picture, I wouldn't add any and keep watching it. Sometimes, engines will seek their own level of "full" If it gets close to the bottom of the glass, then I'd refill it to the top.

There was nothing in the sight glass till I filled it last night to the level you see.

I thought maybe because it was cold it was all still up in the engine, so left it to see if it trickled down to the sight glass but it never.

Shook it from side to side, to see if there was any oil, but nada.

So I topped it up with the 250ml I mentioned.

Obviously there was some oil in still since the capacity is 1100ml and the oil wasn't on.

Oil light* wasn't on sorry.

If you overfilled it, it's possible that it threw the excess oil plus some of the other oil int the air filter due to the pressure. Probably not that much but it's possible. I would check the air filter/air box for oil and fill it back to the full mark and keep a close eye on it. If it keeps using an excessive amount, you may a ring problem. The other possibility is that your valve stem seals are leaking. Also, are your valves in proper adjustment?

Pull the spark plug and have a look at it's condition. It will show if you've been burning oil. You can burn that amount of oil and not see much in the way of smoke. It's not uncommon for a motor to burn oil under load and smoke a little and not burn enough to smoke at idle.

-Craig

Castrol 10-40w 4T

Fully synthetic oil is what is recommended.

How old is your engine in terms of km?

PS: neat to have a spyglass. Saves you from having to endlessly unscrew and rescrew the dip stick.

That said, could it be that your spyglass needs about a 30° counterclockwise rotation (if that is at all doable)?

Ha ha it's weird you asked that, I was gonna post asking what I should do now that I just hit 10,000 miles today.

The last owner said he'd changed the belt just before I bought it (9,700 miles) but I'd need to check it.

Any advice on what I should do ?

Pre-leader engines burn more than later models. Both of mine got through a surprising amount. You should be using fully synthetic oil. The manual recommends 20w for that engine but I always used 5w40

Maybe a stupid thought, but would a thinner oil (like a 5W-xxx) not sneak through micro gaps easier and be burned than a recommended thicker 20W?

the lower number 5w is the cold number when first starting the engine the upper number is when it warmed up. So no it is not like its thinner per say.

Not thinner per se, but thinner when cold. 5W means it is more liquid than, say, a 20W, when the oil is cold, so it qualifies for colder regions. And that thinner consistency may make it seep through more easily in an engine designed for a thicker oil from the start.

Really, 20W-40? Is it air cooled?

I'm no authority on oil but I think conventional wisdom holds that switching to a full synthetic at this stage if you are indeed burning oil will likely cause it to use even more.

No, not unless it's leaking. Using the correct weight and full synthetic may fix the problem.

20W-50 synthetic oil API SG or higher for the pre-leader engine

Wonder if this would stop it using oil , Im also not sure they do a 20w-50 synthetic oil

Doh just looked it's a harley or big cruiser grade oil so you can get it in fully syth

Icebu.. I mean

Oil thread dead ahead!

Yes it's air cooled. Also: make sure the scooter is absolutely level when reading the oil level off the sight glass. Even a slight lean to one side or the other will give a wildly inaccurate reading