A technical question about oil.

[Dunbar]

I would like to ask you a very technical question about the oil level and performance of our vstroms.

You see... I have been riding for only 1 minute with a very limited amount of oil. About 2.2 Litres. My bike is a 2021 vstrom 650 XT. I could not see anything through the oil sight glass, neither when the bike was off nor on.

The oil pressure indicator light was fine, and went out when I started the engine.

And the technical question is : What is the minimum oil for the vstrom to run without breakdown?

I topped up oil and now it's OK, but I'm curious if the bike can handle only 2.2 Litres in the crankcase. Thanks .

[mr_diver]

Generally speaking if there is sufficient oil to cover the oil strainer/pickup in the sump while the entire engine's oil channels are filled with oil will be enough to run the engine for a very short time.
Though this will not be good in the long run.

Low oil levels will cause issues with clutch as it's supposed to be covered continually in oil and with the stator.

Usually when conducting a service and refilling the oil, I will refill to the top mark, run the engine for a minute. Allow the engine to sit for approx. 2 mins, then check the oil level again. Normally a small top up to the full mark is required.

Note that the bike should be held upright, centre stand will skew the reading - the best way is to have someone straddle the seat without putting weight on the seat - not that easy to do for most people with average leg length on a tall bike.

Castrol website states: Capacity 2,6 litre (Service fill), Capacity 3 litre (Dry fill), Filter capacity 0,2 litre
With 2.2ltrs in there I can't see there being an issue for being run for such a short time.

Oil at the very bottom edge of the sight window, still means there is oil in there, but not within the recommended range.

[Mr Nick]

As well as what Mr D has said, oil forms part of the cooling system for the engine and less oil will affect that side as well. Systems are designed to allow some degree of forgetting to check so the absolute minimum where it will cause the engine to eat itself will be lower than what is in it at the low mark. Going below the limit would affect the oil pressure and trigger the warning light: yours didn't, so the engine says it had enough to operate.
It normally takes more than a minute to destroy an engine with no oil in it at all: modern oils really do a good job of sticking to surfaces. Try dropping the sump on an engine & running it dry to see how long it can run - it's longer than you think.

[Dunbar]

 Thank you very much for your answers. I took it for a little spin today and everything was perfect.

[mr_diver]

[Ianmc]

  A little snippet of info about oil levels that came from our old friend “Grey Wolf”.
  If you check the oil level on the centre stand and there is just a small bubble visible at the top of the sight glass, the oil level will be about right when the bike is back down on it’s wheels.

[Joe Rocket]

Ianmc, I have exactly that but it all depends on how your bike is set up. Like everyone else who had the pleasure of 'meeting' greywolf on this forum I would not contradict his excellent advice he gave us.

I have a centrestand and my top fork brackets are lowered down the forks approximately 1 cm. Both changes are allowed by Suzuki, in fact it says in my handbook that the suspension (nothing said about oil levels) is set at mid height, level 3 between 0 and 5, and the result is my rear tyre is 15mm off the level garage floor. The set up of front forks might be different when the bike is prepared for delivery to the client by concessionaires too.

To be fair there is no exact quantity of oil in the motor at any time, you never empty it totally when you do and oil change with or without filter change. I would suggest that is why the visual level is the best method of checking knowing that if you are around three-quarter level between the marks (that is subject to parallex error if you don't get down to the window and look at it eye to eye) is adequately sufficient.

So there are lots of variables and common sense says keep it at 2mm below the top mark when viewing the window at the same level. It won't make any difference if your forks are lowered, you have a centrestand or not. Just find a reasonably level area of ground to check it on.

[Brockett]

I use an old  vstrom mirror to I check the oil level sight glass which I can do while standing astride the bike with both wheels down. Best use of the worlds ugliest mirror I've yet to find.
However, I have yet to see anybody look directly into that sightglass whilst holding the bike in a verticle position with both wheels on a level surface as it says in almost all of the manuals. 

[mr_diver]

I have a pair of v-strom mirrors kicking around somewhere - cheers brocket! 

[Mep]

I have an old mirror cable tied to a 1m length of wood to enable me too check the level on my own. Works a treat.

[Flanners]

I check the oil on the centre stand. The oil at the top on the F mark of the sight glass when on the centre stand is about 2-3mm below it when off and bike vertical, works for me; or when on the bike lean down and take a pic with your mobile.

[The Doctor 46]

I use an old  vstrom mirror to I check the oil level sight glass which I can do while standing astride the bike with both wheels down. Best use of the worlds ugliest mirror I've yet to find.
However, I have yet to see anybody look directly into that sightglass whilst holding the bike in a verticle position with both wheels on a level surface as it says in almost all of the manuals. 

I do this all the time Brockett, always have. I leave the side stand down, pull it upright, check the oil while crouching down then lower it back onto the stand. I have the bike in 1st gear.

[Rookie]

I do exactly the same, as our good doctor

[pichulec]

I do the same as Flanners