Well I like/love Syn Oil...been very good to all my stuff,also put a pan of regular oil and a pan of Syn on the stove and turn it on...

 

I don't ever cook with Synthetic nor regular Engine oil, so, that test has no value to me.

As far as the filter being "dirty" or "not dirty", it means nothing. So what if you get more sharf caught in the filter when it's a new engine. It's caught in the filter, right? It's not going anywhere, and it's safe to leave it right there.

Again, the largest passageways in a filter will only catch the biggest particles, so, you want those largest passageways to be plugged. The only thing that can plug these is LARGE pieces of debris....why would I want to keep throwing away a filter that (thankfully) has the largest passageways plugged? I WANT those large passageways to be plugged so the rest of the oil is filtered by the finer passageways. That's why a filter gets more efficient as it is used....up to a point, of course...there are the matters of aging, as well as total load.

But, changing it at 22 miles, and 200 miles and 500 miles is counter-productive. You end up with less effective filtration that first 722 miles, compared to just leaving the original filter in the entire time. It's your bike, and you probably aren't hurting a thing to "over-change" the filter...but, you're certainly not improving filtration efficiency by doing so.

 

Well designed synthetic oil does make a difference when those molecule chains are manipulated in such a way that minimizes shear effects and the oil's ability to get into and stay in place to prohibit metal-to-metal contact under severe temps. Additive packages can help a lot to improve any oil, but the foundation is in the molecule chains of the oil, and that's where high quality synthetic oil is superior. It's a never ending debate, but there is a vast amount of testing data available if one is willing to wade through it. The only thing worse than a synthetic oil debate is a "which oil brand is best" debate.

 

It's really that simple, but, it's complicated enough that trained Tribologists are best at pointing out the best add packs that work with a given base oil. The fly in the ointment is that severely-hydrocracked base oils can be labeled as "synthetic", when they really aren't as stable as true designer-make laboratory synthetics. Ya gotta know what you're getting, or you can sure overpay....

 

Yep... my filter looked like a glitter ball (cylinder?) at 70 miles too. I agree that most of the bad stuff from manufacturing will eventually be out of the system after a few hundred miles.

That reminds me... I need to change mine again!

 

Along with seeing scary things in your filter on a new motor, you should see the stuff that gets picked up by the screen on the oil pump side of the engine...under the right cover.

 

Ain't THAT the truth!

 

Which right cover might that be? I don't recall seeing anything in the manual about cleaning that screen, or anything mentioning the existence of that screen...

 

This is a link to cleaning the KLR600/650 screen, but it's almost identical to the one in our KLX. Ours is a flat tray type instead of round. You'll see it shown in section 6-11 of the factory service manual.

MarkNet - KLR650 : Oil Screen Cleaning

 

I haven't read the manual, but, I'd be surprised if it ever recommends cleaning of this screen. Those pieces of sharf/gasket/etc., that are caught there don't do any harm. It sure FEELS good to get them out of there....if you are ever replacing the water pump seal(s). On the KLR650, many people go to this screen to pluck out the parts of a failed Balancer Lever Adjuster and/or it's spring.