You may not believe it, but trust us…neither did their owners. We’ve already seen more than one scooter come in this season for service after their owner reported, "I was riding and all of a sudden it just died and I couldn’t start it again." After closer inspection we find that the engine is seized up. The culprit…no oil!
While not bone dry, several more scooters this year have come in with dangerously low oil levels. In these cases, catastrophic damage may have been only a few miles away. No oil? How could this be? Oil is the lifeblood of any combustion engine. Everyone checks their oil, right? Wrong.
We understand that, as with cars, not every scooter owner is interested or inclined to check their own fluid levels. And for the most part, that might be fine as long as you are bringing in your scoot for service on a regular basis. We’d love to service your scooter for you, but there are some basic checks that should be performed periodically at the user level. Checking your engine oil level is one of those basic checks. "I didn’t even know where my dipstick was," is not an ok response to dangerously low engine oil.
Motor oil performs five basic functions: lubricates, cleans, seals, cools and protects. Typical scooter engines utilize a wet sump oiling system where engine oil collects at the bottom of the crankcase. When the engine is running, an oil pump circulates the oil throughout the engine by way of a series of ports where oil squirts out onto the moving parts. Most oil pumps are "constant displacement" which means that in order for oil to be pushed out of the pump, oil has to be sucked into the pump (thus "displacing" the oil in the pump).
If your engine oil level is too low, you may not be getting oil to the key places in your engine where it is needed. The oil will not be able to do its job. It won’t be able to reduce friction (lubricate), thus causing excess wear to critical components like your piston, rings and cylinder walls. It won’t be able to keep the engine cool, which not only risks seizing your engine, but affects the ratio/mixture of air and fuel in your engine. It won’t be able to protect the metal from corrosion. It won’t be able to seal the cylinder as the piston moves up and down, thereby creating a loss of power. And it won’t be able to keep your engine clean by removing harmful particles to be suspended and filtered out by the oil filter.
OK, so I’ve convinced you that its vitally important to check your engine oil. So now the question is, "how" and "how often"? To find the answers to these types of questions, the first place to look is always your owner’s manual. As a general rule, I would say you should check your oil at least once a month. The easiest way to get into the practice of checking your oil is to make it a habit. Find a set time each month, say… every Friday before you ride home from work or every pay day, that you will always check your oil. You could keep an oil rag in a ziplock baggie under the seat. Plus, stash away a couple of Grease Monkey wipes for quick and easy clean-up. Lastly, how you check your oil is also important.
Again, always consult your owner’s manual first. The customary way to check your oil is to let your engine warm up to operating temperature by letting it idle for about 15 minutes. Then, cut the engine and with your scoot on level ground, you can remove the dipstick. Wipe the dipstick with a clean, no-fiber cloth (you don’t need lint getting in your engine). Now, this is where you really should consult your owner’s manual, because most dipsticks are designed to be inserted back into the hole, but not screwed down when checking the level. In that case, simply push the dipstick back down the hole and pull it back out. There should be markings on the end of your dipstick indicating the low and high oil level marks. For safe operation of your scooter, the oil level (as indicated by how high on the stick the oil is) should be between those two marks. If you are low, add the recommended oil for your scooter. If you are high, call us so we can assist you with that.
Congratulations! You just preserved the life of your two-wheeled little buddy. Now get out there and get scootin’!
