Oil consumption - 2022 CRF1100 ATAS

My brother's dad used to say that a quart of oil every 3k miles was considered good.... granted this was from his career in the military and was probably with something like this: 32 CID Engine, 4 Cylinder, Unused

So that's 1000ml every, what, 4500km? Shoot you're barley on the radar! Mostly joking but that is a concept I often think about, or how much at is changed over time as well. I asked chatgpt to tell me what the rate of oil consumption is every 1000km and this is what I get:

Rate of change between 982 km and 2600 km: 369.92 ml/1000 km
Rate of change between 2600 km and 3950 km: 148.15 ml/1000 km
Rate of change between 3950 km and 4950 km: 100 ml/1000 km
Rate of change between 4950 km and 6400 km: 137.93 ml/1000 km

Looking at this it appears to have stabilized and leveled off or close to it, does this match your experience?
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Math's for those that want to double check:


To calculate the rate of change per 1000 km, we need to adjust the rates of change based on the distance covered in each interval. Here's how we can calculate it:

1. Calculate the rate of change for each interval as before:

Rate of change between 982 km and 2600 km: 600 ml / 1618 km Rate of change between 2600 km and 3950 km: 200 ml / 1350 km Rate of change between 3950 km and 4950 km: 100 ml / 1000 km Rate of change between 4950 km and 6400 km: 200 ml / 1450 km

1. Adjust the rates of change to a standard of 1000 km:

Rate of change between 982 km and 2600 km: (600 ml / 1618 km) * 1000 km = 369.92 ml/1000 km Rate of change between 2600 km and 3950 km: (200 ml / 1350 km) * 1000 km = 148.15 ml/1000 km Rate of change between 3950 km and 4950 km: (100 ml / 1000 km) * 1000 km = 100 ml/1000 km Rate of change between 4950 km and 6400 km: (200 ml / 1450 km) * 1000 km = 137.93 ml/1000 km

veloccity said:

My brother's dad used to say that a quart of oil every 3k miles was considered good.... granted this was from his career in the military and was probably with something like this: 32 CID Engine, 4 Cylinder, Unused

So that's 1000ml every, what, 4500km? Shoot you're barley on the radar! Mostly joking but that is a concept I often think about, or how much at is changed over time as well. I asked chatgpt to tell me what the rate of oil consumption is every 1000km and this is what I get:

Rate of change between 982 km and 2600 km: 369.92 ml/1000 km
Rate of change between 2600 km and 3950 km: 148.15 ml/1000 km
Rate of change between 3950 km and 4950 km: 100 ml/1000 km
Rate of change between 4950 km and 6400 km: 137.93 ml/1000 km

Looking at this it appears to have stabilized and leveled off or close to it, does this match your experience?
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As a point of comparison, Ol' Red only loses oil through the alternator cable weep path which makes cleaning the bash plate a mess. For over 22k miles she's never needed a splash between oil changes. Indeed, of the several Hondas I've owned, the kind of oil use described here is off the scale. YMMV.

If the oil isn't pooling under, on or around the bike then it's being burned. Most likely cause of that problem for a relatively new bike is scored cylinder walls and/or poor or improper ring seating. I realize it's terribly inconvenient to do on an AT, but a compression check of the cylinders can indicate if there's a problem. You'll want to check max compression through 10 to 20 cycles.



This is from page 10-4 of the CRF 1000A/D shop manual.

Yeah, not ideal at all. Agreed that if you don't see pooling oil, it's being burned. I change the oil every 5000km and the filter every 10000km and notice it's moved about halfway down the dipstick on my 1000L.

I ran through the whole gamut when my old V-Strom started burning too much oil, so maybe my experience is transferable:

Compression test like WeeWilly suggested is a solid first step. If you've got a cylinder or both with low compression, add a squirt of oil through the spark plug hole and try again. This seals the cylinder, so if compression rises it points to a cylinder/bore leak. If it stays low it points to problems in the cylinder head. You should comfortably be getting over 170psi, but check your service manual for specific figures.

A leakdown test will also tell you exactly where the leak is, but you need an air compressor to do it. If you do the test, listen for whistling sounds in the air box and exhaust to pinpoint the leak. 0-5% leakage is excellent, 5-10% is fine, 10-15% is not great and 15+% is where you should seriously consider taking remedial action. I mention the numbers as if you're getting fairly low leakage, this could point to an oil leak elsewhere, possibly only when the crank case is pressurised.

As don67 noted, switching to a thicker oil can mitigate the problem if it's dodgy rings. I went up in steps to 20W60 on my v-strom, and could likely have pushed it to 25W70. The brand was Penrite HPR30, if they sell it where you are. That being said, it should be alright in Portuguese weather but thick oil doesn't play too nicely with very cold climates.

My advice would be to fight Honda for a warranty replacement, it's not normal. If your country has a strong consumer law or lemon law, it might be worth trying to use it. If they stonewall you and you've gotta fix it yourself, find where the leak is. If it's rings/cylinder walls, use thicker oil until the burn rate becomes unacceptable again, then get the cylinders serviced. If it's the cylinder head, get the head serviced ASAP. Servicing on the engine unfortunately isn't cheap: a top end rebuild and head service on the v-strom ran me almost $2500 Australian just for parts and machine shop fees, add another $1000+ for mechanic's fees if you can't do it yourself.

Also it goes without saying that it's just one guy's opinion (especially the numbers!), and I've never taken an AT engine apart