Posted by Capt Capsize on December 22, 2001 at 19:17:29:
I may have screwed up a perfectly good machine. About 5 months ago I bought a '97 Savage with 1500 miles on it from a cute little lady who had no further use for it. The first thing I did after riding it home was to the change the oil. I rode it about 1,000 miles checking the oil before each ride. It never seemed to use any so I didn't bother to check it for several 100
mile trips after I put a windshield on. The windshield
seemed to increase the noticeable engine noise so I didn't give much thought to the engine getting noisier.
So yesterday I changed the oil at 3,000 miles. Uh oh,only 1 1/2 quarts came out. I replaced filter and added 2 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic. I started the engine and let it idle a few minutes to circulate the oil and rode a mile or two to check for leaks. Now the scary part, the engine isn't making any top end noises as before the oil change. I'm wondering if I caused some premature valve train wear by running 500 or so miles with it low on oil. And, where did a 1/2 qt. of oil go, I don't have any leaks?