I had to drain the oil to change out the stock doohickey for an upgraded aftermarket one from Eagle. Since there were so few miles on the oil (about 700) I decided to skip getting it tested. Oil filter was not changed as visual inspection showed it to still be in good condition.
Also, I decided to change from Shell Rotella 15W-40 conventional oil to Shell Rotella 5W-40 pseudo-synthetic (group III) oil. I wanted the lower cold viscosity because I happen to live and work less than a mile from the highway. Without excessive warmup idling that would cause other problems, I hit the highway with some pretty cold oil. And, as any KLR owner knows, maintaining highway speeds requires some pretty high RPMs. With stock gearing I have to turn 4,500 RPM just to go an indicated 65 MPH (which is probably closer to a true 60 MPH because of the bike's optimistic speedometer). This at least lets me putt along in the slow lane here in California. Once the engine and oil are fully warmed I crank it up to 80 MPH (indicated; 74 true), which sends the RPMs to almost 5,500.
The Rotella 15W-40 has a viscosity of 118 cSt at 40° C , while the 5W-40 version has a viscosity of 90 cSt at that temperature. Both oils get down to around 15 cSt at 100° C, which is towards the thicker end of the viscosity range for 40 weight oil.
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