How well do Kymcos hold up?

[TBR125]

The topic is a bit to large to get into here. It mainly applies to cars as motorcycles fill the oil with garbage long before the oil itself is dead. Also the high and fluctuating oil temps on little engines take their toll on the oils. Even though these scooters don't have a wet clutch the engine usually makes enough garbage to warrant spec changes without additional filter systems. Besides, as Stig pointed out a quart oil change doesn't cost much. I buy a 5 quart Mobil 1 10w-40 for $20.99 which comes to only 4 dollars a change.

[TBR125]

By higher minimums I mean that I change the oil before it degrades to the point considered acceptable by the engine design. That point is found by testing a few oil change samples to find close to what your oil is at for a given interval. Samples can be mailed to Blackstone Labs.

I would never try to stretch your interval limits. It is a balance between the positive benefits of consistent fluid and the negative aspects of running worn/contaminated oil. You can't go wrong staying on the short interval side which is why I will not recommend pushing limits to anyone. I don't want to encourage anyone to go down a path that could potential damage their machine if the balance is overshot.

Remember this is just another "proven" opinion of oil:) Don't trust a word of it.

[scooterfan]

..............I will add an oil cooler in the near future that has a built in filter which would allow a safe 3,000 mile change. The safe interval varies per engine. Even if this works for me I recommend the manual specs for others unless testing has shown otherwise.

I often wondered about the possibility of installing an oil cooler to my Agility.  It would be interesting to know your plans about directing oil flow through an oil cooler ?
Maybe via some kind of adaptor at the big oil drain plug (as suction from the air cooler) ?
And oil flow from the sump to the oil cooler via the small oil drain plug at the left of the engine ?

[Duddy03]

The idea of an oil cooler is interesting.  The filter in an oil cooler is even more interesting!  I am too cheap to pay $20 for an oil analysis on my scooter when an regular oil change would be so less expensive.  But I did have a car with annual oil analysis that safely went 170,000 miles and 9 1/2 years without an oil change!  Sadly, the lack of oil filtration changes the game for a small engine.

[TBR125]

Now I'm the one worried about a long interval! That's insane man.

[TBR125]

I often wondered about the possibility of installing an oil cooler to my Agility.  It would be interesting to know your plans about directing oil flow through an oil cooler ?
Maybe via some kind of adaptor at the big oil drain plug (as suction from the air cooler) ?
And oil flow from the sump to the oil cooler via the small oil drain plug at the left of the engine ?

I am looking at different possible solutions for an oil cooler as I do wring out that poor little engine for long stretches. There are several commercially manufactured GY6 cooler units. The issue is finding one that matches the kymco.

[TBR125]

The idea of an oil cooler is interesting.  The filter in an oil cooler is even more interesting!  I am too cheap to pay $20 for an oil analysis on my scooter when an regular oil change would be so less expensive.  But I did have a car with annual oil analysis that safely went 170,000 miles and 9 1/2 years without an oil change!  Sadly, the lack of oil filtration changes the game for a small engine.

What car and what oil+filter combo? I have a Duratec v6 in a Mazda 6s and am trying to decide on an oil and filter to use after the rebuild.

[JJJoseph]

Should I be concerned that my Kymco has a sticker that says "made in China"?

I've never seen a Kymco with a "made in China" sticker!  It's a Taiwan company with a back-door relationship with China, but they don't make a big deal about it.  In fact, Kymco is pretty near silent on it's relationship with China.

[Stig / Major Tom]

I've never seen a Kymco with a "made in China" sticker!  It's a Taiwan company with a back-door relationship with China, but they don't make a big deal about it.  In fact, Kymco is pretty near silent on it's relationship with China.

Take a look at a LIKE200i on dealer floor. If memory serves it faces rider on the leg shield.

Stig

[flying old guy]

My 2018 that I just bought has a "made in China" sticker on the right lower panel below my (R) foot. To be honest, if I had noticed it when I bought it a week ago, I probably would passed on it.

[TBR125]

What you don't know won't hurt you in regards to the Kymco scoots. Unless you're talking about maintenance.

[fishcutter44]

170,000 miles on the same oil? I am interested to hear how this is done; are you using an oil centrifuge or some type of dark arts?
No disrespect intended, but I suspect there may be ways to do this.

[TBR125]

+1

[scooterfan]

I am looking at different possible solutions for an oil cooler as I do wring out that poor little engine for long stretches. There are several commercially manufactured GY6 cooler units. The issue is finding one that matches the kymco.

Thanks, I never knew about the oil cooler units and got quite exited after I saw the adaptor which get installed at the big drain plug hole. But when I had a close look at how the system actually works I started having serious doubts whether installing such a system is a good idea. In fact - I am more than convinced that systems like that can easily cause serious engine damage.

The reason being -  in a system like this the adaptor with banjo fittings, oil cooler radiator, and external hoses get installed BEFORE the oil pump. In other words - the oil pump needs to suck oil via the complete cooling systym before it can feed oil to other components at the outlet side of the pump.

It is common knowledge that in cars, ldv’s trucks, tractors, etc. oil filters always get installed AFTER the outlet side of an oil pump. Having watched some videos, I noticed that some people even install external in-line oil filters on these scooter cooling modifications. To my mind this is not a good idea at all - an oil filter should NEVER be installed before an oil pump, it can easily restrict oil flow at the suction side of the pump. Specially when the oil is cold, or during high engine RPM’s.

In short - I think the additional resistance caused by the adaptor with small banjo fittings, the hoses, radiator, and possible oil filter can easily cause major engine problems.
I noticed that at least two sellers recommend the installation of high flow oil pumps during modifications like this, and I think I know exactly why - a standard oil pump could easily fail to suck enough oil through all the restrictions !

[TBR125]

You stated the main reason I haven't bought one. I'm working on one for the agility which hopefully wont stress the pump If I get the flow design correct. I will let you know when I get one built. Might be a bit.