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The Official Oil Thread


HispanicSlammer

What Kind Of Oil Do You Use?  

1,244 members have voted

  1. 1. Oil Type?

    • Synthetic
      835
    • Dino/Organic
      238
    • Blend
      173
  2. 2. Motorcycle or Generic oil?

    • Motorcycle Specific
      735
    • Major Brands
      460
    • Generic Automotive
      84
  3. 3. Which Brand?

    • Honda Branded
      188
    • Mobile One
      325
    • AMSOil
      109
    • Castrol
      114
    • Penzoil
      11
    • Lucus
      3
    • Havoline
      1
    • Quaker State
      4
    • Motul
      107
    • Valvoline
      33
    • Golden Spectro
      16
    • Rotella
      209
    • Other
      126


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  • Member Contributer

...also, before this thread goes tankslapping and gets closed... How to choose the proper viscosity of synthetic oil? The service manual recommends 20W40 or 20W50 for temperatures above 32F (which is all we get here in Florida), is that what I should use? Or are there different rules for synthetic oils?

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Great choices, but I think your wasting money changing out MB1 every 3k. The whole idea of a quality Syn. oil like MB1 is that it provides superior protection for much longer change intervals. :thumbsup: It you can run that crap Honda oil for 3k you can surely run MB1 for 6-8 or even 10k before it even begin to break down significantly.

Dude, this is coming from a guy who has 55 ba-zillion miles on his V-tec without a valve adjustment.

10k? Uh, you're killin' me man :unsure:

Just pullin' yer leg Bailey :thumbsup: I've had waaayyy too much wine tonight for these oil discussions!

Edited to add: I stil miss ScootR sad.gif . Where are you man? Where's the cool bike?

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  • Member Contributer
That's a lot of BS Larry, do you have an English version of what all that crap was trying to say? :blink:

What's it saying in your words? :unsure:

Thanks

You're welcome... this is where ScootR would come in and translate my

techno babble with don't worry about the polymers... like even if they do

shear they still work to thicken your earl...

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  • Member Contributer
...also, before this thread goes tankslapping and gets closed... How to choose the proper viscosity of synthetic oil? The service manual recommends 20W40 or 20W50 for temperatures above 32F (which is all we get here in Florida), is that what I should use? Or are there different rules for synthetic oils?

Viscosity is one property of oil that the owner has some control of. Using the proper grade

(viscosity) of oil for the ambient temperature conditions is an essential criteria for long engine

life. The engine will not give you good service life if you use 50 weight oil in 40 degree weather.

That's way Honda can recommend a 10-40...

The viscosity of oil increases rapidly with pressure. Viscosity increase with pressure is of great

importance because it keeps the lubricating oil from squeezing out from between highly loaded

surfaces such as gear teeth.

This increase in viscosity with pressure is expressed as the pressure viscosity coefficient. For

example, lubricating oil at 300,000 psi has the same viscosity as nylon. At these pressures, the

oil film becomes sufficiently viscous to deform steel elastically. This type of lubrication is called

"elastohydrodynamic lubrication".

There is no "ideal" viscosity. Motorcycle oil must act not only as a gear lubricant, but also as a

journal lubricant. The oil must operate at high temperatures within the ring pack and at lower

temperatures in the gear box.

Since oil viscosity influences fuel consumption, auto makers, for example, desire lower viscosity

oils. Lower viscosity oils mean lower film thicknesses and more wear. The proper oil viscosity for

the engine is a compromise. Everything wouldn't be too bad but the oil's viscosity changes with

temperature.

Ideally, motorcycle oil should have the viscosity of a 10 weight oil at low temperatures and the

viscosity of a 40 weight oil at high temperatures.

The reason Honda's shop manual recommends oil viscosities in the 10/40 range is because of

superior tight bearing clearances. Using thicker oils will interfere with oil flow and the oil

pressure will increase.

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Sweet, another oil thread... and all three MODS are here too!! How much trouble can we get into? smile.gif Where is fixxer wink.gif

So I was at the dealer getting the 4K service done and asked for synthetic in the 07 VFR... and was told not to worry about that now because synthetic is "too slippery for such a new bike." I told them put it in there anyway.

The same guy recommended synthetic for my CBR (which does not even have 20K on it) when I took it in for service!!

I usually stick to the book on oil changes... but some are changing more often than I. Is there a reason to change more often? I don't ride that hard most days :unsure:

WHOA!!! who changed the line under my avatar? SWEET!!

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Bel-Ray EXP semi-synth has been a favourite of mine since my teenage dirtbag, err, dirtbike years. Stripping a motor down that had been running on Bel-Ray oil always revealed cleaner internals than any of my mate's motors which were using other oils. Of course there is such a thing as 'too clean' - high detergent levels may wash more lubricant off than is ideal - but I never had any failures or undue wear.

I'm a bit of a 'change it every other interval' type of user. I think I would average an oil change every 10 000km... the top end of my 98 000km motor still looks good. When I swap to a full system I'll pull the sump off and see what's going on downstairs. Anyway, the sooner it spins a bearing the sooner I can bore it out, yes?

While on oil, I love seeing those gooses who insist on giving their throttle (or pedal) a good blip then shutting the motor down before the revs start to drop. What's with that? Washing the cylinder walls down with unburnt fuel... you can imagine the accelerated wear on start-up.

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I used to think about getting fancy with my oil changes, but I have a tough time finding synthetic oils that don't have a bunch of additives. In addition, I could never seem to find the correct grade numbers in synthetic oil. The motorcycle specific synthetic oils seem so expensive. So I eventually just decided to go with what the owner’s manual recommends. Now I just use Castrol GTX 10W40. It is cheap and easy to find. I figure that frequent changes of cheaper oil, is better than less frequent changes of expensive oil. Besides, all the oils have to meet certain standards. I suspect that we are talking about the last 5% between the various oils.

Why don't we ever talk about which brand of gasoline to use? In reality Shell gasoline may have come from an Imperial Oil refinery or vise versa. They trade the stuff back and forth all the time. I suspect motor oil it the same story. The oil all originates from the same place, at least when we are talking dino oil.

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  • Member Contributer
I'm a long time Mobil 1 advocate and it has always tested at or new the top of every category, but I recently made the switch to

Shell Rotella T Synthetic based on it's test results(always right up there with MB 1) and lower cost the MB 1 also one of the few "C" rated oils out there which seem to be good for our bikes.

My MB Diesel, track bike and VFR all have Rotella T Synthetic in them! :thumbsup:

I also like the info on oil found here, they also have a great oil filter cross reference listed to and I now use only WalMart's SuperTech ST 7317 filters as they have superior filtering then most at the cheapest price(made by Champion)

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Oils1.html

+1.gif I used the Mobile 1 for years, but I think the Rotella is just as good and 2 bucks cheaper per quart. I should probably change it more often. I didn't change it last spring after it sat most of the winter which was probably not a good idea, but didn't take any long stressful rides. When I did change it I noticed the bike ran better. Whoops, won't make that mistake this spring.

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  • Member Contributer
While on oil, I love seeing those gooses who insist on giving their throttle (or pedal) a good blip then shutting the motor down before the revs start to drop. What's with that? Washing the cylinder walls down with unburnt fuel... you can imagine the accelerated wear on start-up.

I'm familiar with accelerated wear on start up if the oil viscosity is too thick and it takes more time

for the oil to reach the crank and lift it off off the main bearings but in these modern times of

micro managed fuel I doubt there's enough unburnt fuel to create a problem... what evidence do

you have to support your warning???

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  • Member Contributer
I'm familiar with accelerated wear on start up if the oil viscosity is too thick and it takes more time

for the oil to reach the crank and lift it off off the main bearings but in these modern times of

micro managed fuel I doubt there's enough unburnt fuel to create a problem... what evidence do

you have to support your warning???

Yep, not the same as doing it with carbs, or worse yet, carbs with nice cc volume accelerator pumps............. wink.gif

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  • Member Contributer

Only mildly :unsure:

What oil do yous think got spewed all over the GT corner at Assen in 2002? Rotella? :goofy:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=xZULbJOybEQ&...feature=related

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I've used a lot of Mobile 1, but currently am using Kawasaki full synthetic which is manufactured by Motul. I work at a shop

and have a choice of several, but between these two I use the one that I get the best buy on. Prices seem to vary from time to time.

Edited by Mickey
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I know the list of brands is far from complete but I added the major brands that seem to be talked about most here, and those you can find most anywhere - at least in the US. Other seems will be a large portion of this poll.

discuss, but dont biotch here. Facts mostly please, just gathering data here in the form of a poll

Ya fergot Mobil MX4T

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Guest BT-O-Neg

I use plain honda (gn4?) or mc specific castrol 10/40 or 20/50 depending on time of year. changes are 3-5k intervals. based on what i've seen on this & other threads, i get the gut feeling that i'm buying overpriced oils, but i'll probably continue with mc specific oils just the same.

checking the survey... i was surprised at the extent of synlube users. i guess i'm just a dinosaur.

Edited by BT-O-Neg
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Guest EJS4029

I used Mobil 1 Clean 5000 and a Wally World ST7317 Oil Filter.

Wasn't sure if the Mobil 1 Clean 5000 10W 40 was ok to use in the VFR I wanted to get the MX-4T but the place I went to didn't have it so I picked up the Clean 5000 after getting home I check the Mobil Website and here is what they had to say... I believe the VFR API is SJ so I think I'm fine till the next oil change by the way where is the best place to find Mobil 1 MX-4T ?

Can I use Mobil Clean 5000 in my motorcycle or my boat engine?

For four-cycle motorcycles, we recommend Mobil 1 MX-4T 10W-40 and Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50. These products are designed specifically for four-cycle motorcycles, including wet clutch applications. If your boat engine calls for an API SM, SL, SJ, SH or SG rated oil, you can use Mobil Clean 5000. However, we recommend that you follow the recommended oil change interval in your owner's manual.

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I used Mobil 1 Clean 5000 and a Wally World ST7317 Oil Filter.

Wasn't sure if the Mobil 1 Clean 5000 10W 40 was ok to use in the VFR I wanted to get the MX-4T but the place I went to didn't have it so I picked up the Clean 5000 after getting home I check the Mobil Website and here is what they had to say... I believe the VFR API is SJ so I think I'm fine till the next oil change by the way where is the best place to find Mobil 1 MX-4T ?

Can I use Mobil Clean 5000 in my motorcycle or my boat engine?

For four-cycle motorcycles, we recommend Mobil 1 MX-4T 10W-40 and Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50. These products are designed specifically for four-cycle motorcycles, including wet clutch applications. If your boat engine calls for an API SM, SL, SJ, SH or SG rated oil, you can use Mobil Clean 5000. However, we recommend that you follow the recommended oil change interval in your owner's manual.

mx4t , autozone is the cheapest place

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  • Member Contributer
I know the list of brands is far from complete but I added the major brands that seem to be talked about most here, and those you can find most anywhere - at least in the US. Other seems will be a large portion of this poll.

discuss, but dont biotch here. Facts mostly please, just gathering data here in the form of a poll

Ya fergot Mobil MX4T

That would probably still fall under Mobil 1 and I guess its Racing 4T now. That's what I'm currently using. Been buying it at OReilley's.

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  • Forum CEO
I know the list of brands is far from complete but I added the major brands that seem to be talked about most here, and those you can find most anywhere - at least in the US. Other seems will be a large portion of this poll.

discuss, but dont biotch here. Facts mostly please, just gathering data here in the form of a poll

Ya fergot Mobil MX4T

I put brand names in one catagory - Moble Covered, motorcycle specific in another - MX4t Covered, too many product lines to go that route your talking about, listing every product is too intensive for a simple poll motorcycle specific covers it.

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  • Member Contributer

2 liters Royal Purple 10w40, 1 liter Castrol motorcycle oil non synthetic 10w40 and top off with a squirt of Lucas Oil treatment. Haha

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2 liters Royal Purple 10w40, 1 liter Castrol motorcycle oil non synthetic 10w40 and top off with a squirt of Lucas Oil treatment. Haha

Finally someone else that blends oils makes a statement, I was starting to feel alone here.

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Ive run alot of different oils

I've been running 15w40 Motorcraft diesil oil for the past few months, thats one that I havent seen anybody use. I like it fairly well

2 royal purples, 1 casttrol and 1 lucas( Now Thats FRICKIN SCAREY)

Edited by spud786
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Guest Irvineguy
I'm a long time Mobil 1 advocate and it has always tested at or new the top of every category, but I recently made the switch to

Shell Rotella T Synthetic based on it's test results(always right up there with MB 1) and lower cost the MB 1 also one of the few "C" rated oils out there which seem to be good for our bikes.

My MB Diesel, track bike and VFR all have Rotella T Synthetic in them! :thumbsup:

I also like the info on oil found here, they also have a great oil filter cross reference listed to and I now use only WalMart's SuperTech ST 7317 filters as they have superior filtering then most at the cheapest price(made by Champion)

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Oils1.html

What exactly Shell Rotella T Synthetic did you use? I went to Wal-mart this morning but don't know which one for VFR. I appreciate your help.

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