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What is your oil?


ohwhell

What is your Oil Choice?  

23 members have voted

  1. 1. What is yout oil of choice for your VFR? Both are 10-30W.

    • Honda Pro GN4 Oil
    • 4T Full synthetic Oil
    • 4T Blended Synthetic Oil


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Same here I do about a 80 mile round trip 4 times a week one day In the car.  I only ask because I see so many out here.  manual said GN4 Honda (that's straight motor oil not even synthetic) I hear some like it because runs smoother.  (Ill assume they mean less vibration?)

  

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Technically speaking anyone of the 3 brands will meet and exceed your mileage expectations...

 

Like I've stated before... I'm using auto oil SN in my homolgated
race bike with a tall first gear good for 90mph... I literally
incinerate my clutch in WFO launches on the street or track... I don't
ride in moderation and yet no clutch slip issues due to oil... so
because of low cost and high availability I pick Mobil 1 5w30 SN but
any SN auto 30 grade will do...

 

Because Mobil owns 80% of the market they offer many 5w30... I only know about one mark YES...
 full-45634-35915-shopping5.jpg

 

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My first VFR, a 2001 I bought in 2006 with 4,xxx miles on it, lasted until it had 104,xxx when I departed Minneapolis for T-Mac in NC. Before I left I changed the oil intending to send a sample, taken from the middle of the empting stream, to have it analyzed. Procrastination led to my not sending it in right away.  I never made it to T-Mac (f'n hooved forest rat Intercepted me in Urbana, IL). When I got back on my feet I decided to send the sample to inform of my oil change regime. The report is in my pics. Better than average wear. Last editorial comment: Nice Bike. 

My habit was to change every 7,000 - 10,000 miles. I used the Honda Pro GN4 for every one except for one using Mobil One. So I reasoned, why spend more and cause more oil to be made and disposed of.

 

I stopped counting mileage accumulated on my VFR's at 190,000. And that was a couple of years ago. Virtually all on regular dyno juice.

 

Honda's engineering of these machines is indeed remarkable.

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On 9/19/2019 at 7:50 AM, 2015vfr said:

I use amsoil

I've  used Amsoil oil too but not after I heard a Amsoil rep state in this video that Mobil 1 is the base oil
to all their synthetics that means 90% of Amsoil is Mobil 1... too fact check this claim I submitted a virgin

oil sample to Blackstone labs...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_iN_IJpSIU

 

Here are virgin oil samples of $12.95 a quart Amsoil motorcycle specific
10W30 and $4.89 a quart Mobil 1 Auto Oil 5W30... listed in parts per million are
minor differences in the additive package you're paying for...
 


 

AmsoilMC10w30NoAddress.jpeg

MobilOne5w30SN.jpg

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Whatever Honda/dealer put in it when it was new.  I'm the second owner, it only has 1,000 miles...and 400 of them miles from me in the past 2 weeks since I bought it.  Itz getting an oil change tomorrow. 

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I LOVE oil threads!  So much passion.... 

My Subaru specifies synthetic

https://www.idrivesafely.com/defensive-driving/trending/synthetic-oil-vs-conventional-oil

 

My Concours C10 shifted better if I upped the viscosity from 10-40  to 20w-50...

 

My VFR might just be the smoothest shifting bike I have ever owned in 54 years. I am feeding it 10-30 GN4.  It seems to like it.  The oil heats up to 150 degrees F after five minutes of riding and two minutes of idling to bring the coolant up to 190 degrees. That means that during the terrible Spokane Winter months I can go ride a bit and get the oil temp up easily to purge the water out...a 15 min. ride with a bit of idling should do it.... got no complaints.  I have three bikes and this one will get ridden 3K-5K a year, and I will change the oil in the Spring and in the Fall. I am 70. My bike will live longer than I will....you cant ask for more than that......

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1 hour ago, CoyoteChris said:

I LOVE oil threads!  So much passion.... 

Don't love oil threads! :wacko: It's all been thrashed to death, and ends up going nowhere!:beatdeadhorse:Dino semi synth, versus full synth, car oil versus motorcycle specific Blah blaaah :comp13:

Just use whatever you like, PROVIDED it meets or exceeds the spec laid out in manufacturers Owners Manual and follow the recommended Oil and Filter change interval. As always, and especially with OIL.......YMMV. :wheel:

Dare I say it...as a comment I do only use Motorcycle specific oil due to Clutch, Gearbox, Engine all in one!

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3 hours ago, Grum said:

Don't love oil threads! :wacko: It's all been thrashed to death, and ends up going nowhere!:beatdeadhorse:Dino semi synth, versus full synth, car oil versus motorcycle specific Blah blaaah :comp13:

Just use whatever you like, PROVIDED it meets or exceeds the spec laid out in manufacturers Owners Manual and follow the recommended Oil and Filter change interval. As always, and especially with OIL.......YMMV. :wheel:

Dare I say it...as a comment I do only use Motorcycle specific oil due to Clutch, Gearbox, Engine all in one!

What he said! :beer:

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The courier Stan Wilson claims he ran two VFR 750 engines for 400,000 miles each. He is said to have used normal car engine oil (before JASO and "slipper oil"). The first engine is supposed to have blown a head gasket at the time of its death. I have no idea if these claims are true - they come from an article in "Bike" (in 2005 as I recall)

 

If an engine can sustrain life for 400,000 miles then I guess it is fair to say the oil must have done its job well.

 

Maybe some additive with a fancy marketing name can add, say, 1% more miles (less wear) but who really cares if the engine runs 404.000 - the bike would have been sold, crashed or scrapped years ago anyway.

 

The additive could also add more power without messing with the clutch. For the VFR 750 a power increase of 1% could be offset by "leaning the body mass of the rider" by 5%. Btw less mass would put less strain on the engine. For myself, a 5-10% body weight reduction would definitely be the better solution 🙂

 

Even for the newest VFR 800, Honda recommends oil with API spec SG (or better). SG was made obsolete about 1994. For the old 4th gen, Honda also recommends SG - so for about 25 years, Honda's recommendation have not changed or moved forward. So I guess Stan Wilson could run a brand new VFR engine the same way as he did back then (as long as oil is JASO MA) and still get several hundred thousand of miles...

 

These days, a new factor is sneaking in. Pollution and environment. I don't know how much pollution comes from oil passing into the exhaust - I think it is very small numbers based on the fact that I never need to top oil between changes - it stays on max. But more miles on the same oil would be better for the environment (and the wallet).

 

I too want to do the best for my engine, and I also get sucked into the oil dilemma choice and fancy marketing from manufacturers. E.g. "nano tech additives reduces wear"... right, I need that oil - it must be really good for my old 4th gen. Then I remind myself of Stan! The funny thing is nobody hardly ever document how much less wear. We are easy pray 🙂.

 

So my stand is that it does really not matter which oil is used - any oil meeting the SG spec will do. I get good discount on Castrol, so I use Power 1 (semi-synthetic).

 

Note: it was not until 1969 BWM introduced oil filters on their motorcycle engines - before then they used a rather primitive system (known as slingers) to catch larger particles. And more frequent oil changes than these days. You have to take the whole engine apart to replace the slingers as they sit on the crankshaft inside of the bearings. I know, you can't compare, but you have the same "which is the best oil" or "you need this oil to protect your engine" discussions these days on any vintage BMW forums. Back in the day where marketing was not as developed as today, I doubt anyone thought much about it.

 

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I'm very scientific about which oil I use (not).  I just use Amsoil motorcycle 10w-40 because, through experience, for some reason I don't care about, I know the bike shifts better with it than others (like Mobil 1) and the engine is much much quieter with synthetic than dino.  I use motorcycle specific because Honda recommends it.  They know more than anyone else what their design is made for.  I use 10w-40 because when Honda switched to 10w-30 recommendations it was strictly due to alleged mileage increases.  They didn't change anything else in the engine and I run the hell out of it in the mountains.  No, I don't like their multi-level marketing but just don't care.  It works, the bike shifts best for me using it and I don't worry about it.    

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Extra virgin fresh squeezed unicorn urine for me... nothing else will do. 

 

I have a suspicion that the need to avoid the friction modifiers in automotive grade oils has become a non-issue over time. I'm guessing clutch materials have improved to the point where it just doesn't matter anymore... though I have no data to support this suspicion.

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22 minutes ago, Marvelicious said:

Extra virgin fresh squeezed unicorn urine for me... nothing else will do. 

 

I have a suspicion that the need to avoid the friction modifiers in automotive grade oils has become a non-issue over time. I'm guessing clutch materials have improved to the point where it just doesn't matter anymore... though I have no data to support this suspicion.

Can't be cheap, guessing cost would keep most VFR owners from this option 🙂

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15 hours ago, CoyoteChris said:

I LOVE oil threads!  So much passion.... 

 

I love a good oil thread... a good thread will challenges your technical knowledge and long held beliefs plus you may actually learn something new... 

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My Irene (1999 Yellow VFR) just turned 154,000.

Did a 5000km break in using Honda GN4, then switched to synthetic. Ran on Canadian Tire Formula One 10-W40 for most of it's life (Same formula as Mobil 1).

Tried Motul ester based, My clutch didn't like it.

Over the past few years, I'm using Shell Rotella T6 5W40. changed twice per year.

I don't spare the bike: I still take her out to the track at least twice per year.

Incredible motor: at 140k, I performed a compression and Leak down tests. All values are still well within range. And I still haven't had to change a valve shim.FJMVFRTrackday3.jpg.e5bd739e01fec822248a5ee9715b234d.jpg

Irene is semi retired now, as I share my time on my 2016 Africa twin and my 1986 VF500.

Ultimately, though, it really doesn't matter which oil you use as long as it's API SG or better, and changed regularly.

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7 hours ago, Bent said:

I use motorcycle specific because Honda recommends it. 

Honda recommends their own brand 4 stroke oil or equivalent... API
service SF,SG or Higher... so that means SN auto oils qualify because

the service is higher and the oil is equivalent...

 

Compare virgin samples...

M1versusGN4.jpg

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