What is the best Oil.

[madmanmaigret]

Dude, $12.00 is a deal, my local stealership charged me $17.95! I bought ONE filter and three quarts of regular Honda oil and it was a freaking $37.XX! I wasn't really paying attention because the cash register girl had a super tight tee shirt on, I just handed her my CC and mumbled, "Okay...", as I was transfixed by her. This place has about 6 to 7 people who work in parts, 4 of which are great looks girls who know nothing about motorcycles. They just sit there and bat their eyes at you. Needless to say, I am never going back there.

Oh crap! I wonder it the Honda oil will make my Yamaha engine melt?!?!?!

Damn those blasted parts girls! they get me every time! My first oil change, that happened to me and i walked out $45.00 lighter! Damn K&N filters!

 

[Hellgate]

Damn those blasted parts girls! they get me every time! My first oil change, that happened to me and i walked out $45.00 lighter! Damn K&N filters!

They are my weakness...but God do I love them!

 

[DefyInertia]

Yeah, I always used yamalube and a yami filter because I didn't know better and I bought the big jugs. I finished up the last of it in the fall so I'll be going synthetic w/ the best filter I can find that is setup for safety wire. Everyone raves about Rotella so I'll probably go that route...but at the end of the day, I'm not too worried about it.

 

[Nelly]

She will never ride with, or sleep with, you again.

Defy don't worry about that, synthetic oil also makes you impotent, (I have heard) maybe I should start using it as I got 3 children under three.

 

[wrightme43]

for break in I change the filter at 200mi and then only if it looks like its needed up to 600mi. If you are seeing metal in your oil the filter is not doing its job.
the pure one filters are rated 99.8% @ 30 microns and 99.2% @ 20 microns
a micron is 0.000039 inches.
a human hair is 100microns
so if you can see tiny metal flakes the filter is bypassing and should be changed.


I change the filter at half intervals to the oil. motor oil going black is a good thing but on a newer good running engine its bad. as motors wear in the not so good way, there is more blow-by and fuel dilution among other things. many short trips will allow the oil to accumulate moisture which leads to corrosion and fuel dilution will thin out the oil leading to consumption.

if you wait for the oil to go black like diesel oil then id say it too long. in most well maintained engines it only goes a brownish colour. the biggest things about oil is its additive package. the amount left is something that you can not tell by just looking at it.

with motorcycles the oil also lubricates the transmission and clutches. the shearing in the trans puts an extra strain on the oils anti shear additives.

so i just follow factory recommendations with a filter change halfway between that. and the only real way to know the conditions is by an UOA.

Rocking good post. :thumbup:

 

[jimcisme]

250, 500, 1000, 2000, every 2000 after that. Rotella T 15-40 to 4000, maybe the 5-40 syn after that. I doubt I'll ride more than 4k a year.

 

[Doorag]

I'm a bit confused now.

So, the bike I just bought has 1,200 miles on it and I have no idea what type of oil they have used. I suspect that it has been fully dealer serviced so far.

Should I wait another 600 miles or so and change with 'normal' oil or should I go semi-synthetic? I'm going to change the air filter as well - probably going with K&N for that.

 

[Kakashi]

I use Motul 300V Factory Line 15w-40 and a K&N oil filter, engine runs very smooth.

 

[Fred]

Post deleted.

 

[wolfc70]

I'm a bit confused now.

So, the bike I just bought has 1,200 miles on it and I have no idea what type of oil they have used. I suspect that it has been fully dealer serviced so far.

Should I wait another 600 miles or so and change with 'normal' oil or should I go semi-synthetic? I'm going to change the air filter as well - probably going with K&N for that.

Run what ever oil you like. Just stay away form "automotive" grade oils, as the friction modifiers can be bad for the clutch plates. These oils will say "energy conserving" on the star burst API symbol, and are usually thinner weights like 5w-20, 5w-30, 10w-30. I am a firm believer in synthetics, and have used them for many years with no ill effects.
Any HDEO (heavy duty engine oil) will work fine, such as; Rotella T 15w-40, Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40 and numerous other "diesel" oils.

You could change it now if it makes you nervous, but the dealer oil is not that bad, your bike is most likely just fine, again, run what you wish.

I personally am going to run Repsol, for awhile. I was up at the International Motorcycle Show in Minneapolis last. weekend, and a vendor was selling Repsol 10w-40 full synthetic for an unbeatable price, so I picked up nine liters.

The myth that synthetic oil will not break in an engine was back when synthetics were first coming out. Back then synthetics caused all sorts of problems, including swelling oil seals, so when you changed back to conventional oil, everything leaked. This wifes tale of engines not seating in were in the day of poured bearings, here the oil was too slippery and never caused enough metal on metal contact to properly "run in" the bearings. Modern engine tolerances (and machining) are so good, that break in pretty much means seating the piston rings, which oil has very little to do with. I found the best way to seat the rings is to put a varying load on the engine. Stay within the allowed rev range, but do not be afraid to accelerate, and decelerate the engine. Of course, always allow a proper warm up first, and never just let a new engine idle or not fully reach operating temperature. Hope this helps.

 

[ecurb]

This is the question that first brought me to this forum looking for answers. After lots of research on this and other sites, I decided on Shell Rotella T 15W40. I also used a Yamaha oil filter for the 600 mi 1st change, but have decided that I'll go with the Fram PH6017A filter (available at Wallmart) next time for less than have the cost.

 

[Hellgate]

someone should try this...

Motor Oil goes “Green”

That's freaking great, I love it! Green oil. You know the funny part is oil is green to begin with. Its natural after all. In the Gulf of Mexico the crap seeps out of the ocean floor and rolls up on the beach. The hotels along the Gulf provide foot showers so swimmers don't track the stuff into the hotel. Some of the Texas Sweet we pump is so good it can go straight into a diesel engine, does that make it green too???

 

[HavBlue]

I read an article where many people use mobil 1 synth oil on their fz6 and actually can damage the bike. The reason most use the mobil 1 is to stop the clunking from the drivetrain when shifting. Actually the tranny is designed to clunk like that for a reason. I"m not 100% what that good reason is, but the mobil 1 oil is so slick it actually burns the clutch really fast.
Can anyone verify if that is correct?

I changed my 2004 over at around 300 miles. I run Mobil 1 15W50 automotive oil. I have had zero problems and the bike is not babied. If it wear going to damage something or hurt the clutch it would have happened in the last 14,000 miles. I change the oil at or near 1,500 miles and I use a K&N oil filter.

 

[poorwboy]

I changed my 2004 over at around 300 miles. I run Mobil 1 15W50 automotive oil. I have had zero problems and the bike is not babied. If it wear going to damage something or hurt the clutch it would have happened in the last 14,000 miles. I change the oil at or near 1,500 miles and I use a K&N oil filter.

Me to great oil.

 

[Fred]

Dude, you're paying what, six bucks a quart and you're changing it every 1500 miles?
The service interval is 4000 and synth like Mobil 1 should be able to go even longer.

Why do you change it so often?

Fred

 

[HavBlue]

Dude, you're paying what, six bucks a quart and you're changing it every 1500 miles?
The service interval is 4000 and synth like Mobil 1 should be able to go even longer.

Why do you change it so often?

Fred

First, it's $5.00 a quart. Second, I want my 15W50 oil to stay at 15W50. So, why 1,500 miles? Easy, regardless of the oil you use viscosity breakdown begins to occur at or near 1,500 miles. The synthetics don't breakdown as fast beyond 1,500 miles but they do breakdown and by the time you get to that 4,000 miles the viscosity of the oil you put in at the zero mark is long gone. Yeah, the oil will go 4,000 miles or better yet, it will go 10,000 miles as is the case with my Jeep that now has 200,000 miles on it but then again it doesn't see 14,000rpm either. I use the same oil in my Harley and change it at 2,500 miles. At 1,500 miles the oil is still pretty much maple gold as opposed to chocolate brown and I like it.

 

[HavBlue]

with motorcycles the oil also lubricates the transmission and clutches. the shearing in the trans puts an extra strain on the oils anti shear additives.
.

This is true in some respects and in others not true at all. The oil in the FZ6 doesn't lubricate the clutch pack, it is used more for cooling although it does offer limited lubricating value. The same holds true for many unified systems. However, there are bikes that do not use a unified system (read as separate transmission engine combination) and there are bikes that run a dry clutch system or get converted to a dry clutch.

Shear strength is a value many quality oil manufacturers test for and there is no doubt full synthetics offer a much greater value however, this isn't to say any quality oil that meets the manufacturers specification won't offer good life. Think about this, in all the years you have been riding or driving, how many oil related engine failures have you observed? My guess, a very limited few and many of these could be associated with a lack of oil as opposed to the actual oil itself being the cause of the failure.

 

[Jeremiah]

FWIW, Bob Is The Oil Guy has a lot of actual analysis of many oils. There's a lot of conjecture and room for discussion on some of the findings - but there's actual scientific data / studies to research and help formulate opinion on.

 

[Nelly]

Whats best/

I have just spent £26.00 on Shell Advanced emi synthetic oil 3 Litres.
Now the money is not the question I am asking about. As maintainence cost and is money well spemt.
Here is the deal.
Tesco do a semi - Synthetic oil same same viscosity, claim same engine pretection blah blah blah.
It is £9.00 for 3 litres, would I be better off using the Tesco oil and changing it every 1000 miles or staying with the shell and staying at recomended service intervals?

Neil

 

[Whitey Dodge]

600 then every 7000 miles, using Shell Rotella synthetic oil.