How can tell if i have Synthetic oil in my bike?

[Nathanizer]

Hey all,

I know this sound stupid but i bought my 2008 fz6 last year and now its time for an oil change, ive put on 5k in miles and my oil still looks ok, so im wondering if there is way to tell if the person who owned the bike before me put in synthetic or not, how can tell? I bought the bike from a dealer and have no way of contacting previous owner to ask. I have 8 quarts of non-synthetic yamalube that i bought, will it be ok to use the non-synthetic even if synthetic is in the bike now? Thanks for your Help

 

[Nathanizer]

Maybe the right question to ask is: Will it hurt to switch back and fourth from synthetic to non-synthetic?

 

[hot4teach]

Maybe the right question to ask is: Will it hurt to switch back and fourth from synthetic to non-synthetic?

No problem with switching back and forth.

 

[macem29]

if after 5K it's still light golden, not brown, it's prolly synthetic...
you have no way to know what it is, that alone would make we want to dump it,
and like the others said, no problem switching back and forth

 

[Motogiro]

Hey all,

I know this sound stupid but i bought my 2008 fz6 last year and now its time for an oil change, ive put on 5k in miles and my oil still looks ok, so im wondering if there is way to tell if the person who owned the bike before me put in synthetic or not, how can tell? I bought the bike from a dealer and have no way of contacting previous owner to ask. I have 8 quarts of non-synthetic yamalube that i bought, will it be ok to use the non-synthetic even if synthetic is in the bike now? Thanks for your Help

The full synthetic has a sort of vanilla (gack!) taste to it! :liar:

 

[YamaSpeed]

The full synthetic has a sort of vanilla (gack!) taste to it! :liar:

ahh you beat me too it.

 

[Evitzee]

You don't know how long the oil was in there before you bought it, do you? It may have 8k or 10k miles on it, there is no way to know. I've only bought one used bike but the first thing I did was change the oil and filter to set a baseline. You can go either way (dino or syn), it is your choice.

 

[Red Wazp]

You don't know how long the oil was in there before you bought it, do you? It may have 8k or 10k miles on it, there is no way to know. I've only bought one used bike but the first thing I did was change the oil and filter to set a baseline. You can go either way (dino or syn), it is your choice.

And change it every 4k miles :rtfm:

 

[Shamus McFeeley]

You would have to send it off to a lab to be sure. In the long run it won't make a difference, but it might give you peace of mind.

 

[reiobard]

if it has been at least 5k miles, who cares what is in there now, just change it .

You will have no problems wither way if you use the Yamalube that you have.

 

[FinalImpact]

Everyone, do keep in mind that 5000 miles on some bikes could mean the oil is 4 years old!!!!!!

Having said that; change the oil at the end of every season to remove the moisture, acids, and other contaminates from the crank case regardless of the miles!!! Those acids from blow by past the rings etch steel and destroy iron.

In the ideal world the time line for a 4000 miles OC interval would happen within 6 months. So change the oil even if its only a few thousand miles in the season as you're asking for trouble leaving any oil in an an engine based on miles. Same is true of brake fluid and other fluids. Time is more often the enemy as fluids attract moisture and moisture attacks components.


Just my 0.02

 

[Nathanizer]

Hey great info and opinions, thanks everyone I have owned the bike for just over a year now and put 5k in miles on it in that time, i changed the oil and all is well