clutch compatability with synth oil?

[Guest]

I just got a 74 suzuki ts185 for 200 bucks. Just finishing off my gs 1100 project and got into this one. Dont surf craigslist if you want to save your money. I couldnt resist because I had a tc 90 in my youth. This one is in pretty good shape except the p.o. says he put synthetic oil in the trans and it made the clutch plates swell up. Im getting ready to diamantle it but was wondering is this something anyone has heard of? Dont want to make that mistake on my gs.

[snicrep5]

no takers? at least a "nope never heard of it" Btw, I do use the search function, but its still like looking for a needle in a haystack.

[Griffin]

As long as the synthetic oil is not "energy conserving", it is fine. If he put energy conserving oil in, it will have a detrimental affect on the clutch due to friction modifiers in it.



You want oil (synthetic, dino, or a blend) that has the lower half of the circle left blank.

[snicrep5]

thanks. I usually dont care for "energy" conserving, or "green" unless it saves me money w/o compromising performance.

[gpd211]

thanks. I usually dont care for "energy" conserving, or "green" unless it saves me money w/o compromising performance.

in the case of a wet clutch it will definitely compromise performance. As in the clutch plates will have to be replaced if left in there too long. I have always run full synthetic (Rotella T6) in all my bikes from high revving v4s to low revving v2 and all the i4 as well as singles and have never had one complaint.

[DPage]

+1 on synthetic Rotella T6, works great and has no effect on clutch engagement. Also gives you a little more heat protection if you get caught in a long traffic jam, but you can read about that in all the threads where we argue about the "best" oil.