OIL to use ? Rotella, synthetic, Castrol 10w-40 ?

[frasermanx]

I always used 20w-50 Castrol on BMW and even 30w on hot days. What is best oil to use on GS850? 10w-40 seems light duty. Rotella diesel oil has a good rep for old engines that maybe on the way out. GS850 did not run since 1985 and has 28k on it but sounds noisy ... a rough spot at 5k rpm (60mph) I want to keep it running .. seems to burn a bit of oil and runs hot I think ... also the accessory oil pressure indicator rarely goes to 5lb. ( maybe 50 ?) attached to the right side. Also .. are these engines suseptable to head gasket blowout ?? How easy is this to repair ? thanks for all the help Fraser in Toronto

[salty_monk]

Rotella Diesel oil is what I use. I have tried GTX 10w40 & also 20w50, 20w50 makes the lutch drag.

Rotella 15w40 is ok down here even in winter but obviously we don't get proper cold!!

Rotella stands up to more miles than the GTX (can feel it in the gearchange).

Lots more oil info on here. No not a large amount of headgasket problems reported though it does happen.

Dan

[Danjal]

Ive heard rumors that one of the rotellas isnt safe for motorcycles. Ive searched and googled all over the internet and have yet to see a thing that speaks badly about the rotella line in bikes. Even the new formulas (T6 and triple protection) are now JASO-MA compliant. Neither contain friction modifiers. The only thing I can see clearly is the warning about energy saving oils and the T5 rotella is one of those..it also lacks the JASO-MA to boot. Maybe this is the one they're talking about?

Otherwise Ive been using the old rotella exclusively in my bike and cars without ever having a single problem.

[Nessism]

Ive heard rumors that one of the rotellas isnt safe for motorcycles. Ive searched and googled all over the internet and have yet to see a thing that speaks badly about the rotella line in bikes. Even the new formulas (T6 and triple protection) are now JASO-MA compliant. Neither contain friction modifiers. The only thing I can see clearly is the warning about energy saving oils and the T5 rotella is one of those..it also lacks the JASO-MA to boot. Maybe this is the one they're talking about?

Otherwise Ive been using the old rotella exclusively in my bike and cars without ever having a single problem.

Rotella is good stuff, but just about any diesel oil is fine. I've never heard about Rotella causing problems in motorcycles, in fact, I prefer the older CI4+ formula since it has more zinc and phosphorus than the new formulas.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

You know, I have searched and searched this forum and I couldn't find a thing about oil.

NOT!



Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[frasermanx]

Good feedback

Thanks very much Fraser

[oldgrumpy]

shell sx 4 good stuff..

hi guys since i re did the top of my 1980 gs1000e, ,i,ve used nothing except shell sx 4 which is synthetic fortified,, and i,ve seen it work brilliantly on sick motors blowing smoke etc.. its not expensive and if you are caught in a rural or isolated place and low on oil you can drop some mineral oil in without stuffing it up i use it on both my toys hope this helps regards david

[1_v8_merc]

I used Truck Pride 15w-40 diesel oil.

Cheap as hell, and good for cleaning out the engine, but after a few weeks it suddenly turned black!

Dumped it out, and threw in some Rotella 15w-40 from wal-mart.

Bike was overheating today(weather related I hope!).

So I didnt get to test the bike much, it seemed like it ran really smooth though!

[Danjal]

Even the rotella turns its color pretty quick too. Say 80 miles or so in mine and its a dark straw color.

[Nessism]

Two reasons for the oil to turn dark fast: one, there is sludge in the engine that the oil is helping break down and two, your engine has a lot of blow-by so it's contaminating the oil quickly.

[TheCafeKid]

I always used 20w-50 Castrol on BMW and even 30w on hot days. What is best oil to use on GS850? 10w-40 seems light duty. Rotella diesel oil has a good rep for old engines that maybe on the way out. GS850 did not run since 1985 and has 28k on it but sounds noisy ... a rough spot at 5k rpm (60mph) I want to keep it running .. seems to burn a bit of oil and runs hot I think ... also the accessory oil pressure indicator rarely goes to 5lb. ( maybe 50 ?) attached to the right side. Also .. are these engines suseptable to head gasket blowout ?? How easy is this to repair ? thanks for all the help Fraser in Toronto

Your pressure is actually a bit high when warm if its at or above 5lbs from what I have seen in these roller bearing GS motors. Around 3lbs is pretty much normal when the oil is warm. They are low pressure, High volume motors, so what you're seeing isnt bad.

I use Rotella 15W40 as well, through most of the year. In the absolute dead of the Ohio valley summer when the temps hit the high 90s and the humidity the same, I MAY run 20W50 depending on what mood im in when I go buy oil

Also, change your oil REGULARLY! I try not to let mine slide by 2500 miles. 1500 if I have been banging on it hard when its hot out. The clutch/transmission and the top end will also let me know when its time to change it if Ive been rough on her and not changed it yet, as it will start shifting a little clunky and the top end will get louder..

[1_v8_merc]

Wow, changed to the Rotella, road it today, and the tranny was A LOT smoother feeling....

It felt similar to when I used that expensive motorcycle "specialty" stuff at Autozone, lol.

-----

Im sure that old cheap diesel stuff caught a lot of gunk in my engine.
We'll see how much this next oil change catches!

[Danjal]

Two reasons for the oil to turn dark fast: one, there is sludge in the engine that the oil is helping break down and two, your engine has a lot of blow-by so it's contaminating the oil quickly.

Im going with the sludge theory as the compression tests came up pretty good. This is the second oil change im on ATM. Im still weeding 14 years worth of bugs out of it.

[79GS850VETTER]

I have always used 10-40 oil in my bike. I had never heard about using s 15-40 oil in a bike.

I use synthetic diesel 5-40 oil in my car and truck. I think that is the equivallent to conventional 15-40 oil. Is that correct?

My bike has a lot of miles on it, are there any problems or risks with switching to this oil at this stage?

[officerbill]

Dumb question time.
What does JASO-MA stand for and why is it important?
Bill