oil recomendations

[Anonymous]

Mobil 1 5W-50 all year around in temperatures between 5C and 40C. 10,000km change interval. No oil cooler. No leaks that weren't there with dino oil and now fixed. No clutch problems.

[Anonymous]

alright, i read a couple times above about "oilcoolers"... did a search in here for them and found a couple spec threads but nothing noting the reason for an oil cooler. obviously it cools your oil, but what are the benifits of it?

It was a tepid 90 degrees here the other day and i was stuck in traffic. As my head began to boil in the helmet i wondered what was happening to my motor.

[mcycle-nut]

Any name brand 10W/40 automotive oil, ie. Castrol, Pennzoil, Valvoline or Quaker State. Hey, if it's good enough for turbos, it's good enough for my bike. 8)

[Dink]

Oil coolers are meant to do exactly that!! cool the engine oil.
Trouble begins when it is "full flow" meaning it is part of the oil circuit and the full flow of oil goes through it, you actually need temperature in your engine oil, as I recall most is designed to operate best at about 85-95 C (yes up around boiling point for water 180-200F) 1150 motors have an oil cooler ex-factory, but it is "by-pass flow" meaning only some of the oil goes through it, to run a full flow cooler it actually needs a temeperature controlled "thermostat" type switch that will open and close as the oil goes over a certain temperature.
Dink

[Anonymous]

1. Synthetic oil is good but, probably a waste of money.
2. 10W-40 is best from about 0 degrees F to 100 degrees F.
3. 20W-50 is best for hot climates and mid-summer riding.
4. Change your oil at least every 1000 miles.

[Keith Winter]

I run Mobil 1 in both bike's (15/50) and have no clutch problems, the clutch functions are better with synthetic I find. Also the engine seem's to run quieter with syn oil. The important thing in any technical book's I have read is to change the oil at the proper intervals, filter too. Also I have read alot on oil requirements for deisel engine's. Most deisel's are NOT to have friction modified (energy conserving) oil put into them. To do so will void the warranty. This is due to the high mechanical load's on the surface of bearing's and other parts in the engine. Car engine's under normal use do not have these high loads, so energy conserving oils work fine for most cars. I would guess that a air cooled bike engine and clutch have mechanical loads that are alot higher than a car engine. Energy conserving quality's of the oil also have nothing to due with the viscosity of the oil. I think this area of talk about motorcycle oil is left out of the whole "oil" picture. I have never put energy conserving oil in any motorcycle and I have never heard of anyone else doing it either.

[bwringer]

Using Shell Rotella (motor oil for diesels) is a new one on me, but it's actually making a lot of sense. I like the idea of fewer additives motorcycles don't need and more ability to cope with high loads.

Anyone else use Rotella? I think it's about $11 - $12 a gallon arond here, but it's available everywhere. Beats the heck out of paying $26 for a gallon of Golden Spectro (my current favorite).

One thing I remember from my rented Hardley trip last year was that if the Hardley needed oil and I couldn't find a Hardley dealer to purchase Genuine Hardley Oil, that I should use oil intended for diesel engines, such as Shell Rotella. They were very clear that I should never, ever place ordinary car oil into the sacred cases of a Hardley.

BTW, I never checked the Hardley's oil. It was running when I dropped it off. :twisted: :twisted:

[Anonymous]

I think the Shell Rotella may be a very good choice.

[Anonymous]

I had problems with hard shifting on my GS850G using Kendal 20W50. It needed a good warm up before it would shift through the gears smoothly. I also own a GS1100G that did not have this problem. I then read in Rider magizine's Tech Q & A someone writting about the same type of problem on their old Suzuki (maybe a GS?). Andrew MacDonald's advice was to use the Suzuki 10W40 oil. That he had seen the same type of problems before and using the Suzuki oil fixed the problem. I tried it and it is much improved with the Suzuki. It's as cheap as any other motorcycle oil. $2.99 in federal reserve notes. All I plan on putting in my GS's is the Suzuki 10W40 from now on.