Best Motor Oil

[Notz]

Rotella_Old.jpg

That "new" Rotella stuff is good too !

[Nessism]

I used 2.5 qrts. of Mobil 1 Racing 4t 10-W40

What kind of GS do you have? Most of the bikes 550 and larger take just shy of four quarts of oil.

Regarding the age old OIL debate goes, I love oil threads. The reasoning some people apply to their selection process is as personal as the person themselves. At any rate, it's pretty hard to screw up an oil change. Even if someone uses auto oil it won't cause a crisis or anything. Motorcycle oil is fine, just pricy. Diesel oil is popular around here because it's cheap and effective. Nothing wrong with that.

[SNOWBLIND78]

Your old oil was full of sludge and sediment. What you have done is flushed the crud and a lot of it is probably living in your filter. If I see nasty stuff coming out I drop the sump plate, there will be a layer of sediment stuck to it, most important , clean the suction tube mesh filter, get cheap oil and run it for a few hours, drain and refill until I'm happy most of it has shifted.
With short change intervals on these old motors I don't think fully synthetic has a significant advantage over semi-syn or dino.

http://www.vfrworld.com/tex_vfr/tech/oil.htm

A bit out of date but a lot of sense - well at least it matches my prejudices

So your saying that elements of the old oil which I drained have found their way into the new filter? Sorry not sure I follow you on that one, can you elaborate as well on the sump plate? Maybe I have the terminology mixed up but what part exactly are you referring to? Is it revealed when you remove the oil pan?


Notz great pictures of those vinatge Shell cans! Had no idea Rotella was so old school!

[Brendan W]

So your saying that elements of the old oil which I drained have found their way into the new filter? Sorry not sure I follow you on that one, can you elaborate as well on the sump plate? Maybe I have the terminology mixed up but what part exactly are you referring to? Is it revealed when you remove the oil pan?


Notz great pictures of those vinatge Shell cans! Had no idea Rotella was so old school!

Old oil left lying drops the carbon out and it sticks to things like a gritty black varnish. The improvement in shifting was probably due to this material being partially flushed out of the gear trains into suspension and on to the filter which has probably taken a lot more dirt that expected in such a short time. Sump plate, oil pan the same thing. There could well be a layer of congealed black dirt there up to 1/16" thick and possibly up to 1/8" in the corners. As said before if oil comes out nasty it's time to consider dropping the pan.

[SNOWBLIND78]

Old oil left lying drops the carbon out and it sticks to things like a gritty black varnish. The improvement in shifting was probably due to this material being partially flushed out of the gear trains into suspension and on to the filter which has probably taken a lot more dirt that expected in such a short time. Sump plate, oil pan the same thing. There could well be a layer of congealed black dirt there up to 1/16" thick and possibly up to 1/8" in the corners. As said before if oil comes out nasty it's time to consider dropping the pan.

Ok understood. I will drop the oil pan at my next change or if I notice the oil becoming grimy more quickly than usual.

[SNOWBLIND78]

What kind of GS do you have? Most of the bikes 550 and larger take just shy of four quarts of oil.

Regarding the age old OIL debate goes, I love oil threads. The reasoning some people apply to their selection process is as personal as the person themselves. At any rate, it's pretty hard to screw up an oil change. Even if someone uses auto oil it won't cause a crisis or anything. Motorcycle oil is fine, just pricy. Diesel oil is popular around here because it's cheap and effective. Nothing wrong with that.

According to the title paperwork it is a 1978 GS550. To find out the oil capacity I cross referenced a couple different websites and online resources, can't recall the exact names. There is a sticker under the filler cap that says "2400cc". When converted to US quarts that equals 2.53 quarts. In addition on the side of the engine I noticed a 1/2" clear viewing window with oil level indicators "low" and "full". After putting in the new oil the window showed it sitting right at the "full" line. At this time the bike was cold and sitting straight up on the center stand.

Starting to feel like I did something foolish.

Ed, I'm ready for the bad news..

[Nessism]

According to the title paperwork it is a 1978 GS550. To find out the oil capacity I cross referenced a couple different websites and online resources, can't recall the exact names. There is a sticker under the filler cap that says "2400cc". When converted to US quarts that equals 2.53 quarts. In addition on the side of the engine I noticed a 1/2" clear viewing window with oil level indicators "low" and "full". After putting in the new oil the window showed it sitting right at the "full" line. At this time the bike was cold and sitting straight up on the center stand.

Starting to feel like I did something foolish.

Ed, I'm ready for the bad news..

Please forgive. Apparently I had a brain fart. Just goes to show, the memory if the second thing to go...

[SNOWBLIND78]

Please forgive. Apparently I had a brain fart. Just goes to show, the memory if the second thing to go...

Haha no worries amigo glad I'm im the clear on this one