synthetic oil

[aeronca]

ok guy's and gal's - the guy i bought my bike from said he ran 10w40 mobile 1. since then i also have used 10w40 mobile 1 synthetic "motorcycle oil". do any of you use this, or do some of you use regular mobile 1 and not the one labeled, "motorcycle"? is there really a big differance between the two? i understand that it's not just engine oil, and that it also is used in tranny, but my old reliable 82' honda civic used regular engine oil in its trany. the only diff- i can see is about $4.00 a quart. please school me on this.     thanks,       eric.

[littlefield]

Supposedly the Mobil 1 motorcycle specific oil is 100% Group 4 base stock, oil truly created synthetically. The car stuff is a mix of Group 3 and 4.  If you want to get deep into lubricants go to bobistheoilguy dot com. They have a motorcycle section.

[JetdocX]

Any motorcycle specific oil is fine to use.

[John Stenhouse]

The generally given reason, and I am unsure how real this is, car oil contains friction modifiers which don't agree with the wet clutch on motorcycles. They cause the clutch to slip. Now that I know is true but I used Duckhams semi synth on my 885 and rang their tech line. They're response was it should be ok, but it wasn't tested on motorcycles and don't abuse the clutch and it should be fine.

The bit I'm unsure about is how much use is too much when it comes to clutch damage.

[Mustang]

Wal-Mart 20 bucks . works

[fano]

Wal-Mart 20 bucks . works

 

[aeronca]

thanks for the info guy's. i'll have to get some of that rotella - i like the price. mobile 1 is draining my life blood.

[Stretch]

Wal-Mart 20 bucks . works

Same here.

[2004Tiger]

Wal-Mart 20 bucks . works

Rotella T for me. Synthetic, but it is really a highly refined dino oil. The diesel additive package makes it good for a wet clutch. I use it in all my vehicles, Volvo, Dodge Cummins, and MC. The viscosity range is perfect for Colorado.

[NebraskaRat]

I know quite a few of you guys are using the Rotella T out there, are there no concerns with the 5w on the cold end of the scale giving enough lubrication on cold morning startups? (20° F it's Nebraska)  I may switch to this stuff also.

Mike

[2004Tiger]

I know quite a few of you guys are using the Rotella T out there, are there no concerns with the 5w on the cold end of the scale giving enough lubrication on cold morning startups? (20° F it's Nebraska)  I may switch to this stuff also. Mike

During a very cold start-up, the 5w viscosity is what the engine needs to pump a good volume of oil immediately. You may be thinking that a thick oil drains down overnight less than a thin oil, but that is not true. The film strength of the oil determines drain down, and a diesel rated oil has excellent film strength. This is a high quality oil in all respects.

[aeronca]

2004Tiger - hows the weather out there? i was just out there last month - went to heritge square and rode the alpine slide. next time i come out we'll have to have a brew.    eric.    oh and thanks for the good info on the oil.

[2004Tiger]

2004Tiger - hows the weather out there? i was just out there last month - went to heritge square and rode the alpine slide. next time i come out we'll have to have a brew.    eric.    oh and thanks for the good info on the oil.

Next time, PM me and for sure we'll get together. I suppose you had hot weather here last month, it has been hot a lot. Now the August monsoon has produced some rain and this week we've cooled down to 70-75F, daytime. Down to 50 at night. Nice. Probably warm up a bit before the Fall.

[aeronca]

is rotella t a motorcycle oil specific oil,or will it matter? i've found a local source but am still wondering. also when switching brands of synthetic, do you need to do a flush? only asking because the few times we switched oils at work on the planes it required a flush run. thanks    eric

[fano]

All I did is drained the old oil out, put the new filter in and filled with a new oil. Works great. I think the oil is designed specifically  for diesel engines but works great in motorcycles. :D