[Dannyboy]

Is there anywhere I can buy oil cheaper than the $7.00 a quart Honda oil? Are we cornered into using only the expensive stuff? Since I'm out of work for a while I have noticed how expensive things are!! Ouch!
Danny

[Rice-rocket1]

I use Spectro Golden synthetic blend about a $1 to $1.50 cheaper than " Manufacturer Name Brand"

[Kham]

A friend help me change oil yesterday. I have no idea how easy that was.

I went to Kawi dealer and a guy said it's ok to use 15w50 so I picked up 4 quarts and a FRAM oil filter. I'm worry about the grade I'm using. I thought everyone uses 10w40 or 5w30.

[Dannyboy]

I'm with you Kham, I've been a slave to the manufactured oil for years. I would really like to here from one of our mechanics here to know the real lowdown on oils. As far as what you have as far as oil, I really don't know. Who told you to use that oil? I never heard of that weight combination.
Have you used it already?

[bemused]

here's a li'l sumpin' sure to fire up some attitudes:

I've read a coupla reports lately that claim that bike-specific oil is no better for bikes than plain ole automotive oil. One of them explained it by saying that; because more and more cars have high revving mills in 'em, automotive oil has had to add the same additives that used to make motorcycle oil special. At least one of the reports had a comprehensive comparison of different lubes...

...any thoughts from y'all who know more about this kinda stuff than me?

[TLRMan]

Multi viscosity oils....

The lower the number the thinner the oil....

So if you have a multi viscosity oil like 10 - 40 it will cover the range between a 10 and 40 weight oil....

Before multi visc oils, when it got cold out, a straight 30 weight would turn into molasses!

Any oil rated for severe driving, or turbo applications is good for a motorcycle....Just choose your brand.

I run a Synth Blend, in my Tiller, but still change the oil every 2500 miles.....

You don't have to run a dealer/manufacturers specific oil.
All I've run for the past 20 something years, was Spectrol, Castrol, and Klotz..

[Kham]

I shouldn't have listen to the guy, but he sounded like he knows what he's talking about. If he had 5w30 I would have gone for that first thing. know what I think? bike and car is a 4-stroke engine. car dealer uses 5w30 and that's why I wanted to go with that for an 02 model w/ less than 3k miles.

Mark, you haven't mention what oil weight you're using.

[TLRMan]

Originally posted by Kham
I shouldn't have listen to the guy, but he sounded like he knows what he's talking about. If he had 5w30 I would have gone for that first thing. know what I think? bike and car is a 4-stroke engine. car dealer uses 5w30 and that's why I wanted to go with that for an 02 model w/ less than 3k miles.

Mark, you haven't mention what oil weight you're using.

During the warmer months, I use 20-50. I romp on the bike a lot. Now, it's got 10-40 in it, because of the colder starting temps. I don't run during the winter, but it gets run every weekend, and the temp in the garage stays about 50 degrees.
Suzuki says to run 10-40 in it all the time, but the semi synth 20-50, just gives it a little extra.
What the oil actually does is suspend the crank and rods on a thin film. This is what we want is a good suspension capability.
Synthetic doesn't break down as fast. You could run synthetic for 10,000 miles, but the problem is that the by products of combustion creates acids that can get to the bearings, so that why we must change the oil. The filter gets the big stuff, but if you want the engine to be happy, change the oil regularly.

[Stoneman]

Just a side note to what Mark said: If you're just putting oil in to store your bike for the winter, go with the cheapest stuff you can find. Just make sure the bottle isn't marked as 'Energy Conserving'. You SHOULD be changing the oil again before you take 'er out in the spring, so you needn't be overly concerned with what you use to store it. Again though, STAY AWAY from 'Energy Conserving' brands. It'll be clearly marked on the bottle...

Originally posted by Stoneman
Just a side note to what Mark said: If you're just putting oil in to store your bike for the winter, go with the cheapest stuff you can find. Just make sure the bottle isn't marked as 'Energy Conserving'. You SHOULD be changing the oil again before you take 'er out in the spring, so you needn't be overly concerned with what you use to store it. Again though, STAY AWAY from 'Energy Conserving' brands. It'll be clearly marked on the bottle...

Does that matter if you're gonna change it before you start riding anyway?

Doesn't matter to me, I just ride my bike into the house, park it....and forget about it till spring.

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by JC
Does that matter if you're gonna change it before you start riding anyway?

That's why I just put the cheap shit in it over the winter. Ya should have something in there that'll suspend the sediment that's floating around in there, rather than leave the old shit in 'cuz that'll allow that sediment to turn into sludge. When I'm ready to take 'er out again is when I put the good shit in again. I agree that it may be a bit overkill, but that's the way I've done it.

Keep in mind though that I didn't start winterizing my bikes 'til I moved up here nexta East Bumfuck a few years ago...

I meant about the engergy conserving shit. Does it matter if you use that since you're just changing it before you ride anyway?

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by JC
I meant about the engergy conserving shit. Does it matter if you use that since you're just changing it before you ride anyway?

I'm no expert here, but I've done a lot of reading about this. The 'energy conserving' stuff is too thin and has too many lubricating chemicals in it. Therefor, it can't suspend the sediments that inherently form in the engines as well as the non-energy conserving stuff. If the oil can't suspend it, it ends up on the bottom of the engine as sludge. And three or four months is a long time to have that crap sitting in your bike, letting shit form as sludge...

Choo know whad I mean, mang?

Got it, thx.

[RandyO]

the story I get is that the energy conserving oils do not have anti shear addatives, (zinc, I think) anyway, it's not so much that the motor won't like the energy conserving oil, the problem lies in the wet clutches and transmission, where anti shear addatives are needed, both motorcycle specific oil and diesel grades have anti shear addatives,

other than that, if you ask me, oil is oil, and if yer going to change it anyway every 2500-3500 miles, then why waste your money on expensive oil.

also, normally my oil gets changed every 3k (once a month) but if I go on a trip, I do a service just before I leave and one when I get back, last years trip, that was 6200miles, and my oil was still clean and not broken down

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by RandyO
the story I get is that the energy conserving oils do not have anti shear addatives, (zinc, I think) anyway, it's not so much that the motor won't like the energy conserving oil, the problem lies in the wet clutches and transmission, where anti shear addatives are needed, both motorcycle specific oil and diesel grades have anti shear addatives,

But for the purposes of this discussion (storing the bike), all that doesn't really matter. The motorcycle most likely won't get used, so the oil circulating throughout the clutch/engine/tranny isn't an issue. None the less, I wouldn't use energy conserving oil for nuttin'...

Originally posted by Stoneman
But for the purposes of this discussion (storing the bike), all that doesn't really matter.

HA!

None the less, I wouldn't use energy conserving oil for nuttin'...

No shit, can you imagine trying to get it off your unit afterwards? Holy cleanup nightmare.

[Dannyboy]

So I guess I will use A 10-40 oil for storage? I use Castrol in the truck so what Castrol would I use? Just basic stuff?

[Stoneman]

Again, if all you'll be doing is storing it just get some cheap stuff. I use the same weight the manu recommends. I just go down to the local Wally World or McAuto parts store and pick up some cheap 10/40. I replace it in the spring with Honda shit. Go figure, huh?

[twrayinma]

dude, you put shit in your engine?

ewwwwwww....

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by twrayinma
dude, you put shit in your engine?

ewwwwwww....

Yeah, but only Honda shit...

[Kham]

once you winterized your bike, you're not suppose to start it until whenever, but what if I don't winterized the bike, putting additives in the gas tank, but just change the oil and warm it up every weekend. Is there anything wrong by doing this? I doubt it.

[Stoneman]

That's supposedly not good. I've read on numerous occasions that if you were to use that method, you'd hafta RIDE the bike at normal operating temps for about 15 minutes. That is under normal loads, alternating the RPM and load...

[TLRMan]

Originally posted by Stoneman
That's supposedly not good. I've read on numerous occasions that if you were to use that method, you'd hafta RIDE the bike at normal operating temps for about 15 minutes. That is under normal loads, alternating the RPM and load...

Jay,
Rules for the TLR is that you must run the bike until it gets to temp. What I do is let it get right up until the fans kick off (220 -225 degrees). I also vary the RPMs. Disconnect the headlights, so the battery sees a charge, instead of supporting the lights. The Tiller has a habit of fouling sparkplugs if you don't warm it up completely.
Being fuel injected, is a plus, because there are no fuel bowls to drain and such.

I haven't had any problem with running it this way....YET!

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by Stoneman
That's supposedly not good. I've read on numerous occasions that if you were to use that method, you'd hafta RIDE the bike at normal operating temps for about 15 minutes. That is under normal loads, alternating the RPM and load...

Oops! That should read 'ALTERING', not 'ALTERNATING'...