Engine Oil

[Twisted]

Runabout, you know you can use certain diesel oils too, right? As long as there is a spec called JA-MO (something like that), it is ok for wet clutches in motorcycles. And it's usually cheaper than car and cycle oils.

I think the old Caltex Delo 400 is one of em

[gsJack]

Runabout, you know you can use certain diesel oils too, right? As long as there is a spec called JA-MO (something like that), it is ok for wet clutches in motorcycles. And it's usually cheaper than car and cycle oils.

I think the old Caltex Delo 400 is one of em

I use Rotella T 15W-40 now which carries the JASO-MA motorcycle rating and has for a couple years now.  I used some Delo 400 a couple years ago when a local Autozone had a bunch on sale and it didn't have a JASO motorcycle rating but the Shell Rotella didn't have it then either.  Delo is not regularly available in this area.

I think any of the truck aka diesel aka heavy duty oils from the major oil companies would pass the JASO-MA test but the producers just haven't gone to the expense of doing the testing to get the rating yet, their major market is trucks not motorcycles.

Just make sure an oil is JASO-MA rated if does have a JASO mc rating on it and not the JASO-MB which is for motorcycles that don't have the clutches running in the engine oil.  The JASO-MB has the friction reducers in it.

I think the 15W-40 Rotella T or an equivelant is the best oil for our GS500s.  That statement should help increase the post count.      By the way I used the full synthetic 15W-50 Mobil 1 auto oil in my 97 GS for about 50k miles before switching to the heavy duty dino juice oils and found the Delo, Delvac, and Rotella T type oils much better for my needs.

[twocool]

I'm kinda afraid to chime in on such a sensitive topic as engine oil


2001 GS, 49800 km (30950 mi).
Last July I went for a 3-day trip with friends, total about 1150 km (710 mi), of which 2/3 were

Yeah  "sensitive" to say the least......Some interesting internet discussions on many groups.

Americans are "loyal to their oil".......

Internet search will give lots of good and useful information on motor oil.....will also give the typical myths and misconceptions.........

There is a common thread with the misconceptions...that is to get the money out of your wallet and into somebody else's!!

These usually involve more frequent changes than necessary, using a more expensive brand or type than necessary, or "our brand is better than their brand"......or some vague, hollow unprovable claims of "performance" or secret ingredients...



You must try to figure out whether your informantion is coming from the enginering department...or the marketing department....

The good news is that falling for the marketing ploys usually does not result in any bad effects to your machine.........just bad for the wallet.

Cookie

[PachmanP]

All about Oil

Makes for a decent read.

To answer your original question, mixing oils is fine. I believe you can mix synthetic and dino as well.

[burning1]

It's fine to mix brands, and it's fine to mix synthetic oil with a non synthetic. Only issue is that you have to treat the resulting mix as if it's non-synthetic when it comes to things like extended drain intervals.

Of course, you should make sure that whatever you put in your bike meets the ratings and requirements for your particular bike.

Also, a synthetic will not cause clutch slip unless you already have clutch issues. I've run a number of synthetics in my bike, and never had a problem. Worst issue I ever had was a slipping clutch caused by overheating due to repeated race launches. When it cooled down it worked normally. Synthetic actually helped there.

[runabout879]

I didn't realize that I could use the diesel oil, thanks for the heads up. I still have not had to add oil for over a month, and I've done some pretty spirited rides, 25 miles each way every day to work. I just wish I could remember which oil I put in it.