Oil is always such a great topic for sitting back with popcorn and beer.

Friction modifiers (chiefly moly) are supposedly "bad" for the clutch.  If the oil label has the circle on it with the words ENERGY CONSERVING, it HAS friction modifiers in abundance.  Most other oils also have them in lesser amounts, even some "motorcycle specific" ones like Honda GN-4.  Oils certified for wet clutch application are good bets. The gear box application puts a lot of shear stress on oils and products certified for use in gear boxes are a good bet.  Motorcycle engines also have a lot of heat, especially air cooled ones -- thus oils certified to hold-up well under intense heat are good bets.  There are oils so certified and they are not relatively expensive.  They are called multipurpose oils and are often referred to as "Diesel" or Fleet motor oils.  Shell Rotella T, Shell Rotella T Syn are at Wally World for about $10.00 and $16.00 per gallon respectively.  Mobil/Delvac One can be found at truck stops, Chevron Delo at Chevron Stations.  These are excellent "motorcycle" choices and recently Shell, after having received so many inquiries about using Rotella in bikes, submitted their 15/40 Rotella to JASMO to be so certified as MC oil and the recent bottles should be so labled now.  Shell also apparently made some minor adjustments to the specs of Rotella T Syn 5-40 and new bottles of that should also soon be found with the JASMO certification for cycles -- according to information discussed at gl1800riders.com (and we all know internet info is soooo reliable .

prs

Quote from: scottpA_GS on July 08, 2008, 07:41:53 AM


OK then sledge, with all your "great knowledge" of motorcycle -vs- car oil you did not explain what it is that is different?



Just about EVERY motorcycle dealer uses regular "car" oil in the bikes... You know whats run in em when they come from the factory in japan? REGULAR OLE 10W40  Where on the bottle of castrol does it say (CAR OIL) Its the same oil... safe to use in cars, truck, lawnmowers and MOTORCYCLES. Period.

You show me and prove any benefits to using "motorcycle oil" over "car oil" and explain what is different in the two "blends"

And yes.. I am feeling very "quoty today" 

 

If you go back and read what I said in more depth you will see I claimed bike oils are formulated differently from car oils. Half way down this page http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html you will find confirmation of this statement and the various links on the page will provide the answers you so desperately want.........assuming of course you choose to believe what is said.

Yea.. I always believe everything I read on the internet 

Did you read who wrote the article?

"I am just a pro-car, pro-motorbike petrolhead who is into basic car maintenance"

he also says himself... "In short : the advice here is worth as much as you are paying for it."

This makes him an expert on researching the ins and outs of motor oil 

Im not 100 % dissing the idea that MC oil may be better than "car" oil. But to take whole or even half heartedly the advise of some self proclaimed "petrolhead"? is silly.

As far as the topic for this thread and the GS500... Use whatever oil you like and can afford. If having "motorcycle oil" makes you feel like you are going to get another 10K out of the motor life, then buy it. There is no proven need for it! There are always going to be the "Amzoil' heads that say they got 500K out of their K car cause they used it. But there is always a guy with the same car, same miles who used plain ole Dino juice...

In the sort term, you are much better off spending your $ on cheap oil and buying better tires or something else.  The GS500 doesn't care.

Quotebike spec oil in a high capacity/power 4 cylinder 16v Fuel-injected bike with an integral gearbox a wet clutch and tight manufacturing tollerances.

please define Tollerance

My '95 gs had clean new oil when i bought it - at oil change time several thousand miles later i opted for Rotella T because i'd read somewhere (here?) it could help with clunky shifting.  Definitely made a difference in how smoothly my gs shifts.   fwiw.

Quote from: scottpA_GS on July 08, 2008, 11:01:45 AM

Yea.. I always believe everything I read on the internet 

Did you read who wrote the article?

"I am just a pro-car, pro-motorbike petrolhead who is into basic car maintenance"

he also says himself... "In short : the advice here is worth as much as you are paying for it."

This makes him an expert on researching the ins and outs of motor oil 

Im not 100 % dissing the idea that MC oil may be better than "car" oil. But to take whole or even half heartedly the advise of some self proclaimed "petrolhead"? is silly.

As far as the topic for this thread and the GS500... Use whatever oil you like and can afford. If having "motorcycle oil" makes you feel like you are going to get another 10K out of the motor life, then buy it. There is no proven need for it! There are always going to be the "Amzoil' heads that say they got 500K out of their K car cause they used it. But there is always a guy with the same car, same miles who used plain ole Dino juice...

In the sort term, you are much better off spending your $ on cheap oil and buying better tires or something else.  The GS500 doesn't care.

You sound like you are loosing it, whats the problem? I choose to  research a subject I am unsure of and come to my own conclusions rather than blindly believe and accept what gets said in forums by in the main, what I consider to be unqualified and inexperenced individuals (unlike a lot of the people in here I might add).  I believe whats stated in the link, you dont, so what? I respect your opinions and am not going to argue with you....I say let the individuals concerned decide whats best for them based on the information presented and the way they interepret it...........Its an open forum, I have given my opinions and so have you but at the end of the day I really couldnt give 2 sh**s what oil anyone chooses to put in their engine.......why should I? it isnt my bike ......... so lets stop falling out and move on eh?

Quote from: thejollyroger on July 08, 2008, 11:48:30 AM

Quotebike spec oil in a high capacity/power 4 cylinder 16v Fuel-injected bike with an integral gearbox a wet clutch and tight manufacturing tollerances.

please define Tollerance

Will this do?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolerance_(engineering)

appologies for the extra "L"

+1 to "gsJack"

Motorcycle oil has if you like a stronger oil molecule being more resistant to MC extreme thrashing at higher RPM's than normal car oil.  Normal car oil like 10/40 is fine to use, just needs to be changed more often.

I use car oil because it is much cheaper although I change oil every 3000km instead of every 6000km.

i figured out the correct answer.....

DO NOT LISTEN TO ANY BODY ANY TIME

do your own research and make your own decisions
research oil specs
SG SF...and others
try to figure out the modifiers and other chemistry involved


Ian,    hi
never get in an argument with a fool.....unable to determine who is who very quickly

This is from another site I frequent from time to time.

http://www.uponone.com/viewhowtos18.php

lots of stats of different oils and brands.

was going to post lost of fancy talk here.
changed my mind use what suits you. it is realy the only right answere

The local Suzuki dealer, told me they use 10w40 castrol GTX in the GS500...

So I use rotella 15w40 syntec.

Someone suggested removing 20% of the oil contained/replaced in the bike and add this additif :
Lucas Synthetic Oil Stabilizer: http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=49&catid=2&loc=show
any thoughs on such a suggestion ?

This oil topic always brings out the best in all of us 

Quote from: pbureau69 on July 09, 2008, 08:10:49 AM
The local Suzuki dealer, told me they use 10w40 castrol GTX in the GS500...

So I use rotella 15w40 syntec.

Someone suggested removing 20% of the oil contained/replaced in the bike and add this additif :
Lucas Synthetic Oil Stabilizer: http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=49&catid=2&loc=show
any thoughs on such a suggestion ?

LOL, this is by far the best answer so far. I'm going to reply to all oil related threads with this answer from now on, since people generally do whatever they like anyway.

There should be like a poll, "What oil do you use ?" and then every single maker and weight listed, so folks can select their brand/weight/viscosity and do so without griping.

Love it !

At least in all of these posts, you can say that we've given warmouth a definitive answer.  We have spoken with one voice and said clearly "use THIS oil."   

I did my first ever oil change on the GS (or for that matter on anything I've owned) a couple of nights ago.  I DID use the Valvoline motorcycle specific 10-40.  I paid a premium of only about $.60/quart for 3 quarts that I used in doing the oil change.  Perhaps I paid $1.80 too much, but I don't feel TOO bad about it.  AND, as recommended in the "how to" section, I had a beer after my test run.  All seemed well.  ....for that matter I had 3 beers.

  ok guys my bike is new and it holds little more than 3 qts so 4 dollars a qt  ain't as bad as i tought  because i didn't know u could get mc oil at other places than the dealer lol the cheapest thing they have is 6 bucks so  for peace of mind im gonna go with mc oil  better safe than sorry  thanks  for all the feed back