What kind of oil are you using?

[KZ]

It's time for an oil change and all I need is 2L for my 250. At the HONDA shop all they have is the "40" grade oil for Honda Waves, guess the stuff will do.
What are you using and where do you get it?

 

[daewoo]

Here in Australia I use the Chevron Delo 400 Diesel truck oil...

You apparently can not use car oil in bikes as the friction modifiers play havoc with the wet clutch in a motorbike...

Dello 400 is about the same price as cheaper motorbike oil, but far less expensive than the top shelf...

I have read some reports on the net written by petro-chemical engineers that go into the length of the hydro-carbon chain and lots of other stuff I don't understand, but the conclusion was that it was perfect for use in a motorbike...

I have it in my 84 XR250 and 06 KLR650 without any problems...

Cheers,
Daewoo

 

[mikerust]

Simple answer go with the Cap't whatever Honda sells for the bike and change it often.

Fancy solution Shell Rotella/Rimula Ultra fully synthetic diesel truck oil. If available at local Shell station.

Long answer http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Oils1.html

Not oil for cars see post above

 

[monsterman]

10-40 is fine my ducati uses 10-40 synthetic and i put honda 10-40 in my wifes 250 Honda rebel

 

[davevb]

I use Royal Purple in my KTM. Top shelf stuff and luckily there is a guy up the road who imports it. Used to get fur on the magnetic oil plug but since changing have none Runs cooler as well.

 

[pee]

Very Happy with Royal Purple 20 - 50 fully synthetic for the DRZ.
In Chiang Mai I found it at Sa Moto (airport road)

 

[roaddhist]

2 different mechanics have put Valvoline 4T (4 stroke motorcycle-2T is for 2 stroke) 10W40 oil in my Phantom with no negative effects. Some people prefer Castrol, many do not like Pennzoil but the only thing I've consistently heard through the years is to stick with the same brand of your choice due to differences in additives and change oil 4 times a year regardless of use of the vehicle, the theory being that sulfur in the fuel bypasses the rings and mixes with the additives to form sulfuric acid which, over time, etches the internal parts of the engine. Once again, only my two satangs worth.

 

[beattheswiss]

By sheer chance I happened to read up on this tonight. Here's what Honda says about my Shadow Aero 750, according to a US website (I don't have an owner's manual:

Q Can I use automotive oils in my Shadow?
A If you're going to use these oils, just keep a few things in mind:
1. Be sure you buy an API certified oil.
2. Check the bottom half of the API seal, if it has the words "Energy Conserving", you probably better pass on that one.
3. If you do use an automotive oil, reduce the mileage between oil change intervals.
Q What's the best viscosity range of oil to use in my bike?
A Honda recommends using 10W-40 oil for what is considered "normal riding conditions". If you don't do a lot of extreme hard riding in heat above 40 degrees, you probably don't need an oil with the high number above 40.

Oh, Honda recommends oil change intervals of 13,000 km. But don't leave the oil in the engine during extended storage periods.

 

[roaddhist]

Captain_Slash wrote: roaddhist wrote

change oil 4 times a year regardless of use of the vehicle

Bloody hell mine is being changed once a week(every 2000 km)

Hi Cap'n,
I should have said at least 4 times a year. You probably could go more kms between changes because of the short time it's in the crankcase but, after all, it's only 1.2 liters of oil per change in a Phantom. The bottom line is that oil is the cheapest part of maintenance and you really can't change it too often, especially considering the small crankcase capacities of motorcycle engines and the rough service they're often required to provide. Since I change my own oil I am able to get almost all of the old oil out of the engine by pulling the drain plug in the evening and refilling the crankcase in the morning.

 

[Kat]

I buy Castrol from a shop near Narawat Bridge (across from the Bull Shop) and then take it to get changed... I think one L is 100 or 120 baht.

 

[Hoghead]

Lets not forget the filter, and it may well be more important than the oil. I use Purolator Pure 1 flters and stock up on them when I am in Canada. Cal Sc. also has an article on oil filters and the Pure 1 gets top grades. The blue colour may not appeal to all but the Hog is blue so it matches quite well. Both my BMW and HD take the same model filter

I use Mobil 1 Delvac fully synthetic 5W-40, or as it is now called in Thailand "turbo diesel pickup oil" in everything I own. Once the new John Deere boat engine is broken in I will change it over to Delvac as well

 

[HDMAN]

Hi Hoghead
I have head that BMW and HD dont have the same oil pressure, i am not sure about this, better check it out, just a thought.

I use Mobil 1 full synthetic

 

[monsterman]

I used to use Pennzoil gold for diesel pickup trucks in all my Thailand HDs for years its good oil for them as they are aircooled and it can handle engine temps above 250centigrade.

I use Putoline 10-40 Semisynthetic in the Monster 750
I use Motul Full synthetic in the Monster 916 S4

and i change oil and filters every 5000km regardless .

 

[GTNZ]

I'm using Royal Purple Blue 20W/50 in my CBR 150R and have been since about 1000 klm's.

So far had no problems at all.

 

[Hoghead]

[quote quote=monsterman]I used to use Pennzoil gold for diesel pickup trucks in all my Thailand HDs for years its good oil for them as they are aircooled and it can handle engine temps above 250centigrade.

250C (482F) - I think not
Pennzoil claim a flash point of 400F min. Note that Flash point is always in Degrees F.
http://www.pennzoil.com.au/downloads/td ... 15W-40.pdf

The maximum thermal specification of an oil is the flash point. This is the
temperature at which the lightest ingredient will vaporize enough to burn, and is a good indicator of the peak temperature limit of the oil. A flash point of 400F should be thought as a minimum requirement and good synthetics are more like 500F. I have seem some synthetic racing oils at 520F

This is not the maximum rated operating temperature of the oil however and few manufacturers give that data. Most conventional oils start to break down at temperatures above 250F. The amount of breakdown is dependent on the amount of time spent at temperature and increases exponentially with higher temperatures. In other words, brief excursions to 275 or even higher will produce only minor break down. But long times at temps above 250 are very, very harmful. Once the oil breaks down it will not recover.

Air cooled engines in this climate run VERY hot and I have seen 375F on old Brit bike cylinder heads. My hot rodded twin cam HD engine runs very hot and I cannot sit still for long at all. Dinosaur oil at these temperatures soon resembles Mikes Burger grill grease and the temperature issue alone is a persuasive reason to use fully synthetic oil.

 

[Hoghead]

[quote quote=HDMAN]Hi Hoghead
I have head that BMW and HD dont have the same oil pressure, i am not sure about this, better check it out, just a thought.

HD very low oil pressures at idle are well known and do not be surprised to see 7 psi. While the potato potato idle sounds cool, lack of oil pressure at very low rpm is bad for its health. While my cams preclude a low idle IMHO, stock engines should not be idled down and like to see 700 rpm.

The cross referenced PN for the oil filter is the same for my HD and BMW
http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/FilterXRef.html

 

[HDMAN]

Hoghead wrote: [quote quote=HDMAN]Hi Hoghead
I have head that BMW and HD dont have the same oil pressure, i am not sure about this, better check it out, just a thought.

HD very low oil pressures at idle are well known and do not be surprised to see 7 psi. While the potato potato idle sounds cool, lack of oil pressure at very low rpm is bad for its health. While my cams preclude a low idle IMHO, stock engines should not be idled down and like to see 700 rpm.

The cross referenced PN for the oil filter is the same for my HD and BMW
http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/FilterXRef.html

HI

I run 1600CC, TC engine, with Andrews TW60a hot cam and ported and flowed heads, so i need to run a bit higher at idle, also use the “long” oil filter

 

[Hoghead]

also use the “long” oil filter

It is not about the size of the can, but size of the filter element, pore size, retention percentage, filter material, by-pass valve construction, and in our case with a horizontal mounted filter the type of anti-drain back valve.

Of all these factors I tend to think that percentage of particle retention greater than 20 - 25 microns is the important factor. Interestingly enough 25 micron = +/- 0.001 inches or about the thickness of the oil film on bearing shell. While there is no room on a bike for a by-pass filter this is common practice on big machinery, and I have a 2 micron oil by-pass filter on my boat diesel.

Surprisingly enough big names like Fram or the OEM HD filter (either long or short) are not the best. Just imagine what the local chrome HD jobber HD filters are like. You have an expensive engine and I question the logic of using expensive oil, and a crappy (but nicely chromed) filter.

The problem is that I have been unable to find good filters in Thailand. K&N are available but in spite of their reputation for good air filters, their oil filters are not so great. As noted above, I import my own Purolator Pure 1 filters at a cost of 250B ea.

Lots of oil filter info here:
http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/FilterStudy.html

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Fi ... OilFilters

BTW, I have several nice Fram chrome filters HD that I do not want

 

[HDMAN]

Hi Hoghead
Thx for the info, your right about getting some real good oil filters here,
About the filters you have, are they for TC motor?

 

[Hoghead]

About the filters you have, are they for TC motor?

All left are 2 ea. Fram PH6019, chrome for TC engines. Note that Fram do not rate very highly but they have to be better than local jobber ones.

 

[spikegomez]

I think 40 grade is good for your 250 HONDA...

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[DavidFL]

Bump

 

[sinclair1969]

monsterman wrote: I used to use Pennzoil gold for diesel pickup trucks in all my Thailand HDs for years its good oil for them as they are aircooled and it can handle engine temps above 250centigrade.

I use Putoline 10-40 Semisynthetic in the Monster 750
I use Motul Full synthetic in the Monster 916 S4

and i change oil and filters every 5000km regardless .

I agree with this, I also change at 5000 km regardless of what the manufacturer says. The cost of oil is very minor in comparison with engine repair costs.

 

[Hoghead]

monsterman wrote:I used to use Pennzoil gold for diesel pickup trucks in all my Thailand HDs for years its good oil for them as they are aircooled and it can handle engine temps above 250centigrade.

I disagreed with this statement back in Dec 08 and thinking that Dyno oil can handle 250C is wishful thinking at best. Flash point is the temp that components in the oil will start boiling off and/or permanently degrading and is a good indication of the temperature limit. The common and more esoteric oils have the following flash points:
Dinosaur oil = 204 - 215C
Poly-olefin = 204 - 232C
Diesters = 243C
Pentl Poly = Esters 271

 

[DavidFL]

A bump in response to

Thai brand oils

Was in Real Motorsports yesterday looking for Shell Ultra synthetic oil. They didn't have it but offered a Thai made oil. Sun'soil 4T Syn Tech 10W-40. The boys were quick to point out that it's semi-synthetic although the bottle would lead you to believe it's a full synthetic. They said it's...

www.gt-rider.com

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http://vmaxoutlaw.com/tech/motorcycle_oil.htm

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http://www.ibmwr.org/otech/oilreport.html