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engine oil

22K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  Sooty 
#1 ·
so here's the story. coming up soon on a oil change. nearest honda dealer is 4hrs away. local shops, have no stock on 10w-30 oil. they do have amble 10w-40 oil.

so my question, can we use 10w-40 oil in these bikes? any recommended brand? regular motorcycle oil or synthetic?

i got two bottles of castrel 10w-40, it was on sale for dirt cheap and always had good luck with castrel on all my vehicle but would really like to know for sure before I go ahead and do anything. any input be great. thanks in advance.
 
#5 · (Edited)
You don't have a new member statement about what your bike is so I don't know if it is the thumper or the twin.

Can you not find Shell Rotella T-5 10W30 in Fort McMurray? WalMart ships that stuff to stores if ordered. Here's my order (shipping was free):

Arrives by: Fri, Feb 10
We'll send an email with tracking
info when your order ships.
Shipping to:
​John Sonderegger
​deleted
​Green Valley , AZ 85614
Item Qty Price Total


Rotella 10W-30 T5 Motor Oil, 2.5 gal 1 $40.77 $40.77


This is used in a 471 cc twin. I have also used Castrol 10W-40 in the bike, but the oil pressure at idle is so low (13 psi) that I really didn't want to use a higher viscosity oil. I currently have 15K miles on the bike and needed to adjust the shims recently (ahead of schedule; all 8 shims needed to be downsized 0.05 mm (two size drop)). I am a "maintenance nut", changing oil and filter every 3000 miles. YMMV
 
#7 · (Edited)
Well use the 10W-40 but consider an early change again. I don't have a Service Manual for the 286 cc engine, so I can't check the oil pressure, but, I will bet that it is similar. I was worried about getting good top end lubrication with higher viscosity oils. That was never a problem with the old air-cooled stuff (much bigger tolerances) but the modern water-cooled engines run very tight specs and prolonged use of higher than spec viscosity oil might cause a problem. Why take a chance? Have them order it in with their regular shipments.

The Rotella will not have energy conserving additives. Standard automotive oils will have have those additives. I do not think that moly is used anymore, but that was the bugaboo 25 years ago; moly can lead to clutch failures for bikes like ours, where the engine and transmission share the same oil.
 
#9 ·
He probably has Castrol GTX 10W-40 which has no energy conserving additives. I have used it in all of my older motorcycles and the '99 Miata.
 
#15 ·
I looked around a bit at synthetic, but couldn't find any 10w30 that listed all the specs that were needed... so just played it safe and ordered what the manual said to use.

Plus, the oil I drained at 575 miles still looked brand new, so it seems to do the job.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
 
#22 ·
People, do you know what 10w-40 means???
The "W" is what the oil is like when the temp is colder (the w - winter - get it), 10 weight, so the oil is thinner - flows easier.
The number after the dash is what the oil is like when the temps are high - 30 weight and in high heat you need 40 weight, so that you keep your engine lubed up.
SO if you live in a desert you need to use 40 weight.
Using 10w-40 instead of 10w-30 will not harm you engine.
And you dont have to drain it early because you could not find 10w-30 oil.
In fact you could always use 10w-40 and if the temps turn global warming hot on you, you have the extra protection already in your oil!

Amazing how an oil thread will just go on and on.
Next will be posts about how they use brand X and its the best and the engine is so smooth and quite and it shifts so much smoother!!!
Didnt know your butt is so sensitive that you can detect these things!!!

AS long as the oil meets all requirements it will work for you.
You can spend $100 a gallon but it won't give you better protection, and most likely you won't have the bike long enough to get any benefits that MIGHT be from that expensive oil!
 
#24 · (Edited)
Baby oil can not be beaten! Smells wonderful and is a real babe magnet. One sniff and they will follow you like a pack of starving wolves. No need to worry about grade and all the technical nonsense that pretend bikers like to wax lyrical about, just get down to your supermarket and buy all the stock before they get cleaned out by real bikers who know their oils!

Oh...and it won’t stain your carpet like Motul, Castrol or Shell oils.

😹

Whatever happened to Castrol R? Had a mate who heated it up in a frying pan in his kitchen because he like the aroma.
 
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