what about synthetics?

[jimcor]

Use good oil, change it often.

Use whatever oil makes YOU feel good in the grade specified by the bike's manufacturer. You will not have an oil related engine failure.

You feel better at the end of a hard day of jammin' the roads knowing $13 a litre, European synthetic oil protects your mill...God bless you!

If you have Ponzi Scheme high priced synthetic American promises filling your crankcase well...tonite the bedbugs won't bite, sleep tite...I promise.

If paying big dollars for Big 4 dino juice makes you glad you're getting secret additives that car owners can only wish for...Good for you!

If bike manufacturer's grade car oil is on sale @ $0.94 a quart at Kroger's, Safeway, Dollar General or Big Jim's Discount Tortilla Shop buy a case and...

Change your oil and filter regularly and laugh at the buffoons who are not doing what you're doing...Works for me!

[Jethro]

I like Castrol Syntec pretty much solely becasue it has a big 2" bottle neck and no foil underneath the cap. That's about it.

[jimcor]

I like Castrol Syntec pretty much solely becasue it has a big 2" bottle neck and no foil underneath the cap. That's about it.

Reason enough! Live Long and Prosper! Good luck racin' pink bikes! :-D

[Zooks]

You hit the nail on the head Jim - IMHO

[Guest]

The problem with "oil threads" is that many of the people post hearsay as fact.

I?m a mechanical engineer and spent 21 years working in the automotive industry. I?ve studied this subject and have concluded that synthetic oils are superior if you like to run extended change intervals, since they are very stable and don?t brake down as fast. They are not more ?slippery? thus there is no worry with using them during break-in. In fact, many engines come with synthetic oil from new. Regarding viscosity, synthetics don?t thin as much as the temperature increases, and they have a higher flash point. This can be important on an air cooled engine but only under extreme conditions. So bottom line is that synthetics are better in some situations but if your bike never sees these conditions?it doesn?t really matter.

Knew vettes and vipers, & porsches (??) did come with synth from the factory...I was replying more to the whole "the sky will fall if you use non MC specific oil in your bike" mentality that some folks cling to. I, too, like the added high temp protection, since I live in the Southeastern US. If you change oil every 3,000 miles, I would just run dino oil.

[Seso]

Oil Specs for GS850

Hello,

I am going to change the oil in my GS850 for the first time (I bought it a year ago), but I do not have an owners manual. I ordered one, but it will not be here for three weeks. How much oil does the GS850 require?

Seso

[earlfor]

Once, some years ago, when a 350 Honda twin was state of the art, :-)
I changed the oil in mine and reasoned that if adding a quart of Slick 50 was good, then using only Slick 50 and not adding any oil would be better. I filled the crankcase with Slick, started up the bike, put it in 1st gear and let out the clutch. The bike would not move an inch. I ended up having to take the Slick 50 out and replace the clutch linings before the bike would move again. LOL

E.

One important thing;

Oil additives are bad. Slick 50 will harm your machine. If these additives were so great, they would be put into oil by the manufacturers.

[Steve]

Hello,

I am going to change the oil in my GS850 for the first time (I bought it a year ago), but I do not have an owners manual. I ordered one, but it will not be here for three weeks. How much oil does the GS850 require?

Seso

Look right next to the fill opening. Mine says 3000 ml. That is a pretty good clue that it will take 3 litres of oil. 8-[
If you do the math, that is 3.17 quarts, or 3 quarts and 5 ounces. :-D


.

[Dan Ruddock]

The line that you have to use mc specific oil is a load of crap and an over priced rip off but you do have to be careful which auto oil you use. Read my earlier post. Dan

[dwvoss]

Hello,

I am going to change the oil in my GS850 for the first time (I bought it a year ago), but I do not have an owners manual. I ordered one, but it will not be here for three weeks. How much oil does the GS850 require?

Seso

About 3 quarts if you aren't replacing the filter. If you are replacing the filter, then about 3.8 quarts.

[Highcountry2000]

Forgive me!

I really am not trying to be rude or offensive here, but if you have not kept up with lubricant technology and especially the "Artificial Requirements" that the EPA has imposed on Engine Oils specified for polution controlled new vehicles, then you are mistaking history for fact! That could cost you some serious engine wear.

The EPA forced the reduction of "zinc" or ZDDP in ALL oils that are specified for use in modern polution controlled engines.

The oil industry per ILSAC (International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee) had to only decrease the levels of ZDDP (Zinc) in certain viscosity to meet new emission standards. The ILSAC rated oils still have an average of .085 levels of zinc. Testing has shown on standard OEM set ups that used mild camshafts that they will still get plenty of protection from the new rated oils. There is an exception when it comes to extreme applications such as motorcycles or any highly stressed engine. If you have a high performance solid lifter set up with an aggressive cam then you will need to use a quality Racing Oil or Fleet Oil (Such as Shell Rotella or Chevron Delo) for break in and normal usage. These oils have an increased level of Zinc that will range from .14 to .16 and will provide plenty of protection.

If you really care, there is a lot of information out there that you should read instead of relying on the heresay of others.

Good Luck, Bruce

[Nessism]

The EPA forced the reduction of "zinc" or ZDDP in ALL oils that are specified for use in modern polution controlled engines.

The oil industry per ILSAC (International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee) had to only decrease the levels of ZDDP (Zinc) in certain viscosity to meet new emission standards. The ILSAC rated oils still have an average of .085 levels of zinc. Testing has shown on standard OEM set ups that used mild camshafts that they will still get plenty of protection from the new rated oils. There is an exception when it comes to extreme applications such as motorcycles or any highly stressed engine. If you have a high performance solid lifter set up with an aggressive cam then you will need to use a quality Racing Oil or Fleet Oil (Such as Shell Rotella or Chevron Delo) for break in and normal usage. These oils have an increased level of Zinc that will range from .14 to .16 and will provide plenty of protection.

If you really care, there is a lot of information out there that you should read instead of relying on the heresay of others.

Good Luck, Bruce

So Zinc is the only additive that protects camshafts? You seem to imply that the zinc reduction spells doom and gloom. I'm not an expert on such matters but I can't help think that the oil manufactuers wouldn't just eliminate a critical additives without substutition of some sort. This subject has come up on the Rotella forum and while Shell does not come out and state how the formulation has changed they do claim that the new formula has performed very well in tests they have run. Not trying to start an argument but just wonder if sometimes lay people (like us), who know just enough to be dangerous, sometimes are just spreading more half truths which leads to conjecture in threads like this.

[jimcor]

So Zinc is the only additive that protects camshafts? You seem to imply that the zinc reduction spells doom and gloom. I'm not an expert on such matters but I can't help think that the oil manufactuers wouldn't just eliminate a critical additives without substutition of some sort. This subject has come up on the Rotella forum and while Shell does not come out and state how the formulation has changed they do claim that the new formula has performed very well in tests they have run. Not trying to start an argument but just wonder if sometimes lay people (like us), who know just enough to be dangerous, sometimes are just spreading more half truths which leads to conjecture in threads like this.

I've seen some serious discussion on this over on www.bobistheoilguy.com . There are other additives that replace the ZDDP. Good oil, changed often.
Really, what more can you do?

[Dan Ruddock]

I've seen some serious discussion on this over on www.bobistheoilguy.com . There are other additives that replace the ZDDP. Good oil, changed often.
Really, what more can you do?

There is a lot that can be done! First off the problem is real and is one of the reasons car manufactures are going to roller cams and away from slipper types. Talk to a after market performance cam manufacture and they will tell you about all the problems they have had since the ZDDP reductions have been in place. Sure they have replacement additives but they have not come up with one as good as ZDDP kind of like the replacement additives for leaded gas they were never as good as lead. Also there is still ZDDP in motor oil but at reduced levels which in most stock engine's along with the new additives works ok but when people add stiffer springs and a high lift cam with a sharper nose the problem is made worse. What to do, use a HDEO that has no moly (wet clucth) or add a small amount of GM EOS to your oil or use a mc specific oil which still has the extra ZDDP in it for now??? but at a rip off price. Go easy on the GM EOS it has a ton of ZDDP in it just one ounce per quart is good. One shell engineer told me too much of the stuff can increase ring pack loading up with deposits. Dan

[Nessism]

Roller cam followers reduce friction which improves fuel economy which in turn increases the manufactuers CAFE headroom and allows them to sell more high profit margin gas hogs. Manufactuers are not adopting them to ward off wear problems.

Yea, I've heard the comments about how the aftermarket cam guys are feeling the pinch with some oils. I'd love to see the REAL data, not just the BS they release for outside consumption. I'll bet at least some of these complaints can be traced to poor installation technique, no assembly lube, or using too high a lift cam/too strong springs.

My daily driver car does not have roller followers and I'm using run of the mill dino oil with NO noticable camshaft wear. If the new oils were that bad there would be tons of people complaining and that just isn't the case. Go to the Bobtheoilguy forum and read through the lab test results people post there. Most are very good, even with cheap dino oil.

All this said, I'm a fan of desel engine oil in motorcycles; much cheaper than motorcycle specific stuff yet seem to have additive packages to give a little extra breakdown protection which is good for motorcycles which share their oil with the gearbox. No biggie, only longer service life.