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Changing oil - question about synthetic/regular

  • Thread starter Thread starter defwack
  • Start date Start date
D

defwack

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Is there any way to tell whether I have synthetic oil in the engine? I bought the bike used, and I'll try to contact the guy to ask him, but I don't know what's in there now. If I can't figure it out, which do I go with? Is there an advantage to either regular oil or synthetic?
 
It really doesn't matter, just make sure whichever you use it doesn't have the energy star rating. That has anti-friction agents that cause clutch slippage. You can get Shell Rotella full synth at Wal-mart cheap.
 
Cool, thanks. I almost picked up some Mobil One synthetic today while I was out, but it was like almost $18 for the 3 quarts I'd need. Plus I thought I heard somewhere that you can't use one type after using another type, but I couldn't remember what the rule was. I'll stop by Walmart tomorrow and pick some up.

What do I do with the old oil after I've changed it out? Isn't it illegal and environmentally disastrous to throw it away in the regular garbage?
 
defwack said:
Cool, thanks. I almost picked up some Mobil One synthetic today while I was out, but it was like almost $18 for the 3 quarts I'd need. Plus I thought I heard somewhere that you can't use one type after using another type, but I couldn't remember what the rule was. I'll stop by Walmart tomorrow and pick some up.

What do I do with the old oil after I've changed it out? Isn't it illegal and environmentally disastrous to throw it away in the regular garbage?
Click to expand...
You can probably get a shop that does oil changes to take it. Don't worry about going back and forth between sythetic and regular oil when you do your changes. Just about every oil manufacturer makes synthetic blends anyway.
 
I also heard something about synthetics being so good at cleaning engines that they end up cleaning out the gunk that keeps these old engines from leaking. Is this true, and if so, will it eventually seal back up if it does start to seep a bit?
 
defwack said:
I also heard something about synthetics being so good at cleaning engines that they end up cleaning out the gunk that keeps these old engines from leaking. Is this true, and if so, will it eventually seal back up if it does start to seep a bit?
Click to expand...
If it causes any leaks most of the time it isn't any that can't be torqued down a little to stop.
 
I've found that the synthetic blends are a nice low dollar way to gain some of the benefits of a full synthetic without going whole hog and spending 30 bucks on an oil change. (or 60 bucks on those vehicles with doors/4 wheels/bumpers and such)

I'd agree with Billy that you typically won't see major leaks caused by the switch to synthetic. Its been debated forever, but I've never seen or heard of an actual 1st hand experience of someone having leaking issues. Its always the old "my friend's brother's dog groomer had huge leaks" bit.

Oh, and I think any Walmart that sells Oil will take in up to 5 quarts of old oil.
 
Good to know. My local WalMart has a full service auto-bay for things like that, so I guess they probably would take my old if I bought the new from them. Heck, maybe they'll even put it in for me! In fact, I'm going to call them right now to find out.

Thanks!
 
graymulligan said:
Oh, and I think any Walmart that sells Oil will take in up to 5 quarts of old oil.
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That means I've got about 15 trips worth lying around. I'm going to have to wait for an amnesty day here to take it in.
 
Many city and county governments have web pages which list places that take various items (e.g. used oil, etc.) for diposal.

BB
 
waste oil

waste oil

Yes I'm a stinkin' tree huggin' burn out 60's type in case you need to cast any aspursions or invectives.

Any how I have found, at least in central Maryland, that the county dumps, landfills, recycling centers take used oil. Never had to pay to do it. Please don't dump in soil, drains or empty lots. Once you get used to recycling it's really not a hassle.

Just my 2 cents.

DH
 
Most of the auto part stores, PepBoys, Auto Zone, Kragen will accept used oil weather you bought it their or not. At least in Calif they do
I have a 5 gal sparklets type bottle, Just take it down when it is full
 
SqDancerLynn1 said:
Most of the auto part stores, PepBoys, Auto Zone, Kragen will accept used oil weather you bought it their or not. At least in Calif they do
I have a 5 gal sparklets type bottle, Just take it down when it is full
Click to expand...

YEP-----------------------------
 
graymulligan said:
I've found that the synthetic blends are a nice low dollar way to gain some of the benefits of a full synthetic without going whole hog and spending 30 bucks on an oil change. (or 60 bucks on those vehicles with doors/4 wheels/bumpers and such)

I'd agree with Billy that you typically won't see major leaks caused by the switch to synthetic. Its been debated forever, but I've never seen or heard of an actual 1st hand experience of someone having leaking issues. Its always the old "my friend's brother's dog groomer had huge leaks" bit.

Oh, and I think any Walmart that sells Oil will take in up to 5 quarts of old oil.
Click to expand...

Mine did, got the bike and ran it for about a year. Switched to Syn and drip...drip...drip. I retorqed and it stopped most of it but it still leaked a bit. It is true that the synthetics have detergent meant to clean the crud, and the crud, at least my crud, was keeping my base gasket from leaking. Nothing that a top end gasket kit cant fix.

.02
 
I ended up taking it to the Walmart near my house that has a lube/tire bay, and while they wouldn't change the oil for me, they did let me borrow one of their oil pans to do the change myself. I just bought the oil in the store, and then they took the old stuff right there at no charge. Took about 5 minutes in total, and I was ready to go.
 
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