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Engine oils......

  • Thread starter Thread starter Silverfox69
  • Start date Start date
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Silverfox69

Guest
Hello everyone,

I was wondering if there is any difference between AMSOIL, Mobil, Pennzoil, Valvoline, etc.... The one thing that I can think of is the price of each one.. I have an 82 GS650GLZ and I'm trying to decide which oil would be best.. Any thoughts on this would be great..

Thanks,

Vinnie:confused:
 
Silverfox69 said:
Hello everyone,

I was wondering if there is any difference between AMSOIL, Mobil, Pennzoil, Valvoline, etc.... The one thing that I can think of is the price of each one.. I have an 82 GS650GLZ and I'm trying to decide which oil would be best.. Any thoughts on this would be great..

Thanks,

Vinnie:confused:
Click to expand...

"Best" depends on your point of view. To some people it means cheapest or best value, to others it means lasts the longest, and others again mean provides the best protection, etc.

What are you looking for?
 
You can run just about any oil as long as it is not "energy conserving". Personal preferences will vary, I go with whatever synthetic is on sale. Valvoline, Mobil1, Rotella, even castrol once ina while.
 
I ride under normal conditions and once in a while I will ride her hard... (LOL) I change my oil at the beginning of every season, so once a year....
 
Clone said:
You can run just about any oil as long as it is not "energy conserving".
Click to expand...
The key here is the "energy conserving" bit. Look on the back of the container for the API 'donut'. If the bottom half has the words "energy conserving", don't use that oil. The good part is that your selection is quite easy to make. I have not seen any 40w oils that are labeled "energy conserving". Suzuki recommends 10w-40 or 20w-50, so that should not be a problem, but it probably won't be long before they figure out how to mess up the 40w oils, too.

If you are looking for specific brand recommendations, many here use Castrol GTX dino oil, or Mobil 1, AMSOIL and Rotella synthetics. Opinions differ on the change interval, but you won't go wrong with the factory suggestions.

.
 
Ok, I don't want to confuse anybody here. But I seem to be confused myself. My local dealer said to never use a synthetic in my bike because the additives in them will "adhere" to the clutch plates reducing their ability to grab.

Again that is NOT what I know just what I have been told. If it is good to use a synthetic please correct me so I may begin reaping the benefits myself!:D
 
Silverfox69 said:
I ride under normal conditions and once in a while I will ride her hard... (LOL) I change my oil at the beginning of every season, so once a year....
Click to expand...

How many miles per year are we talking about here?
 
One last thing, does it have to be motorcycle oil or can it be just SAE10W-40 for cars????

Thanks to everyone for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
About 1500-2500 miles per year.. One last thing, does the oil have to be made for motorcycles or can you use just SAE 10W-40 for cars!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Silverfox69 said:
About 1500-2500 miles per year.. One last thing, does the oil have to be made for motorcycles or can you use just SAE 10W-40 for cars!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Diesel engine oil would be a good choice for you. Rotella 15W-40 is an excellent choice but just about any diesel oil is good. Diesel oil has more zinc in it (good for camshafts and other high wear components) compared to auto oil and the viscosity will not shear down as fast as auto oil. Good stuff.:cool:
 
Yo can use oil made for cars, you just HAVE to make sure it is not the kind with special friction reducing additives, which as you could imagine would make your wet clutch slip.
There are oils made just for bikes, usually/always more expensive depending on where you buy it. I found a source of dino castrol oil made just for bikes and comes in 20w50 and 10w40. I personally dont run synthetic I have heard bad things, I just change the oil more often.
 
dr_fosg8 said:
My local dealer said to never use a synthetic in my bike because the additives in them will "adhere" to the clutch plates reducing their ability to grab.

Again that is NOT what I know just what I have been told. If it is good to use a synthetic please correct me so I may begin reaping the benefits myself!:D
Click to expand...
The dealer giving you this "information" and if what you are saying is what they said ... NEEDS TO FIND ANOTHER LINE OF WORK!
are you sure they weren't talking about an energy conserving oil that has moly in it?

I have shell rotella-T 5w40 synthetic (blue jug) in my '82 gs850 now. the last oil change was with amsoil 20w50.
 
rustybronco said:
The dealer giving you this "information" and if what you are saying is what they said ... NEEDS TO FIND ANOTHER LINE OF WORK!
are you sure they weren't talking about an energy conserving oil that has moly in it?

I have shell rotella-T 5w40 synthetic (blue jug) in my '82 gs850 now. the last oil change was with amsoil 20w50.
Click to expand...

That very well could be, however they did say synthetics. If there is a specific kind of oil that is bad for the wet clutch I hope that is the oil they were referring to. However the same dealer wouldn't sell me NGK caps because they weren't the right ones, had to order them from suzuki(which I didn't do).

So synthetics are good as long as they are not energy conserving. Good info to have. I thank you Rustybronco.:)
 
Oils labeled as Energy Conserving are always thin viscosity weights like 5W-30 and such, not 10W-40 like our bikes use. For this reason the worry is moot.

The advantage of synthetic oil is that it doesn't shear down as fast as dino oil (particularly cheap auto oil) so you can extend the change interval to offset the high cost. Synthetic oil also has better high temperature protection abilities since it's more viscosity stable. This is a nice safety feature but not overly important unless you ride your bike in killer summer heat at low speed where there is not much airflow over the engine. Other than these advantages, synthetic is no better than anything else. It's not more slippery, doesn't make your clutch slip, and doesn't protect any better than a high quality dino oil like Rotella.

All this said, my bike has synthetic oil in it and I've got a bunch more in storage (got a good deal at Kragen:))
 
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the oil change I did with amsoil 20w50 motorcycle oil was over 5,000 miles with little/no loss of shift quality.
that was a good reason to use it also.

so far 1,200 miles on the rotella-t 5w40... it felt a little hard finding neutral for the first 400-500 miles, but it's looking good so far.
time will tell.

go with nesissm's recommendation of rotella 15w40, it worked well for 2,000+ miles when I used it last.
 
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