What's the best oil?
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It's debated as Heather said....but be sure you do not use oil that say's "Energy Conserving" on the label on the back.
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Usually the recommendation is to stick with the weight of oil that your manual recommends but that is not a hard and fast rule. My manual say's that my bike should have 10W40 in it and yet many others who have this same bike are using 15W50.....as am I.
Some like to use a synthetic oil while others will use regular dino oil. It all depends on the owners preference.
Usually the recommendation is to stick with the weight of oil that your manual recommends but that is not a hard and fast rule. My manual say's that my bike should have 10W40 in it and yet many others who have this same bike are using 15W50.....as am I.
Some like to use a synthetic oil while others will use regular dino oil. It all depends on the owners preference.
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Oil woe's
A Little Secret
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Did you know that 5W/30 oil that is recommended by most auto manufacturers is not recommended for use so that the oil will get up to the top of the engine faster when the engine is first started as they may have you believe ! It actually is a major configuration in the whole "MORE MILES PER GALLON" race between the auto makers. You see, 5W/30 oil actually produces less drag on an engine at startup and when running down the highway therefore being a fractional percentage calculated in with other fuel saving ideas adding up to more MPGs. Think about it. 3 in 1 machine oil is a 10 weight oil. Think of how thin a 5 weight oil is. Do you really think that your engine is getting lubricated when first started with a 5 weight oil? Its like water. And it stays 5 weight until it gets hot. That could be 3 to 5 minuets. I would rather wait a split second longer and get at least 10 weight oil up there. Another thing, for all you MOBIL OIL lovers out there. Mobil had a big law suit on their hands due to the MOBIL OIL COMPANY selling their product with less than the required specifications to the airline industries. Yup, they packaged their product in a container that stated it matched the ingredients required by the airline, but the product inside did not match the label on the container.They have since then merged with Texaco, for reasons unknown. I dont know what came about with the lawsuit, but if they shortchanged the airline industries, you could just imagine what they would do to us ! On a personal note ! I maintain, for an amusement park, 48 Go karts. I always manage to use a name brand oil in them such as Valvoline, Castrol, Agip ETC. I keep very tight records on each Kart and am very aware of the amount of oil usage per week. On very rare occasions I am forced to use Mobil oil in the Karts. The amount of oil consumption per week when using Mobil, is unbelieveable. Deffinately not in my shopping Kart. Guys, if its cheap, its no good. No one is going to give you anything that is good, cheap. I use KAWA-CHEM. Sure, there may be something better out there, but until I find another company and check out the ingredients in their product, ill stick to the OEM brand. Its cheap enough.
A Little Secret
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Did you know that 5W/30 oil that is recommended by most auto manufacturers is not recommended for use so that the oil will get up to the top of the engine faster when the engine is first started as they may have you believe ! It actually is a major configuration in the whole "MORE MILES PER GALLON" race between the auto makers. You see, 5W/30 oil actually produces less drag on an engine at startup and when running down the highway therefore being a fractional percentage calculated in with other fuel saving ideas adding up to more MPGs. Think about it. 3 in 1 machine oil is a 10 weight oil. Think of how thin a 5 weight oil is. Do you really think that your engine is getting lubricated when first started with a 5 weight oil? Its like water. And it stays 5 weight until it gets hot. That could be 3 to 5 minuets. I would rather wait a split second longer and get at least 10 weight oil up there. Another thing, for all you MOBIL OIL lovers out there. Mobil had a big law suit on their hands due to the MOBIL OIL COMPANY selling their product with less than the required specifications to the airline industries. Yup, they packaged their product in a container that stated it matched the ingredients required by the airline, but the product inside did not match the label on the container.They have since then merged with Texaco, for reasons unknown. I dont know what came about with the lawsuit, but if they shortchanged the airline industries, you could just imagine what they would do to us ! On a personal note ! I maintain, for an amusement park, 48 Go karts. I always manage to use a name brand oil in them such as Valvoline, Castrol, Agip ETC. I keep very tight records on each Kart and am very aware of the amount of oil usage per week. On very rare occasions I am forced to use Mobil oil in the Karts. The amount of oil consumption per week when using Mobil, is unbelieveable. Deffinately not in my shopping Kart. Guys, if its cheap, its no good. No one is going to give you anything that is good, cheap. I use KAWA-CHEM. Sure, there may be something better out there, but until I find another company and check out the ingredients in their product, ill stick to the OEM brand. Its cheap enough.
That's interesting... when you say Mobil, you mean the people who make Mobil1 Synthetic, right? Cause I've been using that in my car (10W-30 I think) and have been thrilled with the results... engine actually runs smoother. I can't recall having a problem with it burning oil either, come to think of it. I wonder if their small engine-stuff just isn't as good as the car engine stuff (if it's even different anyway)? If they try to sell regular car-oil in bottles marked "two stroke" or "motorcycle" I would imagine that would account for poor performance... sound reasonable?
Hmmmmm....I have read many posts by riders who use the Mobil Red Cap synth oil and have only good things to report about it.....which is one reason I decided to switch to it at my last oil change. Weather here has brought a stop to riding so I cannot offer a report of my own but I have to wonder if all of the other riders who use this oil could be wrong?
Having said that. Heather does change the oil in the car. I have trouble getting under it :-| . We use walmart Super 2000 10W-30 in the car. It now has 198,000 miles on it. ( 99 chevy Malibu ) The oil change is every 3000 miles with a filter change also ( the supper 2000 filter) . HAVING SAID THIS... if I do let the oil go more than 4000 miles ( it happened twice ) I noticed it was really broken down. I make sure that any oil that I use does not have a parafin base. This helps prevent sludge in my engines.
Mack
Mack
interesting about Mobil as i also use it in my wife's Explorer as do a lot of our friend's, including my mechanic. i would say that her oil counsumption went down after i started using it. the truck has 130K on it and also seems to run smoother on the Mobil 1. i use Shell Rotella Synthetic in my truck, but that is about all that is available around here for the diesel. talk about expensive oil changes !
So for all the synthetic user's out there do you actually stretch your oil changes as well? I know I have in my truck but have been leery to in the bike. An Amsoil Chevy Pickup passed me today with a sign on the side "60,000 miles between oil changes", yes 4 zero's. I guess you can do that with a company truck. In my detailed repair manual Kawasaki actually suggested switching oil filters every other oil change, I can't say I support that. Thoughts?
to be perfectly honest, i am not the most religious person when it comes to oil changes. i change it in the bike when i get a chance, which is part of the reason for the synthetic. as for the trucks. her explorer rairly gets any maintainence done due to time constraints, another reason to go synthetic. my truck is a powerstroke diesel that takes 14 quarts of oil. with synthetic that is about $100 per oil change if i do it myself. i will most likely go 7500-10000 before the next one.
I have a 99 ford powerstroke,,with 165,000 miles on itI use rotella 10/30 in it and change about 5000-7000 miles.
I use mobil V-twin synthetic in my bike and change oil and filter about four to five thousand miles and have never had any problems with it.I think the biggest thing about oil changing Regardless of brand (unless it is the cheap stuff) is just changing it on a regular basis.lets face it ,changing oil on a bike is probably the cheapest maintainence that will every be done to the bike.just be careful and use an oil designed for a motorcyle because your clutches run in the engine oil.if you use the wrong type it will cause them to slip and have to be replaced.i found this out the hard way a few years back on a bike.,
I use mobil V-twin synthetic in my bike and change oil and filter about four to five thousand miles and have never had any problems with it.I think the biggest thing about oil changing Regardless of brand (unless it is the cheap stuff) is just changing it on a regular basis.lets face it ,changing oil on a bike is probably the cheapest maintainence that will every be done to the bike.just be careful and use an oil designed for a motorcyle because your clutches run in the engine oil.if you use the wrong type it will cause them to slip and have to be replaced.i found this out the hard way a few years back on a bike.,
Re: just be careful and use an oil designed for a motorcyle because your clutches run in the engine oil.if you use the wrong type it will cause them to slip and have to be replaced.i found this out the hard way a few years back on a bike.,
I was troubled by what seemed to be a 50-80% premium for motorcycle versus automotive oils and did some web searches. One site found that the friction reducers in "SH" oil, put there to improve gas mileage in cars, was actually a culprit to the clutch slippage you ran into. The site had done significant testing betwen the oils in different appilcations and still wasn't conclusive that there was no difference so I decided I wouldn't feel ripped off paying the premium. It's like the $39/gallon synthetic oil we have to use in our Seadoo's, too many stories of engine rebuilds from using oil that was "amost" the same.
I was troubled by what seemed to be a 50-80% premium for motorcycle versus automotive oils and did some web searches. One site found that the friction reducers in "SH" oil, put there to improve gas mileage in cars, was actually a culprit to the clutch slippage you ran into. The site had done significant testing betwen the oils in different appilcations and still wasn't conclusive that there was no difference so I decided I wouldn't feel ripped off paying the premium. It's like the $39/gallon synthetic oil we have to use in our Seadoo's, too many stories of engine rebuilds from using oil that was "amost" the same.
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I use Mobil 1 MX4T and I love this stuff!!!! But it's expensive $8/quart!!
http://www.mobil1.com/motorcycle/index.jsp
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/NAUSE2PVLMOMobil_1_Motorcycle_Oils.asp
http://www.mobil1.com/motorcycle/images/Moto_Sell_Final.pdf
Here are some websites I've found while doing some research for my own oil change:
http://www.ducatimeccanica.com/oil.html
http://www.yft.org/tex_vfr/tech/oil.htm
http://www.bmwoforlando.com/pages/services/tech/faq/syn-oil.htm
I hope this helps!
http://www.mobil1.com/motorcycle/index.jsp
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/NAUSE2PVLMOMobil_1_Motorcycle_Oils.asp
http://www.mobil1.com/motorcycle/images/Moto_Sell_Final.pdf
Here are some websites I've found while doing some research for my own oil change:
http://www.ducatimeccanica.com/oil.html
http://www.yft.org/tex_vfr/tech/oil.htm
http://www.bmwoforlando.com/pages/services/tech/faq/syn-oil.htm
I hope this helps!
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I wish I had found this when I was doing my last oil change... am I the only one annoyed when Kawi lists every oil imaginable pretty much on their site? I would have looked in my manual but at the time it was in my house, and I didnt have a key *blush*
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