Synthetic or regular oil in motorcycle

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I just bought a Zx-14 Monday. It's used with 4800 miles. I don't know if the previous owner used regular or synthetic oil in it. I was told that it's ok to go from regular to synthetic but not from synthetic to regular. Would it be safe to start using regular motorcycle oil or should I use synthetic? Are there any downsides to using synthetic? What should I do?

 

[Saga]

If it's running synthetic you do not want to go back to non synthetic. If in serious doubt simply use synthetic, it will have no negative repercussions outside paying more for the oil. Read the following URL and you can probably decide for yourself:

http://www.whybike.com/motorcycle41.htm

Congrats on the purchase, by the way. I upgraded from the razor grill ZX14R to ZX10R and am very happy I did, but the 14 is a beast of it's own.

 

[osage]

I have always used synthetic oil in all my motorcycles, never switched away from it so I can't comment on that part of it. Most ppl will tell you that you will get better results in the long term with the synthetic oil.

Rotella T is my choice, you can get it at Wally World for a decent price.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I've spent 100's of hours reading about motorcycle oils - and I've seriously tried all of the major available oils (amsoil, redline, mobil1, rotella (both synth and regular) all of the motuls, agip, etc etc etc

Here's my opinion:

For any supersport (600's, 1000's, 1098, TL1000) I've prefered Mobil1 MX4T especially if the bike is under warranty. The best place to get it is actually wal-mart. Only the large ones have a motorcycle section, but they have it for like $8 a quart, far cheaper than anything else. It's by far the best bang for the buck.

For all other non supersport bikes that are out of warranty (SV650, air cooled twins GS500, VStrom 1000 (I know the same motor as TL but they aren't ridden as hard), even older mid 90's supersports I like the Rotella synthetic.. It's in a blue jug and dirt cheap.

For filters - either purolator or factory. I'm OCD about this and hate fram and most oil filter companies. Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Ducati, Triumph all have excellent factory filters.

If it's an out of warranty bike I might use a mobil 1 or napa filter but purolator is the best by far..

 

[SpatiallyAware]

and btw - if you don't want to read all of that:

Get mobil1 mx4t from wal-mart and a factory filter to keep your warranty valid. Personally I would let them do the 800 mile service, just in case something does happen to go wrong they don't blame you. From 3000+ I do my own but take pics of dated oil receipts next to my odo just in case they cry about warranty stuff.

 

[Greenman]

A high revving engine that shares the oil with the tranny should run syn.

 

[lghost]

Synthetic or dino is not as big a deal as shear resistance and lack of wet clutch slipping friction modifiers. Switch back and forth all you like between dino and synthetic, it won't harm a thing. Mix them if you like, that's what synthetic blends are.

People usually change their motorcycle oil at low enough intervals that just about anything is fine, I use Rotella in my bike because it is a cheap synthetic with good shear resistance and I perceive a slight smoothing of shifts with it. The previous owner used regular Valvoline 10w-30 and changed it once a year whether it needed it or not.

It's oil. Worry about sliding that bike off the road, or being harassed for the aftermarket can, then put whatever clean oil in it you feel happy about, and it will be fine.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Is that just the Rotella car oil they sell at Wally world?

 

[woodie1]

Today Synthetic oils are rarely pure Synthetic but rather a blend. You can switch back and forth without concern. In all of my bikes I used dino with regular changes and never had a problem.

 

[Nessism]

Switch at will. It amazes me how many people don't know the facts. Regarding what oil to use, just about any diesel engine oil is good but synthetic is best for air cooled engines or if you want to extend the change interval. Running motorcycle specific oil is fine but a poor value money wise.

 

[Greenman]

Switch at will. It amazes me how many people don't know the facts. Regarding what oil to use, just about any diesel engine oil is good but synthetic is best for air cooled engines or if you want to extend the change interval. Running motorcycle specific oil is fine but a poor value money wise.

That's incorrect. Most automotive oils will ruin a wet clutch, and most bikes have wet clutches.

 

[woodie1]

That's incorrect. Most automotive oils will ruin a wet clutch, and most bikes have wet clutches.

None of the bikes (all had wet clutches) I owned gave me any problems with plain automotive dino oil. You got a specific experience you can share?

 

[tcsenter]

Read the following URL and you can probably decide for yourself:

http://www.whybike.com/motorcycle41.htm

Written by Ed Newman, Marketing Manager for AMSOIL INC. i.e. a synthetic oil salesman

The first three sentences under the section "PARAMETERS OF THE DEBATE" were all I needed to read in order to know this was from AMSOIL (or some other peddler of synthetic oils). I've heard it and read it a hundred times. I was an AMSOIL dealer for a while, but gave it up because I couldn't sell it. I don't mean I couldn't sell it because nobody wanted to buy synthetic. I mean I couldn't do the marketing pitch because I didn't believe the hype. There are specialty or high-load/extreme condition applications where synthetics could be justified (i.e. turbo diesels).

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I ended up getting a wix oil filter and using conventional castrol 10w 40 motorcycle specific oil. I just couldn't justify paying 110% premium on synthetic oil for maybe 10% better performance.

 

[DVad3r]

Use synthetic and prefebly use Amsoil or Mobil 1 Motorcycle. You can switch back and forth between non synthetic/synthetic, it won't harm the bike. I use Amsoil 20w50 V-Twin in my V-Rod.

 

[DVad3r]

I ended up getting a wix oil filter and using conventional castrol 10w 40 motorcycle specific oil. I just couldn't justify paying 110% premium on synthetic oil for maybe 10% better performance.

That's cool. Just keep an eye on your oil level and make sure you change it at interval or sooner depending on how you ride. I noticed that with dino oil my bike ate oil here and theer and with synthetic it doesn't burn any.

If you want to save money though oil for a bike isn't a good thing to skimp on. Amsoil costs like 9-10 bucks per quart. You can ride longer on Amsoil before changes and it get's better performance/less wear and tear on the engine. I don't think saving that $ 15-20 in your pocket for a combo or two at Burger King really justifies the use of non-synthetic.

Just my 2 cents

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I don't feel I'm sacrificing much in the way of protection and I'm saving alot of money in the process. It's not like I am putting 10w 30 off brand oil in my bike. I plan on changing the oil every 3-4 months. I haven't seen any studies that prove synthetic protects any better. I think there is one but it was financed by amsoil. Even if say I get 60000 miles out of my bike and you get 70000 miles that would make me no difference since I'll be riding something else by about 30000 miles at the latest. Also the money I saved using conventional I could probably rebuild my motor with it at 60000 miles.

 

[tcsenter]

The weakest link in any extended drain interval approach is the filter. Current commodity filters just aren't good enough to offer the filtration efficiency required over the extended drain interval. Which means that you need to change your filter according to the regular schedule while reusing the oil. Unless you do this yourself, every time, it adds even more to the cost because you're essentially going to pay the same price as an oil change.

Amsoil recognized this and developed filter solutions such as its very good high-low bypass system, but because of the expense (a couple hundred dollars plus installation), its geared towards commercial fleets, truckers, and specialty applications.

 

[MiataNC]

None of the bikes (all had wet clutches) I owned gave me any problems with plain automotive dino oil. You got a specific experience you can share?

Just because you never had a problem does not mean it is OK to use oil that is not designed for bikes. There is a difference.

Friction modifiers and the oils tolerance to shearing affect how long the oil lasts and how well it interacts with a wet clutch.

Automotive oil with friction modifiers (to make it more "slippery") to enhance fuel economy can cause a worn or weak clutch to slip and a healthy clutch to work harder to grip (which causes faster wear and lowers the service life). Your personal experience and "butt dyno" may never notice a problem, but that does not mean your wet clutch is happy or that it will last as long as it is designed to.

Most importantly if you have a bike under warranty, using oil that is not properly rated can give the dealer an excuse to refuse covered repairs in the event of a problem.

 

[Greenman]

None of the bikes (all had wet clutches) I owned gave me any problems with plain automotive dino oil. You got a specific experience you can share?

No personal experiences, in fact no irrefutable evidence at all. What I do have is manufactures recommendations, and several guy's on bike sites who's clutch suddenly starts slipping after they changed their oil, using automotive oil. I don't like anecdotal evidence, but I've seen enough people with issues that it's simply not worth the risk when the cost is the same. I should also note that the bikes I'm talking about are putting out over a hundred horsepower and around eighty pounds of torque. It could very well be that in a lower torque situation there wouldn't be any problem.

Generally speaking, I don't think it matters what brand or type of oil is used in most engines, as long as it meets manufacturers specs, and is changed at the recommended interval. The exception to that is in engines where the oil is shared between the motor and tranny, and runs at high rpm's. That's a motorcycle engine, and that oil is subject to high temperatures and a great deal of shearing, and in my opinion needs to be of the very best quality.

 

[SooperDave]

Check this site out. These are the guys doing sample testing etc. Lots of good info here.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=9&page=1

 

[exdeath]

You can switch between dino oil and synthetic all you want. The whole "can't go back to dino oil" thing is a urban myth that came from the initial introduction of synthetic when the additive blends were being experimented with.

Special things to note:

-Synthetic is too slippery when breaking in a newly built engine, thus dino oil is used. The engine is then switched to synthetic after. All engines that came from the factor with synthetic have at some point had dino oil.

-The "oil" component of synthetic lasts longer and performs better under hard stress and heat than dino but it still collects the same amount of suspended deposits and still uses the same amount of additives; these have to be removed/replenished respectively with regular oil changes regardless of how pristine the oil itself may be.

Long story short, synthetic doesn't offer much unless you are really pushing the engine hard on a regular basis and can afford the piece of mind with a synthetic oil that will perform better at the extreme. For 99% of daily driver cars that hardly ever see redline, a good quality dino oil is fine and isn't any worse than synthetic.

Oil and filter change interval is still the dominant factor. Just remember that just because the oil may last 100,000 miles, does NOT mean the additives aren't depleted, the filter isn't dirty, and there isn't 100,000 miles worth of 'dirt' suspended in the oil.

 

[Vette73]

You can use regular auto oil IF it does not contain friction modifiers. Most 10w30 and thinner (5w30/20 etc…) have FM, so don’t use those. If it has FM then that can cause the wet clutch to slip.

But Roltella, Valvoline/Mobil 1 15w50, etc… should be ok. But it has been years since I had a bike but the 15w50 syn oils should be ok.
I ran regular 10w40 bike oil in my shadow at first then went to a Syn. 15w50. With the syn it seemed to shift much better IMO.