OIL - Honda Motorcycles

ryntintin2 · 05-11-2008, 12:03 AM

Ok i am new to this whole street bike thing. I have had dirtbikes growing up and never cared what oil went in them. I know there are a ton of threads about oil but i am still a little confused. Somewhere in my owners manual it sais to use 20w50 i do beleive. some of the threads say not to use. I think will probably go with some plain old rotella t from walmart but im not sure what weight to use. Any comments, opinions, suggestion or een criticism is appreciated.

ryn

ozthis · 05-11-2008, 12:44 AM

20w50 seems a little thick...i would use 15w40 max..... Rotella is good oil .I use a product made in my city by a company called BG products. I use BG 15/40 in my rc. The oil costs no more than any other synthetic oil and my shifting has never been so smooth up or down. I could not believe myself. I used to use Mobil1 xt4 or something . You can find it under the diesel injection section, BG shear power HD.

BG Products, Inc.

Im sure you have someone who sells in you area.

ryntintin2 · 05-11-2008, 1:13 AM

i think right now it has regular old oil in it. is there any measures i should take in changing it over? i also read in these forums that in a rebuild or new engine the clutch will work fine, but if it has been fed oil and you switch it over to synthetic there could be some slippage or in the worst case scenario some type of damage to the clutch over many many miles. Is this true?

ozthis · 05-11-2008, 8:18 AM

cant say i would go full synthetic....maybe a blend at best. You can use conventional oil with no problems you just have to change it a little more often. Rotella is a good oil....we use it in our diesel car haulers at work and have gone well over 300,000 with little problem.

bladeracer · 05-11-2008, 9:51 AM

I'd also recommend staying away from full-synth. Use a semi-synth and change it regularly. I've yet to hear or see _any_ problem at all with non-synthetic oils. I buy Shell SX4 in twenty litre drums and use it in all my cars and bikes and have done so for many years now.
It's far more important to have _clean_ oil in your engine - whatever you use.

Carolina_954 · 05-11-2008, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryntintin2

i think right now it has regular old oil in it. is there any measures i should take in changing it over? i also read in these forums that in a rebuild or new engine the clutch will work fine, but if it has been fed oil and you switch it over to synthetic there could be some slippage or in the worst case scenario some type of damage to the clutch over many many miles. Is this true?

It doesn't take that many miles. The different oil will allow the clutches to get hard and stick to the steels. this will give you problems getting into gear and neutral. This can also be caused by use of a low quality oil. I personally only run honda's GN4 in mine. Changing the oil is the most important thing on these bikes. They produce a lot more power per liter than cars do. If the ratio was the same, my Nissan Titan would have in the neighbor hood of 850hp. All this extra power puts extra stress on the moving parts, so dirty oil has an even greater effect on the critical parts. If you decide to go with a different oil you may end up changing the oil more often to avoid serious issues in the future.

bladeracer · 05-11-2008, 8:26 PM

It's not so much the hp/l that destroys the oil. It's the gearbox chewing it up and the clutch contaminating it. Car oils don't have to cope with those stresses. Add to that the need to lubricate parts that are moving twice as fast as high-performance car engines. Regular changes are essential.

bettingpython · 05-12-2008, 8:56 AM

Please search for answers to oil questions.....or not. It'll give all the petroleum experts something to argue over again.

ryntintin2 · 05-12-2008, 10:32 PM

LOL. Ok got my oil changed today everything fine and dandy, accept, when i drained it, it looked like it was black as night. I dont think there was any particles or anything of that sort but there could have been a few. fter letting it warm up and riding it arround i noticed it started to shift a lot better and a little less engine noise. I knew that it had sat for a long time but wow. I say that to now say this, should i ride it arround for a few hundred miles then change it and the filter again to be safe and should i think about a little oil treatment or maybe the whole sea foam in the crank bit?

bladeracer · 05-12-2008, 10:39 PM

If the old stuff came out clean I wouldn't be concerned. But oil is cheap so if it helps your peace of mind change it as often as you like. I buy oil in 20L drums and keep filters on hand so when I first think of doing an oil change it's all finished ten minutes later :-)
When I raced my '90 GSXR750 I changed the oil every 1000kms and put it into my car engines. When I rebuilt the engine the only parts with any measureable wear were the piston rings.

ryntintin2 · 05-12-2008, 10:42 PM

to tell you the truth i dont remember if my bucket was dirty or not before i started thats the reason i couldnt tell. i do know that the oil was burnt good. as i rode it, it shifted better and better, throttle response, ect. if there was something in the oil, would it be a good idea to think about some sort of treatment for the seals ect?

bladeracer · 05-12-2008, 10:48 PM

Not sure what you mean about "something" in the oil. Do you mean fuel or coolant maybe?
I've never had any trouble with seals so I don't have any experience with seal treatments.
I have repaired seals for other people but I don't know what caused them to fail.
One neat trick I used on a mate's VT250 clutch pushrod that was leaking very badly was simply gluing a new seal on top of the old one. Never had any further leaks and was a hell of a lot quicker and cheaper than splitting the cases.

ozthis · 05-12-2008, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryntintin2

LOL. Ok got my oil changed today everything fine and dandy, accept, when i drained it, it looked like it was black as night. I dont think there was any particles or anything of that sort but there could have been a few. fter letting it warm up and riding it arround i noticed it started to shift a lot better and a little less engine noise. I knew that it had sat for a long time but wow. I say that to now say this, should i ride it arround for a few hundred miles then change it and the filter again to be safe and should i think about a little oil treatment or maybe the whole sea foam in the crank bit?

just change the oil again if worried about it but i would not add any treatment or anything.

ryntintin2 · 05-12-2008, 11:17 PM

Kewl, sounds like a plan. I guess i should not have been so vague with the word "particles". There was no liquids but possibly some sort of dirt or something of that nature, but, i didn't clean my bucket before i drained it so i have no way of telling if it came from the bike or not. I do know the change helped tremendously. I was in a hurry at the parts store because it was closing time and a guy recommended a certain type of oil and it seems to be doing the trick very well. I will check the specs and put them on here when i head back home this weekend for drill.