hey 79 ltd owners!!

i just got a 79 ltd for xmas, what kind of oil are you using? i see 10w 40 on the case and under the seat it calls for se class. after looking at every brand of oil in wally world i didnt see any oil with the se class. should i just go with a good brand of oil in the proper weight and not worry about the se class?,,,thanks

just run some good 10/40 like valvoline in it and keep it changed!

Yeah, pretty much any 10W30 or 10W40 will work. My preference was Castrol GTX SAE 10W40 in my '79 LTD...until someone snatched the bike:dry: but that doesn't have anything to do with your question, does it? I still run Castrol 10W40 in both my bikes now.

SE class oils are no longer sold... Almost any quality 10W40 will work fine. Make sure it has no quote ENERGY CONSERVING unquote label as that stuff consists of friction modifiers to make the oil more slippery. This stuff will also make a wet clutch slip. Most 10W40 oil doesn't have the Energy Conserving label. I personally use Shell Rotella 15W40 which comes in gallon containers at Wallys. It is a heavy duty oil meant to extend change intervals and is rated for use in diesel engines and fleet operation. I use it in all my four Kawasakis.

Like George said SE is no longer used. It was the current oil designation in 1979, then in 1980 or 81 went to SF, then SG ect. Now we're up to SZ or some silly thing. Each successive rating was supposedly "better", but what was meant by "better" was better for government regulations such as conserving gas, being safer to drink, if someone so had the desire, and less emissions when burned ect. I use the Rotella 15w40 also with good results. For years I used Castrol 10w40 then when the "better" ratings came out in later years, my engine was completely sludged over. That really helped fuel economy and emissions since the engine could no longer run :S I have no proof of this, but I will always blame the oil. Using energy conserving oils is not recommended because of "possible" clutch slip. This is all on paper, I have yet to hear first hand from anyone, anywhere in all of motorcycling that has had a wet clutch slip by using any oil or additive such as STP oil treatment, synthetic oils ect. We've all read in in the magazines, but never any live humans that actually had this happen. I can only say from my own gut feeling is that nothing will bother the clutch. How can an oil be "too slippery"?

thanks for all the great help guys

if you ever try and weld a crankshaft from a motor that used synthetic oil,youll think its too slick very hard to clean out!

The crank is too hard to clean? NONSENSE! Just another of the 101 uses for spray carb cleaner bwhahaha

thats the one major drawback to the synthetic it flows so much better that it gets up in there and is harder to clean out than regular oil,lots and lots of solvent and carb cleaner!,hey george is a can of carb cleaner and a torch for killing wasps from 10ft away on that list?its standard going to war equipt in my trucks!