Car oil. Have i killed my clutch?

Hi,

Today i put some oil (approximate ½ litre) in my oil tank on my KZ 400 from 1975.

This is the first time i have put oil on since i bought it.

Only problem is that i used a car oil. It was Shell Helix Super 10w-40.

I havent riden the bike since i put the oil on. Here tonight while browsing motorcycle sites i saw that you should never use a car oil on a motorbike with wet-clutch

My questions are now:
Have i killed my clutch?
Should i remove all the oil and fill it with motorcycle oil?
Or is there no problem using about half a litre of car oil as long as i use motorcycle oil next time?

Hope someone in here can help me. Im all new to motorcycles so im a little lost.

And sorry about my english (im Danish), but i hope you understand my questions.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Martin

Martin
There are a bunch of guys here using car oil, so I dont think it is the end of your clutch. Others here will give you more info I'm sure.
Tom

Is that sythetic oil?


muddy1:dry:

He bro:

Do not worry about it. Life is good. The car oil will not hurt yor clutch. But in the future use 4 cycle oil.

Do yorself a favor and go and buy 4L of 4 cycle motor oil and a oil filter and give her a good change. There are 2 bolts on the bottom of the bike. 1 for the oil to drain and a second that holds up a large circle shaped plate that retains the oil filter.

To do an oil change it will take about 30 mins.

5 mins to get your tools ready.
2 mins for the bike to warm up.
3 mins to pull the main drain bolt.
10 mins to let the oil drain.
3 mins to pull the oil filter.
Another 2 mins to re-install the drain plug and a new filter
5 mins to pour in 3.7 L of oil.

I just did this for the first time a couple of days ago and it is a piece of cake. I will now change the oil every 2500 KM's.

Go and ride that thing and do not worry.

Yukabodos Buddy!! :woohoo:

Wow. Fast replys

Thanks alot guys. You have made my day all is good agian it seems

I have just ordered some motorcycle oil, and i will go by a new oilfilter too and change it when the oil gets here.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Martin

I have used car oil since I started riding more then 40 years ago and I have NEVER had a problem with it. Granted, motorcycle specific oil may be better suited but regular "car" oil won't hurt your clutch or your motor...unless I have been lucky for 40 years!

I used to use 20w50 castrol gtx turbo oil changed every 1500-2000 miles but no longer and my bike started smoking after about 10k miles, probably from the valve seals. I honestly think motorcycle oil is designed for bikes and that unless you change your oil every short distance the oil will break down due to the heavy shearing of the gears whether it be car or bike oil. Butttttt...If you have an old bike an you are not worried about smoking from the valve guide seals going bad or the lifespan of the timing chain rollers then go for it. It definitely won't hurt the clutch, at least I have never experienced that but you won't get the protection that you get with the motorcycle oil. IMO
Just make sure you change the oil religiously as bad oil is bad oil no matter what type you put in. If it is hot where you ride above 90 I would definitely use a 20 weight50 oil or even if it isn't so hot I would use a 15 weight 40 oil, especially if you are going to use car oil and change it every 1500-2000 miles.
But it is your decision. Air cooled engines need more protection than liquid cooled you can count on.
The bike being that old probably won't matter much of what you put in it as it's probably worn as it is if not rebuilt since then.
Whatever you do...DO NOT USE SYNTHETIC OIL as this will make your bike leak like a siv.

Castrol GTX 10W40 motor oil is just fine for the old KZ bikes. The new modern synthetic and regular super oils with all the extra additives especially teflon, will not allow your clutch to opperate properly. They are just too slippery.
You can spend extra money and get a bike specific oil, but you really don't need to. just be sure to check your oil level window regularly, and keep it properly filled and change the oil and filter often, and you will get a long life out of your engine.:woohoo:

does anyone here use an aftermarket oil cooler on their Z?

saxjonz wrote:

I used to use 20w50 castrol gtx turbo oil changed every 1500-2000 miles but no longer and my bike started smoking after about 10k miles, probably from the valve seals. I honestly think motorcycle oil is designed for bikes and that unless you change your oil every short distance the oil will break down due to the heavy shearing of the gears whether it be car or bike oil. Butttttt...If you have an old bike an you are not worried about smoking from the valve guide seals going bad or the lifespan of the timing chain rollers then go for it. It definitely won't hurt the clutch, at least I have never experienced that but you won't get the protection that you get with the motorcycle oil. IMO
Just make sure you change the oil religiously as bad oil is bad oil no matter what type you put in. If it is hot where you ride above 90 I would definitely use a 20 weight50 oil or even if it isn't so hot I would use a 15 weight 40 oil, especially if you are going to use car oil and change it every 1500-2000 miles.
But it is your decision. Air cooled engines need more protection than liquid cooled you can count on.
The bike being that old probably won't matter much of what you put in it as it's probably worn as it is if not rebuilt since then.
Whatever you do...DO NOT USE SYNTHETIC OIL as this will make your bike leak like a siv.

sax,
in the past i used syn in my gs1150 with a kevlar clutch
and had no clutch problems or leaks...i just put royal purple 20/50 syn bike oil in my bike and havent seen a leak yet......gonna run the crap out of it tommorow.....
not trying to be argumentative, but i have'nt had bad luck with syn in a bike.....just my experience.....

Yea, from what I've read about oil, which has been quite a lot lately, synthetic does not cause leaks, but what it can do is clean the seals so good any residual gunk/sludge buildup on the seals is removed and chances are on an old engine this gunk/sludge has built up to the point where it is actually providing some of the seal, so after it's gone leaks can develop. Also from what I've read motorcycle oil after being checked out by labs is generally no better or worse than car oil. Synthetic is really no better either, but the advantage comes from holding it's grade longer, so if changing oil at short intervals synthetic would be a waste of money most likely. I've used car oil for 40 yrs too because I always thought paying 3 or 4 times the price for motorcycle oil was robbery, but if you think about it what's $10 every 2000 miles? Nothing. I ran Castrol GTX 10w40 and 20w50 for 160,000 miles in the 1978 KZ650 and it was pretty sorry looking inside. You weren't going to eat dinner off that clean engine, it was caked thick with sludge. Very sad. Would motorcycle oil done better? I can't complain using car oil. Don't use energy conserving oil, which most car oil is now, although I've even run it and had no problems.

The folks who say synthetic oil is bad for clutches, leaks, etc. clearly are not refering to (or perhaps have not used) synthetic MOTORCYCLE oil.

See:

www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oi...acing_4T_10W-40.aspx

www.amsoil.com/a/synthetic-motorcycle-oil

www.amsoil.com/lit/G-2156.pdf

I've been using the Mobil-1 Racing 4T 10W40 for several years with excellent results. I would NOT use Mobil-1 CAR oil or any energy saving car oils in my bike as the formulas were changed not too long ago thanks to Uncle Sam. If you do a search on this site you'll find lots of interesting opinions (some of which are even factual ) about oil. Ed