Motorcycle oil info

Best Oils To Use In Your Bike

Engine oil : The commercial grade oils are clearly superior to the mass market oils. For the best protection in your bike or car, use Shell Rotella Synthetic, available at Wal-Mart in blue containers for $13 / gallon. For the best petroleum oil you can buy, get Shell Rotella T, Mobil Delvac 1300, or Chevron Delo 400, about $7 / gallon at any auto parts store. On the back of most oil cans is a circular stamp with the certification. Avoid oils that say "energy conserving" in the bottom half of the donut. These oils contain friction modifier additives that could cause clutch slipping over time. All XXw-20 and XXw-30 oils are energy conserving, and should not be used in your motorcycle.Don't buy any oil additives like STP or Slick-50. Here's several pages All About Oil justifying these conclusions.

The Recommended Synthetic Oils
Shell Rotella
Synthetic
5w-40 Delvac 1
Synthetic
5w-40 Mobil-1 SUV/Truck
Synthetic
5w-40 AMSOil AMF
Synthetic
10w-40 Golden Spectro
Synthetic
10w-50 Motul 5100
Synthetic
10w-40 Mobil-1
Synthetic
15w-50 Mobil-1 MX4T
Synthetic
10w-40

The best synthetics are: (in no particular order)

Shell Rotella-T Synthetic 5w-40 (blue container, not white), $13 / gallon at Wal-Mart.
Mobil Delvac-1 5w-40 (grey container, not black), $27 / gallon at Petro stations, $20 / gallon at Farm and Fleet.
Mobil-1 SUV 5w-40, about $5 / qt anywhere.
AMSOil AMF 10w-40 synthetic motorcycle oil, about $6 / qt.
Golden Spectro Supreme, (no price).
Motul 5100 Ester, (no price).

Mobil-1 automotive oils all contain small amounts of moly - about 100 to 200 ppm. This can cause clutch slippage in some motorcycles. I've only heard of this being a problem in Honda Shadows.

For temperatures below -40, I strongly recommend either Mobil-1 0w-30 or the Canadian Shell 0w-40 Rotella. At these temperatures, your car is your life. Using cheap or incorrect oil is risking your life.

For temperatures below -55c, -65f, stay home. Really.

The Recommended Petroleum Oils
Chevron Delo 400
15w-40 Delvac 1300
15w-40 Shell Rotella
15w-40
The best petroleum oils are: (in no particular order)

Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 (blue container) $7 / gallon at any auto parts store, $34 / 6 gallons at Costco.
Mobil Delvac 1300 15w-40 (black container) $6 / gallon at any auto parts store, $21/ 4 gallons at Sam's Club.
Shell Rotella-T 15w-40 (white container) $7 / gallon at Wall-Mart or any auto parts store, $34 / 6 gallons at Sam's Club.

If you live in another country, you'll have to do a bit of research to decide on an oil. Generally, any oil certified for use in a late model Volkswagon or Mercedes turbo diesel is a good choice. Another good idea is to go to a truck stop and ask the truckers about brands. Rotella is marketed all over the world, but in other countries it's called Rotella or Rimola or Helix Ultra, and the formulation may be a bit different, depending on local climate and preferences. It will likely also be a lot more expensive than it is here.

Hey bud... Regarding "10w-40 Mobil-1"...

For our beloved KZ's, it should be 10w-40 Mobil-1 Racing 4T for I believe these are two different oils Mobil offers.

4T is specifically designed for wet clutch motorcycles...

Nice info there, sure it will come in handy for others...

Thanks!

OMR

Friend of mine who has a KZ900 and drags a turbo Gixxer uses Motul 300V.

Thanks for the info, Mike.

Great article MFolks! I've been reading a lot about oil here. I've beeen using Valvoline 20-50 for years but have beeen seeing a lot about using diesel oil. I'm a mechanic and have access to unlimited gallons of this oil. We stock Valvoline and we have a ton of diesel oil. Does this fit in to the parameters your talking about?

Here are the specs....

Valvoline’s Premium Blue® Engine Oil
Valvoline’s Premium Blue Engine Oil is designed to provide advanced lubricant performance in modern, emissions treatment equipped diesel engines, including all types of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR), Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF), and other modern diesel engine technology. When used in conjunction with Ultra-Low Diesel Sulfur fuel, this product technology offers a long-life, extended drain approved*, balanced formulation which helps maximize engine durability as well as after-treatment cleanliness.
The Premium Blue Advantage
• Cummins approved for 5,000-mile oil drain extension, under normal and light duty, for 2007 and later engines.
• Unique dispersive polymer technology (DPT)
• Valvetrain wear protection and reduced oil filter restriction at high soot levels.
• High temperature deposit control, including single and two-piece pistons, and ring/liner wear protection.
• Higher TBN level and TBN retention for long-life performance, while meeting all chemical limits.
Valvoline’s Premium Blue Engine Oil is endorsed by Cummins Engine Company and has been tested extensively by Cummins in stationary and on-road EGR engines, including those equipped with DPFs. It is approved against the CES 20081 specification. It is also approved against Mack EO-O Premium Plus, Volvo VDS-4, and DDC Power Guard 93K218 specifications. It exceeds the lubrication requirements for Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, Navistar, other heavy duty diesel engines, including engine performance requirements of Caterpillar ECF-3 and the Global DHD-1 Specification. The product meets API CJ-4, API CI-4 Plus, API CI-4, API CH-4, CG-4, CF-4, CF / SM, the performance requirements of ACEA E3-96, E5-02, E7-04 and the engine requirements of DB 228.3, MTU Category 2.1, 2, and 1, DDC 2000/4000 Series Type2/Type 1, MAN 3275, and MAN 271. It provides excellent performance in “mixed fleet” gasoline engines, pickup and delivery, city fleet, long haul over-the-road, and off-highway applications.

I was going to mention the Valvoline Premium Blue, but you beat me to it. In my opinion it would be comparable to the other heavy duty diesel engine oils. The ZDDP content is virtually the same as the others mentioned.

All the diesel oils are basically the same. The artical quoted is many years old as oil is not $7 a gallon and 5w40 rotella synthetic is not $13 a gallon at Walmart any more by a longshot and diesel oil has gone through at least 2 "upgrades" since that was written and zinc has been cut considerably in the new oils, but still much higher than regular automotive grade oil.

Hey :ohmy: :woohoo:

Amsoil