Oil Weight

I recently bought my first motorcycle, a 1983 KZ550 LTD, but am having trouble finding any information online regarding the oil weight I should use in it (from MI). Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

My 1979 KZ750 has 10-40 stamped on the filler cap, but the manual also calls out 20-50 for hot severe service. I mix 10-40 and 20-50 in summer, I run 10-40 in winter.

A good quality 10w-40 and a quality filter.You probably don't need a synthetic or even semi-synthetic.

Shell Rotella-T 15W-40 regular in the white bottle. It's marketed for diesel engine use & has about the same amount of ZDDP as motorcycle oils & racing oils. Chevron Delo & Valvoline Premium Blue are similar products. These heavy duty oils are usually less expensive than other oils. Or you could use motorcycle specific oil. Regular car oils nowadays typically have reduced levels of ZDDP & may not be suitable for motorcycle use.

Best Oils To Use In Your Bike (Just My Opinion)

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 the best petroleum oil you can buy, get Shell Rotella T, Mobil Delvac 1300, or Chevron Delo 400, available 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 listings on 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

The best synthetics are: (in no particular order)

Shell Rotella-T Synthetic 5w-40 (blue container, not white), gallon at Wal-Mart.
Mobil Delvac-1 5w-40 (grey container, not black), gallon at Petro stations, gallon at Farm and Fleet.
Mobil-1 SUV 5w-40, qt anywhere.
AMSOil AMF 10w-40 synthetic motorcycle oil.
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) gallon at any auto parts store, gallons at Costco.

Mobil Delvac 1300 15w-40 (black container) gallon at any auto parts store, gallons at Sam's Club.

Shell Rotella-T 15w-40 (white container) gallon at Wall-Mart or any auto parts store, 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 Volks wagon 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.

The oils like Rotella that are certified for diesel truck use have a much stronger additive package than most oils. Diesel trucks have such long service intervals, the oils that can make that service are typically superior. Bike service teras up the additives and viscosity enhancers so the tough oils are better suited.

Another option is just to change the oil every 1500 miles then you don't have to worry about the additives going south. You can get decent oil at Wal mart so cheap it makes no sense to push it to service limits. Most bikers don't put a lot of miles on their bikes and that would be about twice a year anyway.

IMHO, you need to make sure you are getting enough ZDDP. If you are not sure, you can buy it as an additive. I use ZDDPlus in mine.

The correct weight should be molded into the filler cap.

I said, But you can't JUST go by the info on the filler cap any more. Car oils have changed since the KZ era. In recent years the amount of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) has been reduced in regular oil. ZDDP helps to prevent metal to metal contact.

Edit: Ed, read it more carefully. The statement implies that you need to use the correct weight of oil AND the second part of the statement implies that a correct type of oil should be used that has sufficient anit-wear compounds. gee.

H1Vindicator wrote:

But you can't just go by the info on the filler cap any more. Car oils have changed since the KZ era. In recent years the amount of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) has been reduced in regular oil. ZDDP helps to prevent metal to metal contact.

The cap is still accurate for the WEIGHT of the oil. I certainly agree about the car oil change and the need for ZDDP. This is what I use in my KZ650:

Mobil-1 Racing 4T

I use Shell Rotella-T 5w-40 or 10w-30 in my GPz1150 and also use a ZDDP additive such as Lucas "Engine brake in additive" or Rislone 4401 "engine oil supplement".

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll be settling in to do the change this weekend since the weathermen say rain from Friday night through Sunday.

thanx 4 the info on oil.... i been runnin the cheap 10-30....also do u experts reccomend any choice filters???