What type of oil

I'm sure it's been discussed before but I searched and found nothing. What type of oil is recommended for the crank case in my 1977 KZ1000?

Same as it says in your manual. 10W40 motorcycle specific oil.

I love this question. Rotella for the win!! 15-40 summer, 10/30 cold out.
walmart, cheap, excellent, and very inexpensive and very available.
There is no reason NOT to change that oil once a year or every 1500 miles if you commute it often.

You will no doubt get differing opinions, but what ever you decide to use make sure it meets the JASO-MA oil standard. Oils that meet that standard are specifically designed to provide proper lubrication for 4 stroke motorcycle engines with wet clutches - like our KZs have. Regular automotive oils have "friction modifiers" that are not good for wet clutches. Here's what I use:

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

T_Dub wrote: Same as it says in your manual. 10W40 motorcycle specific oil.

I've had the bike a month so I don't have the manual.

650ed wrote: You will no doubt get differing opinions, but what ever you decide to use make sure it meets the JASO-MA oil standard. Oils that meet that standard are specifically designed to provide proper lubrication for 4 stroke motorcycle engines with wet clutches - like our KZs have. Regular automotive oils have "friction modifiers" that are not good for wet clutches. Here's what I use:

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

Thanks for the advice an for being very specific it's really appreciated.

I meant owners manual. I guess not all bikes will still have one with it. but it does say on your oil filler cap. At least it does on mine.

T_Dub wrote: I meant owners manual. I guess not all bikes will still have one with it. but it does say on your oil filler cap. At least it does on mine.

I knew you meant owners. It didn't come with one. I guess I should have been more specific. I have the seen the weight is on the oil filler cap. That was manufactured 35 years ago so I was thinking oils have changed so much over that time I better ask. 650ed pointed out some good things I might not have known, I could have used proper weight but bad oil for our wet clutch bikes.

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. The EPA mandated certain gas mileage, so the auto makers turned to the oil manufacturers who came up with friction modifiers of the oil to meet these new standards. 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 AMSOil AMF Synthetic (pricey, but it’s your money)
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 is synthetic, not white which is dino), gallon at Wal-Mart.
Mobil Delvac-1 5w-40 (grey container is synthetic, not black which is dino), gallon at Petro stations, gallon at Farm and Fleet.
Mobil-1 SUV 5w-40, qt anywhere.
AMSOil AMF 10w-40 synthetic motorcycle oil. (again, pricey)
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.


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 Wal-Mart or any auto parts store, gallons at Sam's Club.

Castrol 15w-40 (Green container) gallon at Wal-Mart or any auto parts store, gallons at Sam’s club.

The manuals recommend 10-40 or 20-50 for my 1979 KZ-750, with 3k mile change interval. You can run car oil, as long as it does NOT say "energy conserving" on it which means it has moly in it (friction reducer) which can screw up the clutch. Most 10-30 and 5-30 oils have it, most 10-40 and 20-50 do not. You do need to add some ZDDP to most current oils, they no longer have it and flat tappet engines need it.


Rotella is very good and you can get it cheap at walmart in gallon jugs. Castrol GTX is pretty good too.

IMHO, key strategy is to change frequently as MC use beats oil additives up pretty quickly. Changing often (less than 3K miles) also keeps the engine cleaner.

Yep, the engine and transmission will chew up the elements of the oil, as both share the oil supply. I change my bikes oil every 3000 miles.

MFolks wrote: Yep, the engine and transmission will chew up the elements of the oil, as both share the oil supply. I change my bikes oil every 3000 miles.

Me too. Dino, non-energy conserving, and change oil and filter at 3,000 mi.

Perhaps the expensive, synthetic motorcyle-specific oil can go longer between changes.

Haven't tried synthetic motorcycle-specific oil, due to reports that it can sometimes leak past previously oil-tight seals.
Maybe there's no truth in that, but not wanting to risk it.
Meanwhile enjoying clean, dry, well-performing engines.

Good Fortune!