Oil

Looking for input on best choices for oil to put in 77 kz 1000.
All input is welcome
Thanks

Take a look at the following link. All of it contains info that should be helpful; the 3rd section discusses oil. Ed

kzrider.com/forum/10-new-members/589649-...r-savannah-ga#594587

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 (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, 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. (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.

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.

One last thing to consider is whether oil contains friction modifier additives. For improved fuel economy, most passenger car oils have such an additive. But the wet clutch in your bike doesn’t perform right with friction modifiers. Universal engine oils don’t have friction modifiers.

Be careful choosing diesel oils. Not all of them are universal. In addition to the API Service Category CI-4 PLUS for diesels, look for API Service Category SL.

Premium universal oils like Shell ROTELLA T Multigrade are formulated for heavy-duty performance, and your bike engine has some heavy-duty challenges for oil. For optimum performance, be sure your oil is up to the challenge.

JASO OIL SPECS:
Find an oil that shows the JASO-MA rating on the bottle; there are plenty of them available both dino and synthetic.

The ingredients in oils have changed over the years. For example, today's Castrol GTX oil (and pretty much all other AUTOMOBILE oil) is not the same as it was in the 1980's. Back then it worked great in KZ bikes. But, things have changed. Early AUTOMOBILE oils contained zinc phosphorus compounds (ZDDP) to protect engines from metal to metal contact. This was good for engines, but it was found to be destructive to catalytic converters. Consequently, in AUTOMOBILE oils ZDDP was virtually eliminated and replaced with different chemistry generically referred to as "Friction Modifiers."

These work fine and offer good protection for normal AUTOMOBILE engines. However, today's AUTOMOBILE oil "Friction Modifiers" are destructive to wet clutches. KZ bikes (and many other brands) have wet clutches. As a result of these oil chemistry changes a distinction needed to be made between those oils which are suitable for wet clutches and those which are not.

That distinction was documented by the Japanese Engine Oil Standards Implementation Panel (JASO). JASO developed a number of different oil specifications for different applications. The specifications that apply to 4 stroke motorcycles fall under the "4T Specifications." Within the 4T specifications the JASO MA class oils are specifically formulated for 4 stroke motorcycles with wet clutches.

Using oils that are not designated as meeting the JASO-MA standard may be destructive to KZ clutches.

I am old school, just love the smell of bean oil in the cool morning air!!!

The most important thing is to keep the oil clean and changed ,no matter what brand you use.

PLUMMEN wrote: The most important thing is to keep the oil clean and changed ,no matter what brand you use.

+100 A decent oil (like Rotella dino or Valvoline) changed every 1500miles will keep the engine a lot better than a syn that is run 3000 - 4000 miles.

An interesting note: "oil failures" are almost never related to a failure of the base oil itself, it's because the chemicals in the additive package get worn out or used up.

PLUMMEN wrote: The most important thing is to keep the oil clean and changed ,no matter what brand you use.

Almost. Use the oil that is the best for your clutch and transmission, then follow this rule.
I use Rotella T, but YMMV.

Another vote for diesel engine oil; more zinc and phosphorus than auto oils, and none of the "energy conserving" additives that are so common in auto oils these days, and mess with wet clutches. Rotella is a safe choice, but there are various other brands of quality diesel oil as well.

i use this

gengomerpyle wrote: i use this

+1 Except 20w-50 for me..

This subject seems to be taboo on many motorcycle forums, but I haven't seen that attitude on this one.....good.

Probably more info than you want to know, but.....

motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html

I have been reading a lot about oils recently because I just bought a 1984 Honda VF700F. They are notorious for cam/rocker wear. You MUST run a good oil in those bikes or you WILL have cam damage. Our Kz's are much more forgiving but you still should run a good oil.

A big issue you will see with motorcycles and oil is shear, a big reason for this is because the oil runs in the transmission also. The gears will shear the polymer strands and thin the oil, a 40 weight will become a 30 after x number of miles, as an example.

Synthetics are much better because they don't rely on polymer strands to give them their viscosity. A regular dino 10w-40 is just a 10 weight oil with these polymers added to give it its thickness (viscosity) at operating temp. Shearing the polymer strands starts changing the oil back into its original 10 weight. I guess if you left it in there long enough it would eventually?

So looks like synthetics are going to be the better choice in motorcycles, at least for now.

So far from my internet reading some of the best oils are Amsoil, Rotella 5w-40 full synthetic and Golden Spectro. Read lots of good stuff about Motul and Redline also.

The Rotella T6 wins because of price, just over $20 for a gallon at Walmart. The others I listed are $12 per quart and up. Yes Rotella it sold as a diesel oil, and its a 5w not a 10w but that probably doesn't matter. Its a 40 weight when at operating temp and it is JASO MA so its good in a wet clutch.

Seems like if money doesn't matter then amsoil wins everytime.

But keep in mind this is all just stuff I have been reading on the internet lately.