[Danfriday]

I did a search here and found nothing..My manual only says 10w30 or 10w40.
No mention of weather to use synthetic or not. Want to give her her first oil change but not sure which to get. I believe it's still the factory oil so I would like to stick with that. What say you???

 

[-AJ]

blend. that's just what i use. everyone will have different opinions on here.

 

[Chillable Red]

If you decide to go with 10W-30 be very careful that it is a motorcycle specific 10W-30 oil that is NOT energy conserving. Most if not all of your automotive 10W-30s are and are not good for your wet clutch. Read the label! That said, I am a fan of the different brands of 15W-40 "Heavy Duty Diesel Oils." These oils also carry API ratings for gasoline engines and have no "friction modifiers" that are bad for our bikes. Shell Rotella T 15W-40 is a very popular choice and carries the JASO-MA rating as well. This is a good choice especially if you plan on changing it at around 5K miles. Many riders prefer the Shell Rotella synthetic 5W-40 and swear by it. I am running the Rotella 15W-40 in our Aero and I have been using for many miles and years whatever 15W-40 I catch on sale in my 1990 Gold Wing SE. The wing has 121K miles on it now and runs great. No oil consumption, the engine sounds strong, and the transmission shifts like an automatic! You'll get lot of opinions and recommendations when it comes to oil. This is my story and I'm stickin' to it!

 

[Homebrewr]

i use castrol 20w50 blend seems to work just fine, 07 1100 w/29k

 

[93gc40]

I use 10/40 regular oil or 30wt straight, where I live I don't REQUIRE multi grade oil. Whatever they have on the shelf that is not marked as energy conserving. My 93 has 45000, Hard miles. (By hard I mean, Rocket riders complain they have a tough time keeping up with me. Yes, they are faster than me. But where they want to go 60 I'm comfortable a 70+, got it.)

 

[byggd]

My 88 has had Full synthetic for all of it's 63,000 miles.

 

[dieseljuice]

I use Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50, and Lucas Synthetic Oil Suppliment. Lucas Fuel treatment also.

 

[bikenut]

I always use Castrol or Mobil 1 full synthetic in bike, cars and collectables. Generally stay away from blends as there is no information on how much (50:50?, 10:90? 1:99??). So adding 1% synthetic to dino oil is literally a blend. So if I wanted a blend I would by pure synthetic and pure dino and blend it myself (but I don't). On collectables built prior to 1970 I use ZDDP additives since the EPA has banned that critical lubricant, so lots of classic cars with friction cams are turning into scrap. Bikes with wet clutches do not do well with additives. So you need to adjust the oil to the application. Some claim diesel oils are better but they need to meet the same EPA regulations, so it is ever-changing and you ask a good question that needs constant updating as we keep up with the tree huggers.

 

[JoeG]

This is the question for the ages. They have done extensive studies on oils and they've come up with only a few conclusions.

Full synthetic oil breaks down slower, so you get more life out of the oil and the engine. It is also required for higher performance engines... i.e. racing engines, or in situations where you are pushing the engine hard for extended periods of time.

Dino breaks down quicker, however, if you change the oil on a regular basis, the engine will eat it up just fine.

I use dino, and I change the oil every 1500-2000 miles. Its cheap, and it works. I have a 600 VLX, so there is nothing 'performance' about it. I'm not trying to win freeway races. The bike does not need the synthetic oil. Plus, I don't want to spend the money on synthetic oil if I don't have to.

Its up to you though. Whatever you choose, make sure he oil is for "wet-clutch" engines.

 

[1rusty1]

I was told that once you go with full synthetic that you have to stay with it and should not go back to Non-synthetics but if I went with blend I could go back to non-syn. They also told me that even though my bike only had 8k miles on it since it was older that going to a synthetic might cause leaks.
I went with the blend so I could keep all my options open. As it turns out, they were right. No leaks prior to the change now all the cam seals have been weeping. I fixed the seals but think I’m going to stick with the Non-syn in the future.

 

[Lakota]

I did a search here and found nothing..My manual only says 10w30 or 10w40.
No mention of weather to use synthetic or not. Want to give her her first oil change but not sure which to get. I believe it's still the factory oil so I would like to stick with that. What say you???

Hey, Dan. This question pops up all the time on all the forums and all the brands.

I think the best answer is to use what the factory recommends. They want you to get the best combination of performance/longevity you can get. They built the bike. Nobody knows better what your bike likes best.

 

[fpavko]

This is my third bike to use full synthetic (Amsoil 10w40) but can honestly say I would probably do just as well with dino. The advice given by others here regarding frequent change is way more important.
Have a son-in-law that is a sales rep and puts in excess of 60K on his car each year. He routeenly gets 350 to 450k out of his cars and other than a timing belt replacement around 150k on all of them he has been trouble free, engine wise. He will never miss an oil change and uses nothing but dino.

 

[orlenz]

what model/ year is your bike?

 

[gat803]

I use dino, and I change the oil every 1500-2000 miles. Its cheap, and it works.

Oil companies love guys like you. You are throwing away a product before you get even half of what you paid for out of it. While it does "work" it is not cheap. Multiply what you do times all the other guys that do the same thing, and you are wasting millions of dollars for no good reason.

Not only are you throwing away $$$, but you are tossing a valuable resource, not to mention all of the excess waste oil you are creating. Even if you recycle that partially used oil, most recycled oil gets burned. So you're adding unnecessarily to air polution as well.

Who knows better the maintenance demands of your scoot, than the people that engineered, built, and have to stand behind it? Look in the owners manual and find what Honda suggests for oil change intervals. I'm certain that it's three or four times that 1500-2000 miles.

I'm not a tree hugger, but I hate wasting money.....or anything that still has a useful life. If you really want to take good care of your scoot, consider an UOA.

Blackstone Labs

For the cost of one oil change, a Used Oil Analysis will tell you exactly what is happening to your oil, and hence your engine.

You wouldn't buy a gallon of milk and drink half then throw the other half away because it might be bad, so why do it with your oil.

 

[Haze]

I have 25K on the Spirit and its running fine with Shell Rotella® T6 5W-40.
I switched to full sunthetic at 11K miles and had no issues. Keep up with
the scheduled maintenance and use a good filter.

Cheers,
Haze

 

[cl65ame]

Oil and gas always passionate subjects.
Here is my OPINION (based on accumulated facts)

Oil, when you father was learning to drive was recommened to be changed every 5000 miles. Back the the tolerances were HUGE. Parts were not manufactured to the same specs as today. Blow by gasses and contamination in the oil was common as was wear. Filters often contained some metal at oil change time. The oil as well was not as clean as today and there were few, if any, additives in the oil.
Bounce forward to 2011. Fully synthetic, semi systhetic, and dino oil all have to meet specific specifications for breakdown and wear. Engines are manufactured to very tight specifications. With all of these advances people still change their oil at 5000 miles or less. This is throwing money away. Oil will last double that or more. My wifes car calls , in the manual, for 10,000 miles or 365 days whichever comes first. Synthetic oil only.
I change mine twice a year at most with no adverse affects. I have access to a lad to analyse the oil which I do periodically and the oil still meets the original spec after 5000 miles. filters too....every has their favorite. Let me explain the filter and what it is actually for. The filter does NOT clean the oil. The filter is there to catch any contamination resulting from a failure of some component of the engine. This prevent further damage or catastrauphic failure of the engine. This is why I condone openning the filter after an oil change to see if anything is wrong. Other wise whats the point.

Now having said all that and I am sure sparking some more debate.

ALL owners manuals I have ever seen have a chart showing the temperature ranges of the various oil viscosities. Use the one that fits your climate. As for the dino, systhetic issue...Use what you can afford.

 

[gmck]

I have a vlx and used to use Rotela 15-40 but have changed to Mobil 1 mostly because of the extreem heat I have here. Never found any problems with the dino oil but the synthetic makes me feel a bit better when stuck in traffic at 115 deg. I plan to do oil changes at 5000 mostly because it is easy to keep track of.

 

[dernp]

Shell Rotella T6 5w40 full synthetic. This is a deisel oil that has the JASO MA rating. Exactly what our bikes need. Very happy with it.

A very good read is the oilology thread in the Technical section of the forum. It is very informative.

 

[Big B]

I use Honda GN-4 10w40 in my bikes. nothing special and works fine.

 

[JoeG]

Oil companies love guys like you. You are throwing away a product before you get even half of what you paid for out of it. While it does "work" it is not cheap. Multiply what you do times all the other guys that do the same thing, and you are wasting millions of dollars for no good reason.

Not only are you throwing away $$$, but you are tossing a valuable resource, not to mention all of the excess waste oil you are creating. Even if you recycle that partially used oil, most recycled oil gets burned. So you're adding unnecessarily to air polution as well.

Who knows better the maintenance demands of your scoot, than the people that engineered, built, and have to stand behind it? Look in the owners manual and find what Honda suggests for oil change intervals. I'm certain that it's three or four times that 1500-2000 miles.

I'm not a tree hugger, but I hate wasting money.....or anything that still has a useful life. If you really want to take good care of your scoot, consider an UOA.

Blackstone Labs

For the cost of one oil change, a Used Oil Analysis will tell you exactly what is happening to your oil, and hence your engine.

You wouldn't buy a gallon of milk and drink half then throw the other half away because it might be bad, so why do it with your oil.

Not trying to start a pissing contest here... but the term "your mileage may vary" (every pun intended) seems to come to mind here. I don't know how many miles a year (or month, or week, or day) you put on your bike, but I know that I put over 1,000 miles a month on mine. I ride it every day. No matter what... because its my ONLY mode of transportation. And in the Los Angeles traffic, and heat - I want to make sure my bike is going to work ALL the time. Not to mention I bought the bike used... and from what I can tell, it wasn't very well taken care of. I am not a huge fan of wasting money either... but I'd rather spend a little bit of money on fresh oil now, than rebuilding an engine later. Putting fresh oil in sooner than the recommended intervals will never harm the engine... yeah, maybe I'm throwing away half good oil, but the engine will cherish ever moment of having new oil.