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What kind of oil...?

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aasports

aasports

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I just got a new 636 Kawasaki and its time to change the oil. The owner's manual calls for 10W40. Do I need an oil specifically designed for 4 cycle motors or can I use any 10W40. I just put whatever the dealer put in for the past several years on my other bikes but I was planning on doing some of the easier work on this one myself. I was thinking about going with the Royal Purple line this time. They make a 10W40 and also a Max Cycle which is quite a bit more expensive. What does anyone suggest about this. Thanks for the help.
 
I use 20w50 in my GW1800, it has about 140,000 miles on it. I use Honda GN4, non synthetic. I used synthetic in my old GW1500 and began getting clutch slippage. I have used this particular oil for many years and always had good luck with it. I use 20w50 Amsoil in my xr650l air cooled dualsport because it makes the bike run cooler, approx 20-40 degrees cooler. This is just my personal opinion, can't go wrong with Honda GN4...
 
You're going to get a million opinions on this subject. Do what the manual recommends, those guys designed the motor. They should know, no?

And yes, any automotive 10W40 will do, that meets the specs your manual calls for.

You do want to be sure you don't get "energy saving" oil..it'll say so on the label. It can make come bike clutches slip.
 
I just use Mobil1 car oil. As was said make sure it doesn't say "energy conserving" in the bottom half of the little circle logo thing on the back of the bottle and your ok.
 
I'm using Rotella-T 15W-40 dino at the moment. After a few more miles I'll switch to the 5W-40 synthetic.
 
Thanks for all the helpful advice. I figured I would get alot of opinions. I appreciate the heads up about the "energy saver." I have never heard of that so now I know to avoid it.
 
I've been running Shell Rotella T 15W40 in my SV650S for 9500mi w/o any problems. Works out well for me, as I can go to O'Reilly's and buy everything I need to change my oil in one stop.
 
we had trouble with the shell 15w-40 Rotella in Jill's new BMW K1200R, instead of the clutch slipping, it wasn't releasing all the way. Now we are using some of the FANCY oils, at $5/qt like motul and castrol fully synthethic motorcycle oil.

I use Castrol 20W-50 in all the other BMW bikes we one, two airheads, one oilhead and a flying brick.

Howard
 
For grins, I thought I'd try Amsoil. Heard a lot of claims. I have noticed shifting and clutch operation are the smoothest they've been since I got the bike.
 
A few years past MCN ran a comprehensive series about oils both motorcycle and automotive. Between mc and auto oils there is a lot of difference in the additive package. For that reason I stick to motorcycle oils. I use Honda oils the synthetic moly blend in my ducati which has a dry clutch and the regular non-synthetic GN4 in the klr. In the past I had a Honda ST1100 and I used the non-moly synthetic blend because it helped the shifting with a hot transmission and had a wet clutch. I like Honda oil because it is available everywhere when I am on the road and they do not put a premium price on it. No matter what you use try to change oil at least every 2000 to 2500 miles on a motorcycle if not more frequently especially dirt bikes. You can skip changing the filter if you are in a rush and want to save time, money, or convenience but change the oil. The synthetics do not handle shear stresses as well as conventional but they do a lot of other things better. I use synthetic blend whenever I can and conventional the rest of the time. I have a number of diesel trucks, cars and tractors and I run synthetic blend there except for the very old and very worn Deeres. Castrol makes a diesel spec blend which I have used for some time. They seem to love it and it reduces the oil change frequency. I think it has increased mileage but I did not keep any records and changed tires as well. Changing oil frequently is the least expensive maintenance there is. Rgds., John
 
john3500 said:
(snipped) No matter what you use try to change oil at least every 2000 to 2500 miles on a motorcycle if not more frequently especially dirt bikes. You can skip changing the filter if you are in a rush and want to save time, money, or convenience but change the oil. The synthetics do not handle shear stresses as well as conventional but they do a lot of other things better.(snipped) Rgds., John
Click to expand...

Hi, John,
EXCUSE ME??? WHAT??? What ever happened to checking your Owners Manual (factory recommendation)? I haven't seen many recommending 2k or 3k mile oil changes recently. My BMW manual ('95 K1100LT) calls for oil and filter changes every 6k miles. This makes no distinctions for using synthetic or dino squeezings. If you have oil analyses done using synthetic (I use Mobil 1 15w50 synthetic - the car oil, NOT the more expensive 20w50 m/c oil), you will find the oil is fit for continued use after 10,000 miles. I change mine at 10k miles or at 1 year. Anything less, to me, seems wasteful. I do change the filter at the same time. Even the '76 R90/6 I bought new in 1977 had an oil change interval recommendation of 5k miles!
Ride Safe,
Phil Marvin - El Paso, TX
'95 K1100LT (his)
'94 K75A/3 low seat (hers)
 
Go for it. I will keep changing oil. rgds., John
 
valcyr said:
Hi, John,
EXCUSE ME??? WHAT??? What ever happened to checking your Owners Manual (factory recommendation)? I haven't seen many recommending 2k or 3k mile oil changes recently. My BMW manual ('95 K1100LT) calls for oil and filter changes every 6k miles. This makes no distinctions for using synthetic or dino squeezings. If you have oil analyses done using synthetic (I use Mobil 1 15w50 synthetic - the car oil, NOT the more expensive 20w50 m/c oil), you will find the oil is fit for continued use after 10,000 miles. I change mine at 10k miles or at 1 year. Anything less, to me, seems wasteful. I do change the filter at the same time. Even the '76 R90/6 I bought new in 1977 had an oil change interval recommendation of 5k miles!
Ride Safe,
Phil Marvin - El Paso, TX
'95 K1100LT (his)
'94 K75A/3 low seat (hers)
Click to expand...
This is the essence of an oil thread.

Your opinion is as valid as the next . :giveup: And your opinion is as far apart from mine on this subject as one could get... To each his own.

I relate the.. "I did 10,000 miles on my last 3 oil changes, and everything is fine".. to the same type of thinking that allows a persons opinion of smoking to say.. "I have smoked 3 packs a day for 20 years and I'm ok" Just because you personally have not seen anything catastrophic happen, does not mean it's a good idea.

To each his own,, no ones mind is ever changed on an oil thread. I’ll keep removing the dirty oil from my motors frequently. For my own reason, based on my own experience, and in my own opinion, the better solution for the bikes I ride, where and how I ride them. :rider:
 
we all have different ways of doing things...my rule on oil changes? whenever I can't read the dipstick or see the back of the sight glass through the oil I change oil and filter...we changed the oil on Jill's K1200R last night going to the castrol 4t premium motorcycle oil, she finds the motorcycle specific oils make the bike shift better. One oil change per back tire is about right for that bike.

now, on the airheads, they get minimum one new filter a year per bike, but usually two, since they are a **** to get to...

the 62 dodge town wagon, that is getting 1,500 miles a year, get changed as soon as the oil changes color or about once year.

Howard
 
Regardless of how often you change your oil and what you use, I can tell you from experience that it is CRITICAL to check frequently to make sure the right amount is in the system.
 
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