Are we beating the which oil should i use to death?

alarmguy said:
If one lives in a hot climate it certainly can not hurt to go up one grade and only makes sense to do so.
Engine wont blow up if you dont do it but I think just common sense to go up a grade.

Engine coolant temperature does not perfectly correlate with oil temperature, the coolant is temperature controlled not the oil and in a hot climate it will run hotter. In fact in a hot climate even the engine and coolant will run hotter but the oil more so.
None of these 10w oils even make sense if you dont ride in temps below 50 degrees and many of us in the South do not.
The chart above says good for -10 F well ... not many riders who ride in -10F .... Ill be happy with +40 F :eek:) and I dont ride until 60+ F and for the a solid 3 months will be daytime highs 90 to 100+ but then again, my bike calls for 50, my previous Yami Vstar 1300 called for 10/40 and I used 20/50 summertime.
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There are many examples of the ST1300 going 200K, 300K, and 400K miles with simple regular maintenance and 10W-40 oil. There are examples of the NC700 going 100K and 200K miles with the recommended oil. I'm not worried about it.

If I had an air cooled engine, I would be more concerned.
 
Ride_Red said:
There are many examples of the ST1300 going 200K, 300K, and 400K miles with simple regular maintenance and 10W-40 oil. There are examples of the NC700 going 100K and 200K miles with the recommended oil. I'm not worried about it.

If I had an air cooled engine, I would be more concerned.
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There is never a concern if you follow the owners manual. Just wanted to make it clear that I agree with you.

With that said, I do adjust what oil I use in ALL vehicles, Boats, Bikes, Automobiles being I live in a Southern Climate. Though some already are at the max of a 50 weight, even in the owners manual.

Common sense to me has always been rather a published oil weight based on an average temperature of the United States of America which has a huge diverse climate and being in the warm part of the average I can step up a grade and still be at the flow levels of someone, as an example in your state, our average temperatures for the year are 20 degrees warmer here.
The last metric bike I owned gave a range of 20/40 or 20/50 = 2008 Yamaha VStar 1300 shifting would be crap with a 40 in it when temperatures are at or within a few degrees of 100 for weeks at a time, liquid cooled still gets warmer in a hot climate and the oil much hotter as the oil is not cooled. I would roast on that bike in traffic every bit as much as my Harley and it has a bigger engine. When that Yamaha fan kicked on, OMG, the amount of heat thrown back was incredible. Either way, its no fun being stuck in traffic on any bike, however rarely on a near 100 degree day.

Either way it doesnt matter, but then again, either does 90% of the oil discussions in here.
 
I'm not sure if Harley has changed their recommendation for using straight 50 and straight 60 wt oils. But if they haven't, why don't they get mentioned more? Especially if your riding your bike in continually hot parts of the country. 20/50 wt can be used for pretty much anytime, but for people that complain about engine noise, the solution is right in the manual. I also believe I've read here that straight weight oils can keep the motor running a bit cooler than 20/50 wt. Heat is more of a nuisance to riders then the bikes motor. Water cooled bikes tend to run cooler in general, but I've been reading about a ECU re-flash for Kawasaki bikes that takes it one step further. It turns on the cooling fans at a slightly lower temperature. The point being you won't be trying to cool off the motor, after the fact. That sounds like something that should be carried over to any brand of water cooled bike.,,
 
Morganator said:
I’ve been riding and driving for over 40 years. I have always used a good quality name brand oil and ran the manufactor recommended viscosity for that particular vehicle. I have never had an oil related failure with any vehicle because i change it when the manufactor says to. Synthetic, non-synthetic, motorcycle only oil, which do i choose? The point i’m trying to make is in my opinion as long as you use the right viscosity and choose a good quality oil and change at the recommended intervals along with a quality filter there should be no debate. I think this topic gets beaten to death for really no reason.
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This site beats everything to death.
 
Bonz said:
(y)

Agreed, with that said, is there any owners manual that specifically calls out one oil weight (5w40, 10w40, 20w50, etc) and one weight only? I haven't ever seen one with a mass produced vehicle.
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Here you go. For both the 5.3 and 6.2 liter engines it’s 0w20. Doesn’t matter if you live in Texas or Alaska.

F19EE832-5313-49FD-A23C-5C17BD89A3C5.jpg
C92DD9F0-6985-4244-B5FF-B2E7C4E7ECF7.jpg
 
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Ride_Red said:
There are many examples of the ST1300 going 200K, 300K, and 400K miles with simple regular maintenance and 10W-40 oil. There are examples of the NC700 going 100K and 200K miles with the recommended oil. I'm not worried about it.

If I had an air cooled engine, I would be more concerned.
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"If I had an air cooled engine, I would be more concerned" = If you had an air cooled engine, you wouldn't be concerned. Its an engine designed for long life using the oil recommended by the manufacturer, no different.

Follow the manufacturers requirements and dont be concerned about the design of the engine. Chances are you will be wrong but then again that's why we have BITOG, to beat subjects to death. :eek:)
 
alarmguy said:
"If I had an air cooled engine, I would be more concerned" = If you had an air cooled engine, you wouldn't be concerned. Its an engine designed for long life using the oil recommended by the manufacturer, no different.

Follow the manufacturers requirements and dont be concerned about the design of the engine. Chances are you will be wrong but then again that's why we have BITOG, to beat subjects to death. :eek:)
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My previous bike was a Suzuki air cooled twin. I stuck a thermometer on top of the engine fins just to see how hot it ran. I commute most days in the summer and when I got stuck in traffic, the engine got HOT HOT HOT. In reality it was probably just fine, but it plays with your mind watching the temperature rise. Never had a problem with the bike and it ran just fine on the recommended oil. Adding the thermometer brought out my anxiety, I guess. I should have never put it on there. Ignorance is bliss! :)
 
With respect to air cooled engines, The issue there with older bikes, IMO, is the clearances with respect to the rings and piston bore by necessary design allow more blow by and contamination of the oil from fuel and by products of combustion. Whatever the oil recommended, most of them have much shorter OCI's.
 
Passport1 said:
My strategy is to buy as much oil on sale as I can find regardless of viscosity or brand. Then I look to purchase vehicles that can accept what oils I bought. That way I never have something I can't use.
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Lol i should start doing that
 
Ride_Red said:
My previous bike was a Suzuki air cooled twin. I stuck a thermometer on top of the engine fins just to see how hot it ran. I commute most days in the summer and when I got stuck in traffic, the engine got HOT HOT HOT. In reality it was probably just fine, but it plays with your mind watching the temperature rise. Never had a problem with the bike and it ran just fine on the recommended oil. Adding the thermometer brought out my anxiety, I guess. I should have never put it on there. Ignorance is bliss! :)
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Yes ^^
My 2014 Road King, I measure actual oil temperature.
Now 7 years old, 30,000 miles, still never need to add oil to the engine between OCI's...

As far as another post above this one....
Its the design of the engine not the type of cooling.
My Suzuki C50 liquid cooled was a cheaply built engine which is easy to do with liquid cooling, you do not need a robust engine, rings were known to be pretty well shot by 40,000 miles and you would be adding oil between OCI's at 12,000 miles if not sooner.
Sure you can read some success stories of higher mileages but not without adding oil and none will come close to a well made air cooled Harley (and I suspect an Indian too)
 
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Ride_Red said:
Both of my motorcycles' owners manual call out 10W-30. No other choices are offered. No fine print anywhere about climate, city or highway driving. Both cycles are water cooled, so the engine operating temperature should be fairly stable no matter what the outside temperature is. Also, Honda recommends 8,000 mile oil and filter change intervals on the recommended 10W-30.
View attachment 58315

From page 110...
View attachment 58314


The service manuals for both bikes (which most owners do not purchase) call out both 10W-30 and 10W-40 as acceptable. No other options.
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"SG" classification is no longer in use. API SJ is now the oldest, over 21 can drink and vote.
Personally I don't see the need for a winter grade below 25W. For me SAE 30 or 40 does the trick.
Delo 400 is a good example with lots of P & Zn.
 
Morganator said:
Since we are having so much fun heres a question. Who has had a major engine failure if you’ve changed your oil regularly and run the correct weight and a good brand name oil?
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I've never had a major engine failure. I always use good quality oils and 10w40 is the correct weight for anything I drive.;) Personally I don't care what anyone uses in their engine, after all they're the one who paid for it and has to pay for any subsequent damage. I started using 10w40 when I bought my first car in the '70's. It's always done well in everything I've owned since. I had a Ford 1.9 go over 500K miles on 10w40. I see no reason to change what isn't broken. I'm running 10w40 in my '16 Nissan Versa and have beat EPA highway rating on every tank I've ran through it since I bought it in Feb. 2019. Worst tank to date is 42.345 MPG. Best tank to date is 55.902 MPG. Driving habits are going to have a much larger effect on fuel efficiency than the weight oil I have in the crankcase. If using the manufacturer recommended 5w30 increased my mileage by 1% it would only amount to around .5 mile per gallon.
 
userfriendly said:
"SG" classification is no longer in use. API SJ is now the oldest, over 21 can drink and vote.
Personally I don't see the need for a winter grade below 25W. For me SAE 30 or 40 does the trick.
Delo 400 is a good example with lots of P & Zn.
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I was surprised to see the "SG" as well. This is a modern motorcycle, why such an old spec? The manual is probably just a copy and paste job by an intern.
 
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