Car oil in a Motorcycle

[Shaman]

I saw that there were thread going the opposite way, but was wondering if anyone had anything to say on the topic?

 

[Jelly]

Usually no problem as long as it's not energy conserving...

I use HDEO 15w-40.

Others use M1 15w-50 and several other PCMO synthetics...

 

[Korean_redneck]

I heard that older motorycles, its ok.. but with motorcycles 1990 and new with wet clutches.. some chemical in Fuel Conserving car oils will ruin some metals in the transmission.

 

[blsnelling]

The friction modifiers in energy conserving oils CAN cause the clutch to slip. Most bikes use 10w-40 or 20w-50 and these weights are usually not energy conserving anyway.

 

[Shaman]

Can you explain what an HDEO is, and where it can be found

 

[KW]

When I was drag racing a '97 Suzuki Bandit 1200 I had no issues with my clutch with M1 5W30 oil. This bike was hard on clutches and oil choice would greatly affect the clutch. M1 5 and 10W30 and Castrol GTX 20W50 seemed to work the best for me.

Nowadays in it's new life as a street bike it gets Amsoil 10W40.

 

[greenjp]

Totally overblown subject. I can't believe there are still people out there saying "you can't use car oil, it'll ruin your bike's wet clutch!" when there's probably a billion bikes out there running car oil without any problems.

As other guys have said, avoid the "energy conserving" oils and you'll be fine. I've run el cheapo Exxon 10W-40, Mobil 1 15W-50, and presently a Mobil 1 blend, 2 qts 15W-50 and 1 qt 5W-40. Zippy issues.

HDEO is (I think) jargon for "heavy duty" diesel spec oils. Stuff like Mobil 1 5W-40 (the Truck and SUV formula) or the Shell Rotella oils. These are popular among bikers for their stoutness and good cleaning properties.

jeff

 

[darkdan]

green, go throw some nice high moly oil and a bottle of FM for rear ends in your motorcycle's wet clutch system and see what happens.

As long as you avoid oils with FM in it you'll be fine.

Anyone know if AMSOIL's 15w40 diesel oil has FM in it? I'd be more inclined to running that next year than the 10w40.

Previously I ran mobil1 15w50 for years in my bike.

 

[Shaman]

So HDEO would be referring to Delo and Delvac like what you see at Wally World

 

[bugman53]

Im a motorcycle mechanic. I can say i have seen no problems with red cap mobil in low rpm bikes up to 10,000(that’s low for a race motor). But I would never run it in my bike. I mean you can get Motorcycle spec. oil for the same price at Mobil one so why take the chance. Also most Motorcycle oil have a higher detergency and more anti foaming agents. The motors Rev to 15,000 RPMS i would think a oil(car oil) made for 6,000rpms would not have the addtive pack to hold up as well. Im no expert on oil but that’s my Educated guess. as far as a wet clutch goes i have seen customers burn out new clutches in a month B\c or running cheap Dino Energy conserving oils. Granted the bikes have the **** rode out of them but that don’t normally happen on MC oil. After the guy let me change his oil to motul he has not had one problem.

So I guess it depends on how hard the bike is rode. If you baby a bike the clutch wont slip but once you hammer it and it starts slipping it overheats the clutch plats and they warp and have hot spots.

 

[jhnrckr]

I would see less of a problem if your bike is liquid cooled but I would not run an oil with a low flash point in an air cooled motor. Look at the flash point number for Mobil 1 for V-Twins, it should be burried somewhere on this site, right? It has the highest flash point of any oil.

 

[dustyjoe1]

quote:

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Also most Motorcycle oil have a higher detergency and more anti foaming agents

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the CI rating on hdeo supposed to indicate a high level of anti-foam properties? Seems like another good reason to use diesel oil in a bike. As an aside delo 400 seems to work in my air cooled kawasaki police bike. Interestingly enough a local dealer who used to service these bikes indicated that they had some cases of premature clutch wear due to use of synthetics ( I assume he meant m1 cause that was what I asked him about) He also stated that semi-synthetic 20w50 (looked like a motul bottle but not certain) gave good results...for what its worth.

 

[Jimbo]

The higher ZDDP levels in HDEO also help to protect the gears in these bikes with a common oil supply to the engine, clutch and transmission.