SG , Jaso MA and what now...

[Baveux]

Gents, what makes a motorcycle oil like the Dino Castrol grand prix SG equal , better , or less appealing than any dino SL Jaso MA for my new Kawa Concours 2005. Kawa recommend both :
API SE, SF, SG or
API SH or SJ with JASO MA
in 10w40 or 20w50

Thanks

 

[JonS]

The SE, SF, and SG are auto oils when they had lots of additives in them. The SH and SJ will be hard to find with the JASO MA rating (motorcycle oil)

 

[rokky]

Diesel oils with Allison C4, Clark transmission, Caterpillar powershift ratings are also suitable for motorcycle wet clutches.
Diesel oils also have higher levels of zinc and phosphorous than most automotive oils.
Diesel oils do have higher levels of detergent/ash which is a debatable subject.
Diesel oils are cheaper than motorcycle specific oils.

 

[Cycle Freak]

You should read or attempt to read most of the stuff in this Motorcycle lubrication forum, you will want to avoid oils that say Energy conserving or ones that are known to have significant amounts of friction modifiers like molybedenum which can cause your wet clutch to slip or not work at all. Your best bet is to buy motorcycle specific oil in my opinion unless you are going to take the time to definitely find out the car oil you are going to put in doesn't have anything in it not compatible with wet cluth motorcycles, another good tip would be to go with 15w40 or 20w50 since I have never seen one that said energy conserving on the API symbol on back of the bottle. I personally have been using Castrol Motorcycle oil which I get for $1.98 at Wal Mart and Kendall Motorcycle oil which I get for 2.50-3.00 a quart directly from a local oil distributor by the case.

 

[fuel tanker man]

I'd just run 15W40 Rotella dino (truck oil) and you'll be all set.

There's no moly in it, and ZDP is in the 1350 to 1400 ppm range.

All good.

Dan