Sportster/Evo Era Motors & "plain" 20w50 oils

[TexasTea]

Hi all, not to beat a dead horse as i'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseum but i was curious whether standard 20w50 motor oils for passenger vehicles were "ok" or even if data was available that returned good UOAs perhaps?

I'm talking about oils like:
Mobil Special 20w50
Castrol GTX 20w50
Napa 20w50 (or whoever makes it)


I'm aware of the Kendall GT-1 and the Valvoline VR1 returning really good UOAs but each of those is actually kinda hard to purcahse where i live.

And to be totally honest i was making a huge mistake prior to this point by running Rotella T 15w40 Dino in my sportster for prob 4-8k i think two oil changes for sure, not being aware that the texas heat is WAYYYY outside the suggested temperature range for that oil.

Further, im just curious how standard 20w50 oils work with the sportster and/or evo motors in general.

 

[BigCahuna]

For your car, I would check the owners manual to see if they even suggest using it at all. Maybe when the outside temp is over 90f, they might. As far as your bike goes, Harley recommends 20/50 for most situations. They also recommend a straight 60 wt for temps over 80f. They say to use 10/40 wt when the temp is 40f or under. Using it in hot temps might cause your bike to use more oil . I use Valvoline 20/50 wt mainly because it's easy to get by me. Even tho I live in a big city area, some brands and weight oils are hard to impossible to get locally.,,,

 

[Propflux01]

That 15w-40 didn’t hurt, and won’t hurt that engine. Most of the 4 cyl Japanese air coolers at the time ran way hotter than a Harley could ever think of, and spec’d 10w-40. But to your question, the evo motors run just fine on pretty much anyb20w-50. If conventional, drop it a bit sooner than with a syn, as most of those 20w50 conventionals will drop to a 30W anyhow.

 

[BigCahuna]

Which conventionals drop to a 30 wt?. I've read thru most of the MC UOA's and haven't found one that low, unless its had gas dumped in it. And that wouldn't be the oil's fault.,,,

 

[Propflux01]

Which conventionals drop to a 30 wt?. I've read thru most of the MC UOA's and haven't found one that low, unless its had gas dumped in it. And that wouldn't be the oil's fault.,,,

I have a UOA of castrol 20w-50 conventional somewhere in there. Wasn't a fuel issue.

 

[Bonz]

Harley bikes are not a shared sump, 20w50, even conventional shouldn’t have much trouble staying well above a 30wt, IMO.

 

[alarmguy]

Hi all, not to beat a dead horse as i'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseum but i was curious whether standard 20w50 motor oils for passenger vehicles were "ok" or even if data was available that returned good UOAs perhaps?

I'm talking about oils like:
Mobil Special 20w50
Castrol GTX 20w50
Napa 20w50 (or whoever makes it)


I'm aware of the Kendall GT-1 and the Valvoline VR1 returning really good UOAs but each of those is actually kinda hard to purcahse where i live.

And to be totally honest i was making a huge mistake prior to this point by running Rotella T 15w40 Dino in my sportster for prob 4-8k i think two oil changes for sure, not being aware that the texas heat is WAYYYY outside the suggested temperature range for that oil.

Further, im just curious how standard 20w50 oils work with the sportster and/or evo motors in general.

Standard 20/50 oils are fine, any one of them or a Diesel/Gas rated HDEO of the same weight.
Amsoil synthetic 20/50 Diesel/Motorcycle oil or Mystik JT8 Semi-Syn 15/50 Diesel/gas rated oil. (mail order)

Yeah, we have a good 6 months of hot whether here (in the heat of summer temps of 95+ are a big yawn), my RK would have a meltdown with a 40 .... *L*
Ive measured oil temps up to 270 on my RK in traffic, 248 to 255 is standard for me @ 80 MPH on the interstate in the summer. I use Mystik exclusively.
Another option is Mobile 1 15/50 which I just tired/ tested and posted the results on BITOG, even though I went back to Mystik, wear numbers were really good on the Mobile 1 as well, just didnt, ummm ... like the sound of it in hot weather BUT that is maybe more of a mental thing. Bottom line HD calls for a diesel oil in my RK, so makes the choice easy for me, they will all work however, so choose what is easy to buy I guess at the price you want.

 

[CCI]

Hi all, not to beat a dead horse as i'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseum but i was curious whether standard 20w50 motor oils for passenger vehicles were "ok" or even if data was available that returned good UOAs perhaps?

I'm talking about oils like:
Mobil Special 20w50
Castrol GTX 20w50
Napa 20w50 (or whoever makes it)


I'm aware of the Kendall GT-1 and the Valvoline VR1 returning really good UOAs but each of those is actually kinda hard to purcahse where i live.

And to be totally honest i was making a huge mistake prior to this point by running Rotella T 15w40 Dino in my sportster for prob 4-8k i think two oil changes for sure, not being aware that the texas heat is WAYYYY outside the suggested temperature range for that oil.

Further, im just curious how standard 20w50 oils work with the sportster and/or evo motors in general.

With one important caveat most of the standard 20w50 oils will work fine, I ran them for decades in the early (pre- TwinCam) Harleys. The difference is some of the automotive oils, for whatever reason, the cam lobes wear our way sooner. For example, Castrol GTX used to be a great oil for the V-Twins, I would not run it anymore, seen too many cam lobes with the hard surfacing shattered off and bad rollers. I am not a scientist but I have rebuilt a real lot of Harley engines, I saw the same thing with Phillips aviation oil but not Shell. The Shell worked fine. Low ash high detergent, worked great. With the Phillips the cam was shot in no time.

So I asked an A&P mechanic about the oils and he told me it's the additive package, some oils are designed for aircraft engines that run at a more steady rpm and a variable pitch prop, other oils are designed for fixed pitch prop on engines that run at more variable speeds. I don't know if any of this is accurate, I imagine someone else will weigh in here, but he told me if I used the oil designed for engines that run at a steady rpm I would definitely see accelerated cam wear in a motorcycle. I' wondering if the same thing applies to automotive oils, a change in the additives maybe?

The Valvoline VR-1 works great in Harleys, I also ran their regular 20w-50 and never had a problem but I did change it a little more often in high temperatures. Also had great results with Mobil1 if you like synthetic that is good stuff.

For the heat like you have in Texas I usually run a straight weight oil, but if it's going to be cool in the mornings and hard to kick the bike I will run two quarts of 20w-50 and two quarts of straight 50 or 60, that has worked real well also.

 

[Bonz]

VR-1 is a great choice in a conventional oil, IMO.

 

[BusyLittleShop]

That 15w-40 didn’t hurt, and won’t hurt that engine.

True... whether you chose a 30 40 50 grade oil they will all meet and exceed your mileage expectations...

Quote BITOG DrDave
My old Harley really liked 10w-30 Amsoil. These was a significant
reduction in wear metals going from 15-40 to 10-30. There were no
consumption issues. It certainly started easier. By easier I mean it
spun over much faster. The motor seemed quieter, and Harley's need all
the help they can get in that department.

I have done the exact thing you are proposing. I've run the 15w-40
Rotella followed by a change to the T6 5w-40 Rotella. I have UOA
reports for both runs. The iron numbers dropped significantly after
changing to the T6, 5w-40. The "5" part of the oil does not cause any
concern in the HD motor. I've also run the Amsoil MCT 10w-30 in my
Sportster. There was a small drop in wear metals when compared to the
5w-40 T6 Rotella.

 

[Bonz]

True... whether you chose a 30 40 50 grade oil they will all meet and exceed your mileage expectations...

Quote BITOG DrDave
My old Harley really liked 10w-30 Amsoil. These was a significant
reduction in wear metals going from 15-40 to 10-30. There were no
consumption issues. It certainly started easier. By easier I mean it
spun over much faster. The motor seemed quieter, and Harley's need all
the help they can get in that department.

I have done the exact thing you are proposing. I've run the 15w-40
Rotella followed by a change to the T6 5w-40 Rotella. I have UOA
reports for both runs. The iron numbers dropped significantly after
changing to the T6, 5w-40. The "5" part of the oil does not cause any
concern in the HD motor. I've also run the Amsoil MCT 10w-30 in my
Sportster. There was a small drop in wear metals when compared to the
5w-40 T6 Rotella.

Seems like one person in the world then has done that... What is the date of the quote you used above?

 

[manicrodder]

Back in 71 my panhead used Harley 60 in the summer and 40 in winter.

 

[rossn2]

If you're having problems locating oil, Why not go online and just order your oil from Walmart, shipping to your house for free?

Robot or human?

 

[blueglide88]

Here is the thing about oil and motorcycles. FEW riders put enough miles on their bike to actually wear out an engine. So bottom line, don't sweat the details to much. Try and follow your manual's recommendations, and pay attention to the temperature ranges and what they want you to use.
Decades ago I was running Castrol GTX 20-50 in my Shovelhead outside of Phoenix on a trip from Chicago to California. The tappets gave way in the heat, taking my cam out at the same time. 50wt was just too thin in a Shovel for 110 degree days. I should have been running straight 60wt according to HD. Of course that was a Shovel, not an Evo. I've run many oils in the Evo, but for a long time now I've used VR1 20w-50 in both Evo and TC. Never anything less than a 50wt in either of them or the 2004 Sportster or 2006 Super Glide I used to own.

 

[benjy]

bikes with shared oils are very hard on oil, the sportster included + oils xxW40 + thicker are fine as they are NOT energy conserving + using cheep conventional can be OK if changed more often! motorcycles run HOT especially bigger air cooled ones + many with water cooling minimize the UGLY radiator + although it helps they still get hotter than is good for oil life!!