the truth about synthetic oil in motorcycles

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This article contains vital information for any bike owner. Read this on the net so it must be true.

From the AFM-ClubRacer list
Subject: Beware synthetic oil

Beware of synthetic oil, it can do terrible things to you and your beloved motorcycle. It will not only leak out of your engine faster than you can put it in, but it will also cause your oil filter to clog and implode, dumping debris and dirt into your lubrication system. It also will make every part of your bike permanently slippery because of its linear molecular chain dispersion action.
Then it will leak onto your kickstand causing it to retract automatically, dropping your bike on the ground! But that's not all...
Synthetic oil will round off your gears and spin your bearings. It will also splatter onto your seat causing your girlfriend to fall off in the apex of a turn and she'll never ride with you again. Synthetic oil coats your sight window and your timing window with a whitish
pro-emulsification additive that is both non-removable and highly corrosive. Synthetic oil will completely leak onto the ground overnight and your dog will drink it and die.
Synthetic oil will wear out your tires and make your battery leak. It will give you the desperate need to urinate after you put your full leathers on and then jam your zippers shut. It will contaminate your gasoline causing your bike to stall on railroad tracks and accelerate uncontrollably near police cars. It will make it rain during rallies and on weekends. It will lubricate your timing belts causing them to jump teeth and break your valves to bits. Synthetic oil chemically weakens desmodromic valves and causes the clearances to change every six miles. Then it melts the black soles of your riding boots right before you walk across your new carpeting.
While riding past groups of attractive women it will cause both of your handlebar grips to slip off at the same time so you smash your windscreen with the bridge of your nose. It also causes your swingarm to crack, your studs to break, and your rotors to warp, and then it voids your warranty by changing your odometer reading to 55,555. It
also dries out your wetclutch and wets your dryclutch. It makes your clutch slave cylinder seal fail in the heaviest traffic on the hottest day of the year while putting an angry wasp in your helmet for good measure.
Synthetic oil hides your 13mm socket and puts superglue on your earplugs. Synthetic oil will scratch your faceshield and make your gloves shrink two sizes night before trackday. Synthetic oil stole your neutral and sold it to the Chinese for $1.25. Synthetic oil will make you grow a tail. Synthetic oil will write long crazy e-mails to your Internet friends and then sign your name at the bottom!

DAM
 
I've read a lot of "interesting stuff" about synthetic oil on the internet and this one post seems to lump it all into one post.
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All the bad stuff I have read about synthetic oil turned out to be untrue.
 
OK now I am thoroughly confused over the Dino vs Synthetic oil debates so much is said pro vs con that one is left to ponder ***? That being said I have a question for you oil fanatics to answer I found a thrift shop near me that has Valvoline "DuraBlend" 10W 40 synthetic blend oil on sale for $12.00 bucks a case yup thats 12 bottles of Synthetic blend oil for $1.00 per bottle is this an oil I can use in my 96 Kawasaki vulcan 800? the oil exceeds API SL, SJ,& CF ratings!
 
Have had 4 Vulcan 800's here over the years for the wife and the tough little motors normally ran even Schaeffers 5W30 in the middle of winter once when we had a tight clutch release problem. Normally the 800 motors were treated to 5W40 Syntectic Rotella. They have even used 15-40 Rotella and Supertech oils. Probably any oil that does not have friction modifiers in it as in the starburst oils would normally work fine. So the Durablend should be fine if it does not have the starburst on it.
 
It could be because Mobil 1 was bad juju when it first came out. I know of the few guys that won't touch a synthetic oil with a 10 foot pole because of cam and valve train damage claims they had over the stuff. Nowadays things are alot different. I have never had a cam failure with a synthetic oil. I do run them in with dino and EOS. Everything but my van uses synthetic oil and all is well.

BTW: Don't put the EOS in your wet clutch bike -- I never tryed it, but it seems like a bad thing to do.
 
I'm of the mindset that too much junk is suspended in my Vulcan 1500, with wet clutch pack, so, I use Delo 15-40, and will change it at 2000 miles tops...sooner if shifting degrades any. I see no reason NOT to use synthetics, even with wet clutches, but, it's simply economical to use 7.00 per GALLON Delo. Heard several people with outstanding results running the HDEO's with around 2000 mile changes.
 
thanks KW, I was just sparking debate. Synthetic has bit me in the past, but I'm not afraid of it and do use it in certain applications. On my road bikes frequent OCI, even skipping the filter, seems to have worked better than the super oils. For long trips I usually do throw in synthetic (right or wrongly thinking it'll last longer).
 
wileyE sez-
"So why do so many hiperf engine builders, cam grinders, and OEM's forbid the use of synthetic oils? "

So what OEM forbids the use of synthetic oil?
 
wileyE
Member # 5515
posted January 01, 2006 11:59 AM
"So why do so many hiperf engine builders, cam grinders, and OEM's forbid the use of synthetic oils?"

Most OEM performance cars (i.e. Corvette, Porsche, etc) come with Synthetic in the crankcase when you buy it.
 
zaedock,
that has only been true for the last couple of years. care to show me one from the 60's, 70's, or 80's that had oem synth in it?
grin.gif
 
Which has nothing to do with anything now....
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So the question remains- can anyone name any OEM that FORBIDS the use of synthetic oil? Now- not something from decades ago
cheers.gif
 
I was wondering why I had to stop to urinate every hundred miles. I thought it might be my prostate but now I see it's the Mobil1.

(edited because p-e-e is a bad word)
 
quote:

So the question remains- can anyone name any OEM that FORBIDS the use of synthetic oil? Now- not something from decades ago

Some nissan, suburu and mercedes models rceomend against it in their owners manuals. Almost all the cam grinders I've delt with aren't too thrilled about it. Did a powroll big bore kit recently and their instructions forbid it, even more confusing was they said especilly in big aircooled motors? which you'd think would be a good choice for syn's.

Don't blast me, I'm on the fence about it because I feel todays good minerals are very very close to what the synthetics have claimed to be.
 
Seems at least Subaru has backed off that stance. Newer manuals state that synthetic is OK. Only application I wonder about is the rotary engine.
 
So the question remains....does any OEM FORBID the use of synthetic oil? There is big difference between not recommended and FORBIDDEN
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Oh and just for the record Powroll is not an OEM. Doesn't surprise me some aftermarket manufacturers forbid synthetic.

Don't mean to blast ya wileyE, you made a statement and I'm looking for proof, cause I don't think your statement is true about OEMs.
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And not to be too picky but this is the motorcycle forum, so all the car stuff is irrelevant here, even though no one has come up with synthetic forbidden statements for late model cars either
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Hello guys. The oil film in a good mineral oil can stand a pressure of 350-450 PSI, while a synthetic's oil film can stand a pressure at 3000PSI, the best ones much more. In an engine with a high power output and high rpm's it is also important that the oil keep its properties. Synthetic oil do that much better than mineral oil. However, you can improve the oils properties with additive packages and so on, but if you take the basic structure and compair them, you will see the difference. Another positive thing about synthetics, is that you can drive it thre times longer. In fact, if you take the top five synthetics on the market and drive them 5000miles OCI, your engines would be twice as good protected than if you used mineral oil and changed it every 10 miles. Another thing is, that because of reduced friction and better compression in the engine, you will save 1-5% on fuel. You do not have to be Einstein to see that synthetics in a motorcycle is a must(if you don't like to throw money out of the window)if you want to take care of your bike.
 
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