UOA - 2019 RE Himalayan - Mobil 1 15w-50

[bonedaddy4538]

Attached is the UOA of the non motorcycle mobil 1 15w-50 oil with red lettering. Bought from Walmart for $~22 for 5qts

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mobil-1-Advanced-Full-Synthetic-Motor-Oil-15W-50-5-qt/20713647

Looks pretty good to me if anyone else ever wondered how it did with a shared sump motorcycle engine here you go. Sheared some but would be fine for longer intervals than 2200 miles for sure maybe 4000-5000

 

[SZR48207]

Thank you for posting this.

The question still exists in my mind: Do motorcycle manufacturers spec an oil grade that is "1 higher" than what is necessary for the engine to run reliably?

(but it looks like from research that RE actually specs 15W50 for this particular bike which is surprising)

 

[Bonz]

From my experience in oil analysis it's the oil that makes the difference in how much it shears. 2,200 mi in that bike (smaller displacement single) would not seem to necessitate that much shear, and t is well below grade. I am sure manufacturers account for that and there's probably no issue. If you're going to run it around 3,000 miles, take 15w40 Rotella T5 syn blend and use it happily ever after. The 15w50 is already a 40 wt, no harm running a 15w40. Run an analysis after 2,000 miles and see where you are for viscosity. A 15w40 should be more resistant to shear than a 15w50. I ran Rotella T5 syn blend 15w40 for 3,700 mi in the ZRX and it stayed in grade (12.77 cSt). The 4,000 mile run with M1 15w50 was 13.22 cSt, out of grade. Barely more than the Rotella 15w40 syn blend.

For other oils I know do not shear appreciably, Mobil 1 10w40 4T barely, and I mean barely, sheared out of grade at almost 5,000 miles in my shared sump ZRX1200. Mobil 1 20w50 VTwin was in the middle of grade at 5,065 miles.

Looks like a low amount of zinc and phosphorus Mobil apparently uses in the 15w50 oil. They spec 1300Z/1200P, the analysis is not near that.

 

[bonedaddy4538]

Yea it's weird even on the bottle it says high zinc

 

[bonedaddy4538]

It's air cooled that's why so if it gets too hot and thins it won't get too "thin" and cause problems. I have the interceptor 650 as well and it calls for 10w50 but I'm going to use this oil or 20w-50 from Castrol for motorcycles it's on sale right now on Amazon

 

[Bonz]

My 1980 Yamaha XS1100 was hard on oil. Yamaha called for a 2500 mile oci. Shift quality began to fall off right about then so Yamaha had it figured out. Even with a modern engine, air-cooling needs looser tolerances relatively speaking so you get a lot of blow by and contaminants in the oil besides the heat beating on the oil.

I like the Mystic 15w50. Reputable guys on this forum run it in their air cooled Harley's. Granted it's not a shared sump but those things get hot as the devil's crotch. I ran it in my ZRX 1200, it did fine. It comes in two gallon jugs at tractor supply stores, Big R, saw it at O'Reilly as well.

A 20w50 will serve you well and you should never need to look back, so that Castrol would be a good choice.

Mobil 1 V-Twin 20w50 gave me probably the best analysis I have had on my ZRX, with 10w40 4T right there as well.

 

[ad244]

Very nice! Thank you for sharing!