Valvoline 10W-40 motorcycle oil. . .

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Boraticus. . . .do the Goldwings engine have a shared sump with the tranny or separate?. . .Also, does Honda spec synth oil or is that OCI spec'd for mineral oil?. . .That's a lot of miles if the sump is shared!
 
Originally Posted By: Robster
Boraticus. . . .do the Goldwings engine have a shared sump with the tranny or separate?. . .Also, does Honda spec synth oil or is that OCI spec'd for mineral oil?. . .That's a lot of miles if the sump is shared!


Shared sump and mineral oil for 8000 OCI. These engines are relatively relaxed compared to hyper revving in line fours. Even the Valkyrie engine, which makes more specific horse power than the Gold Wing is not even breathing hard with a red line of 6500 rpm.
 
Robster,

Both of my Hondas (a Goldwing and the ST1100) recommend 8,000 mile OCIs on dino oil.

I have been running mostly HDEOs in the ST since new and testing each batch. You can find a bunch of my tests in the MC UOA section.

On one batch of oil I tested it at 3,000 5,000 and 8,000 miles without adding or changing oil and found that virtually all of the shearing happened by 3,000 miles and the viscosity stayed pretty constant after that.

Since then I have been running 8,000 OCIs on lots of different oils.
My last run was 12,000 miles on Redline 15W50 synthetic.

For my model of bike the long OCIs don’t seem to be a problem. The bike currently has 150,000 miles on it, the compression is the same in all 4 jugs, and I don’t add any oil during the 8,000 OCI.

I’ll run another compression check at 200,000 miles but at this point I feel confident that the 8,000 oci is ok for my bikes.

Rick
 
Originally Posted By: Rick_A
Robster,

Both of my Hondas (a Goldwing and the ST1100) recommend 8,000 mile OCIs on dino oil.

I have been running mostly HDEOs in the ST since new and testing each batch. You can find a bunch of my tests in the MC UOA section.

On one batch of oil I tested it at 3,000 5,000 and 8,000 miles without adding or changing oil and found that virtually all of the shearing happened by 3,000 miles and the viscosity stayed pretty constant after that.

Since then I have been running 8,000 OCIs on lots of different oils.
My last run was 12,000 miles on Redline 15W50 synthetic.

For my model of bike the long OCIs don’t seem to be a problem. The bike currently has 150,000 miles on it, the compression is the same in all 4 jugs, and I don’t add any oil during the 8,000 OCI.

I’ll run another compression check at 200,000 miles but at this point I feel confident that the 8,000 oci is ok for my bikes.

Rick


so far what is your favorite syn and dino oil for your bike?
 
I have used the "motorycle" Valvoline 10w40 and the 20w50 and they both foamed up really bad sort of like foam from pouring a can of Coke. I never had that happen with other oils I have used.
 
Mikeg5

I’m not sure I can pick a favorite based on performance. All of the oil tests have come back as acceptable to me so I guess I’d base my choice on value. In general the HDEO 15W40s have performed well, are readily available, and very inexpensive. Of those, I like the Delvac.
A surprise to me was how well the Valvoline Maxlife 10W40 performed, but nowadays it costs quit a bit more than the Delvac etc.
As for synthetics, I have only run, Rotella 5W40, GC 0W30, Mobil 1 15W50, and Redline 15W50.
The Rotella performed well for it’s low cost but for performance I’d go with the Redline 15W50. The bike shifted well, the clutch felt good and the wear numbers looked good at the 8,000 mile OCI. I left the Redline in for 12,000 miles but given how much it costs, it’s hard to choose it over an HDEO.

I have Rotella 10W30 T5 in the bike now and after that I’ll try some ST 15W40. Sunruh has had good results with the ST so it will be interesting to see how it does in my street bike.

Rick
 
Originally Posted By: Rick_A
Mikeg5

I’m not sure I can pick a favorite based on performance. All of the oil tests have come back as acceptable to me so I guess I’d base my choice on value. In general the HDEO 15W40s have performed well, are readily available, and very inexpensive. Of those, I like the Delvac.
A surprise to me was how well the Valvoline Maxlife 10W40 performed, but nowadays it costs quit a bit more than the Delvac etc.
As for synthetics, I have only run, Rotella 5W40, GC 0W30, Mobil 1 15W50, and Redline 15W50.
The Rotella performed well for it’s low cost but for performance I’d go with the Redline 15W50. The bike shifted well, the clutch felt good and the wear numbers looked good at the 8,000 mile OCI. I left the Redline in for 12,000 miles but given how much it costs, it’s hard to choose it over an HDEO.

I have Rotella 10W30 T5 in the bike now and after that I’ll try some ST 15W40. Sunruh has had good results with the ST so it will be interesting to see how it does in my street bike.

Rick


thanks rick
 
Originally Posted By: Unearthed
Is it generally OK to run a 15w-40 in a bike spec'd for 10w-40?


yes its fine. the 10w and 15w are only the cold weights. meaning it will take the 15w just a tad longer to get to running temp (aka the 40wt) than the 10w. its only a minute difference. just like you can run a 0w and a 5w if you want, the main thing is as long as its a 40wt you are fine.
 
Originally Posted By: RC46_Rider
Food for thought: A mechanical engineering professor at Cal Tech did an accurate study a few years back on how hard on oils bikes with shared transmission/crank systems are compared to cars.


I believe you are referring to this article :

Motorcycle Oil Comparison test

Quote:
Basically he found that bikes with shared transmission lube are a minimum of FOUR times harder on oil (shearing in the transmission being the problem) than a car is. This was a well done, controlled test at a major university. Based on that, running your oil 5K in a bike is like putting 20K on the same oil in a car. I really doubt that you would want to do that. Shorter change intervals are definitely advised in a bike. When you compare the price of your new bike to a few quarts of oil, it is raving false economy to try to extend oil changes. "Penny wise and Pound foolish."....is an understatement, especially if you want to keep the bike long term.

...also, from what I have personally seen on oil analysis I sent in on my bikes, you can see that shearing to a lower grade IS common and not specific to one brand.

Bottomline: You would be well advised to shorten your oil change
interval, especially with a 10W-40 Dino oil.

.....good riding......
 
In view of the above mentioned concerns regarding long OCIs, one must wonder why very astute companies (Honda & Kawasaki for instance) would recommend 8000 mile OCIs with conventional oil for some Honda engines and 7500 miles on conventional oil on some Kawasaki engines. I doubt that they would put their legendary reputations for reliability on the line by recommending improper oil change intervals.

Even if the oil does shear, it would appear that the ability of the oil to provide adequate lubrication has not diminished sufficiently to to cause concern for the manufacturers.

I personally wouldn't go 8000 miles on conventional oil in my Valkyrie. However, 5000 miles wouldn't bother me. As it is, I plan to change the oil at 4000 miles. That's more than sufficient to meet my comfort zone.
 
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Boraticus. . .I agree completely. . . .I can't imagine Kawasaki engineers taking shearing into account in their maintenance schedules. . .I'm thinking these engines must be pretty easy on the oil.

I was hoping to have more miles on this Valvoline run, but circumstances beyond my control reduced my riding somewhat this fall. I'll probably have a little over 4000 on this OCI when I send it in for analysis--I'd hoped to have more than that. I'll probably pull the sample next month sometime--I'm still hoping to get a couple good rides in yet!
 
In my '09 Concours I did not like Mobil 1 10/40 car oil at all. The valve train was insanely noisey, especially on startup. The shifting was notchy as well. And things became even worse as I got over the 1k mark on that fill. I dumped it early and went back to a High mileage 10/40 dino with 2oz of zddplus.
What oil are you using in your differential? You have changed/flushed it, haven't you?
Five months old and 16k miles. A big 'ole sport bike...
 
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