Hello, I would like to get some light from you on this question: what is exactly the difference between car and motorcycle oils?
I've always heard a lot of talk on the matter, almost never supported by facts.
It's commonly being said that a bike engine runs at higher RPM, on hotter temperatures, and if you put in it a car oil you'll ruin the engine; beside that, people affirm that with car oil the tipical motorcycle's wet clutch will slip and the gearbox will become hard and noisy. But, on the other hand, there's a lot of people who says motor oils are all the same, just respect the recommended grade and API specs, an you'll be fine. After that, motorcycle oils cost about 2x or more than car oils, and this makes me become suspicious.
So, being these the JASO specs:
http://snipurl.com/282q7f5
and these the API ones:
http://snipurl.com/282q6rc
...is there anybody here that has the knowledge and experience to tell me the difference and shed some more light?
I'm no chemist or engineer, but it would seem to me that API rules are the most important thing, proven by the fact that Jaso itself requires the satisfaction of API rules; and that Jaso adds only something that regards strictly the clutch and transmission. Do you agree with that?
If this were true, there would be no risk at all by running a motorcycle engine on non-Jaso marked car oil; the only risk would be the possibility of having the clutch slipping in particular cases.
Am I right? What do you think about it?
Best,
DH
I've always heard a lot of talk on the matter, almost never supported by facts.
It's commonly being said that a bike engine runs at higher RPM, on hotter temperatures, and if you put in it a car oil you'll ruin the engine; beside that, people affirm that with car oil the tipical motorcycle's wet clutch will slip and the gearbox will become hard and noisy. But, on the other hand, there's a lot of people who says motor oils are all the same, just respect the recommended grade and API specs, an you'll be fine. After that, motorcycle oils cost about 2x or more than car oils, and this makes me become suspicious.
So, being these the JASO specs:
http://snipurl.com/282q7f5
and these the API ones:
http://snipurl.com/282q6rc
...is there anybody here that has the knowledge and experience to tell me the difference and shed some more light?
I'm no chemist or engineer, but it would seem to me that API rules are the most important thing, proven by the fact that Jaso itself requires the satisfaction of API rules; and that Jaso adds only something that regards strictly the clutch and transmission. Do you agree with that?
If this were true, there would be no risk at all by running a motorcycle engine on non-Jaso marked car oil; the only risk would be the possibility of having the clutch slipping in particular cases.
Am I right? What do you think about it?
Best,
DH