Hey every forum has an oil thread....... I've been reading up on a Norton forum about oils.... Opinion varies between....the cheapest oil ofter....to Mobil Vtwin oil ( not suitable for flat twins ) to Mobil 1 to Diesel oil.... it all gets a bit confusing Zinc is good for things like cam and followers. Roller bearings just need the odd splash to be happy. Car oil makes your clutch slip. Mono grades belong in the past Castrol Edge is good. I use the Castrol for 'older engines" I have some diesel oil for the van when I was going to attempt a filter change...but took in to the shop instead.....should I use it in my low performance bikes....ore even the air cooled VW? what do you guys use?
I'm using Motul 15-50W in an early belt drive Ducati with a dry clutch, the original oil specified for it is Agip sint 2000, which is 10-40w.
Yamalube of course!!
whatever's on special at ripco...
The Norton should be sweet with Castrol Aircol PD
I'm getting back to basics with oil, just using the stuff to do it's job...getting away from the hype. ZDDP is the latest red herring - the oil companies say the latest spec oils meet all previous specs...and they are probably right. But there is always someone with a disaster story, and I bet with some detective work the fault will not lie with the oil. My latest oil for the Airhead is Valvoline XLD Classic 20/50, this is an SG rated oil....pretty basic spec, and made for engines back in the day, I reckon it should do the job, I'll do a UOA at the first oil change. It's not so much about flat tappets, all ohc engines with buckets are flat tappet engines - it's about the loadings. Pushrod engines have higher valve train loads, and those loads are spread over a smaller area with the smaller followers. Theoretically ZDDP should never come into action, it's protection when all else fails - and in a well designed engine that should never happen. If you have camshaft and follower wear I don't think the oil is the problem. Clutch slip with car oils was the previous red herring. Friction modified oils are an American thing - they have to meet fuel economy targets, and compared to us they use thin oils like 5/20 or 0/20 oils, and then they friction modify them to make them even more better slippery. So anything over 10/30 shouldn't be friction modified, it would make more sense to just use a thinner grade. There is not really any such thing as ''diesel oil'' - apart from the extreme ends of the spectrum you will find most oils are dual rated...eg SG/CD, that means you can use them in a petrol or diesel engine. What they mean is a heavy duty engine oil, or HDEO, these oils not only have more detergent which people think makes them a diesel oil, but they contain more of everything else too. Some of these oils are made for 70,000km oil change intervals in fleet use, the additive package can last that long. As they are usually a 15/40 they are not likely to contain a friction modifier, so safe for bikes. They have more ZDDP, and everything else too.
Originally Posted by Voltaire Opinion varies between....the cheapest oil ofter....to Mobil Vtwin oil ( not suitable for flat twins ) to Mobil 1 to Diesel oil.... I had no idea that Mobil V-Twin oil was unsuitable for flat twins. I've been using it for years . . . .
Motu's onto it! I completely share that view but couldnt be bothered typing
however some dyno testing that I have done with the same viscoty oils but different brands have produced more power than others and it was in the same car on the same day just do arun then drain and change up to 5kw at the wheels in cars this was...... so some oils do actually give you better performance than others
Oils of the same viscosity may not be the same viscosity at different temps, you need to get an oil analisis done to confirm that. So that's how you get the difference in hp. Thinner the oil the more hp....and the better ecconomy.
some oil is better than none, new oil is better than old, after that it all gets complicated.
ntst8 is onto it as well! good point
ice, what's the HP of that car? not like 300 or something, is it?
Nope 110kw@wheels to 115kw@wheels on a rolling road dyno
