It's amazing what an oil change can do

[MarkH]

Yup i do!
You can got it from Waitomo Brennan in Pukekohe.
I get all mine there. Is it the racing 4t that your looking for?

Yeah, the racing 4T is Mobil's only Class IV fully synthetic oil for motorcycles - good for several reasons. I'm currently using what I believe is a class V fully synthetic oil but would prefer to go with class IV when I buy more oil.

Is that the Mobil on Manukau Rd? If so I should have stopped in there and grabbed some oil a couple of weeks ago when I visited a customer across the road from them. I'm bound to be back that way before I run out of oil if I can't find anyone closer that stocks it.

[scracha]

Hmmm ... remind me to never buy a bike you've "worked on" ...

Most of my bikes were high mileage (into 6 figures) and never missed a beat. Most of them have been sold to family/mates too and I never bullshitted about how they been treated. Put it this way, they can do 200andsomething and 14000rpm so me pootling around at 100 and 3000rpm is hardly gonna make them break sweat.

Recall a magazine (BIKE I think) a few years back stripped down a highish mileage CBR600F2 that bar one oil change, hadn't been serviced in about 3 years/38000Kms. Owner was skint so just warmed it up properly and didn't thrash it too much. Couple of shims needed done but basically fuck all wrong with the engine. He'd saved a fortune (UK bike mechanics charge like wounded bulls).

[MarkH]

He'd saved a fortune (UK bike mechanics charge like wounded bulls).

People actually pay mechanics to drain some oil, change a filter and pour some oil in?

[scumdog]

People actually pay mechanics to drain some oil, change a filter and pour some oil in?

Yep- just like they pay people to do plumbing - or electrical work on their house, wired eh?

[pritch]

People actually pay mechanics to drain some oil, change a filter and pour some oil in?

I think you might have to if you want to keep the warranty on a new bike?
They do other stuff as well of course.

[AllanB]

At least I now know that semi-synthetic is not worth considering.

OK I admit giving up after page 10 or so .......... the conclusion at that point was that Mobil is the jizz.

So WTF was wrong with semi? Of interest every bike shop I know of apart from the Triumph boys use semi-synthetic in their service department (Triumph chaps use Mobil full).

Quasi sells Mobil I understand if anyone is looking for it.

[MarkH]

So WTF was wrong with semi?

One HUGE problem with semi synthetic oil is that there are no regulations regarding how much synthetic oil is in the mix - it could be 50/50 or 90/10 or 99/1, and the oil companies are reluctant to reveal their secrets. Since semi synthetic oil could be 99% dino juice you might as well save your money and just buy mineral oil OR fork out for the real stuff.

Then there is the fully synthetic oil that is actually modified dino juice (class III) which courts have ruled is sufficiently changed to be legally allowed to be described as "synthetic" - even though it isn't the same as "real" synthetic oil and lacks the superior qualities of class IV or class V synthetic oil.

The real deal like Mobil 1 has a much greater temperature stability, clings better to metal, maintains viscosity in spec much longer, lubricates better & protects from corrosion better. Basically it is better stuff in pretty much every respect.

[MarkH]

Yep- just like they pay people to do plumbing - or electrical work on their house, wired eh?

When you consider the lack of technical knowledge then yep, pretty darned weird!

All an oil change is:
Put oil pan under drain plug
Undo drain plug
Leave to drain
Remove oil filter
Put new oil filter in
Replace drain plug & tighten
Pour the required amount of fresh oil in

It ain't rocket surgery!

I have installed my own car stereo equipment (at least 3 times), built my own poker table (stretching and stapling the vinyl was a right bastard), custom made a >200W torch (one-off unique) and done other projects - but an oil change is fuck-loads easier than any of that stuff.

[jonbuoy]

One HUGE problem with semi synthetic oil is that there are no regulations regarding how much synthetic oil is in the mix - it could be 50/50 or 90/10 or 99/1, and the oil companies are reluctant to reveal their secrets. Since semi synthetic oil could be 99% dino juice you might as well save your money and just buy mineral oil OR fork out for the real stuff.

Then there is the fully synthetic oil that is actually modified dino juice (class III) which courts have ruled is sufficiently changed to be legally allowed to be described as "synthetic" - even though it isn't the same as "real" synthetic oil and lacks the superior qualities of class IV or class V synthetic oil.

The real deal like Mobil 1 has a much greater temperature stability, clings better to metal, maintains viscosity in spec much longer, lubricates better & protects from corrosion better. Basically it is better stuff in pretty much every respect.

As long as you don´t use it in flat tappet engines

[Quasievil]

Quasi sells Mobil I understand if anyone is looking for it.

Yes I do, I work for Mobil, I dont sell it on the website however, but I can get it for anyone who wants it.
$90 for 4lts

[pritch]

OK I admit giving up after page 10 or so .......... the conclusion at that point was that Mobil is the jizz.

So WTF was wrong with semi? Of interest every bike shop I know of apart from the Triumph boys use semi-synthetic in their service department (Triumph chaps use Mobil full).

Quasi sells Mobil I understand if anyone is looking for it.

It was never the conclusion that Mobil was it. He was at pains to point out that his experience was mainly with Mobil products so that was what he knew. You could reasonably extend his Mobil comments to include any of the other full synthetics, and he did tell you how to differentiate those oils from the others like Castrol and Shell.

I have struck a reluctance on the part of dealers to use full synthetic and I don't fully understand why. Maybe some hereabout could elucidate?

[Quasievil]

I have struck a reluctance on the part of dealers to use full synthetic and I don't fully understand why. Maybe some hereabout could elucidate?

Because its expensive, and workshops generally want a one oil solution , one oil for all, as opposed to stocking a semi, a full synth, (and in the case of a car shop) a Diesel, etc

However with different emission reduction systems (especially in Diesel engines) they are not getting to do this as much, they (car shops espec) wont have the choice.

BTW (car speak) the amount of shops buyig complete cheap crap oil and charging quality retail rates for it is staggering, if youre getting your car serviced ask what oil they are using ok

[MarkH]

As long as you don´t use it in flat tappet engines

I'd be VERY surprised if a proper (class IV or class V) synthetic oil wasn't the best thing to use in a flat tappet race engine - however the additives would need to be right. My understanding is that the most important element for the flat tappet engines oil is Zinc - not enough and they risk failure. Clearly Mobil 1 Racing 4T is formulated for motorcycle engines, not flat tappet race engines - therefore is not the right product for the job. The same base oil with the right mix of additives would most likely work great in the flat tappet engines, though I don't know if such a product exists.

[MarkH]

Yes I do, I work for Mobil, I dont sell it on the website however, but I can get it for anyone who wants it.
$90 for 4lts

For my 1.3L oil changes that would work out at a cost of:
$30 for oil + $8.50 for a Suzuki filter = $38.50 per oil change.

Compare that to dropping a bike into a shop and letting them use whatever oil they like (which could be Castrol or Shell or some semi synthetic - ugh) and the amount that they would charge you. I think I would be getting great value! I would rather save the money on labour and spend it on quality oil - even on a bike using close to 4L of oil it is going to be cheaper to use Mobil 1 and do the change yourself than to pay a shop to do the change for you using whatever oil they do.

That is what I have done previously with cars - did my own oil change, but spent the extra money to use Mobil 1

[MarkH]

Because its expensive, and workshops generally want a one oil solution , one oil for all, as opposed to stocking a semi, a full synth, (and in the case of a car shop) a Diesel, etc

I suspect that the biggest reason is that shops want to offer an oil change for a certain price and from that price they want to make the biggest margin that they can. If they use $70 worth of oil instead of $20 worth of oil then they either make $50 less or they have to charge $50 more - lots of customers would balk at paying $50 more for an oil change. If the competition will do an oil change for your customers at $50 less then you will lose some business, to be competitive and still make good money you need to use cheaper oil - so a bike shop will choose a reasonable oil that they can buy for a good price and use that.

If the cheap oil will work fine in your bike and let you run up 240,000 kms on that engine then who cares if you might be able to run up 320,000 kms (or whatever) on Mobil 1?
- Not the bike shop making plenty of money charging you for oil changes and then selling you a new bike, that's for sure.