Save yaself some $ on engine oil

[brp]

Use Calibra Diesel Oil (Made by Caltext for supercheap) 10L for $60 bucks any day of the week

Clutch action never been so smooth - way better than the Valvoline motorbike oil I was
a muppet buying (Valvoline that brings in Repsol - not willing to soley back own product)


1000's of K's later, still no sign of of any abnormal wear on micron stainless filter.

Says in Honda manual to use an engine oil to the specifications (SF SJ etc) and a high detergent oil,
nothing about motorbike specific oil - no better high detergent oil than Diesel oil. (Says also to use 80/90
gearbox oil on air filter and chain - works great and 10th of the price of spray on foam.)

"Motorbike oil a scam" "Come give me lots of $ sucker" - countless riders posting on the net saying they
have used Diesel oil in their bikes for years.

The big BS blurb by oil companies is cause the gearbox and engine oil is shared - the gearbox has
a hi share factor on the oil lololl my terrano has no cambelt - gear driven and so are countless
front wheel drive cars ......

[Fast Eddie]

Interesting post...

not sure if I'm ready to chuck diesel oil into any of the litre sports bikes yet.. but food for thought anyway.

There are certain additives for the clutch so it doesn't slip in m/cycle oils I am lead to believe.

I have read online of people using normal car oils etc as well, some claim clutch slippage

[AllanB]

Your bike, put what you like in it mate, I'll still to my hellishly expensive motorcycle specific, full synthetic thanks.

You may be interested to note that when running semi-synthetics there was a noticable difference in gearbox action between brands - to the point where the last lot of Castrol semi-synth was drained within 1,000kms and replaced will full synthetic (from a different maker) - been on full synth since for each change and the tranny shifting remains excellent between oil changes unlike semi-synth which deteriated as the kms went on.

I'll add that I only do about 6,000 kms a year so I change the oil every Christmas. On a annual change at full rrp it is $2 a week for a top line oil. Better yet Repco has 20-30% off sales a couple of times a year and they stock Mobil 1 Motorcycle oil.


But back to your orig post I know of many on US forums who run diesel oils in their bikes and there are many posts from apparent oil experts supplying data to back up your post.

Then there is the 'how to run in your new bike' site that proclaims that you must thrash the living shit out of it from day one ......... here you go:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

[Smifffy]

a. This argument would be more convincing if the OP was written in english.

b. Drain all the oil, run dry. Benefit of additional weight saving.

[caspernz]

Mmmmm, this might be from the same line of thinking as the riders that moved to the dark side, as in running a car tyre on the rear.

Mind you, if the OP is riding a Milwaukee tractor then both approaches might have some merit

[Woodman]

Read the back of most of penrites "car" petrol oils and it says also for motorcycles with wet clutches. I run fully synthetic 10w70 car oil in mine and it works good, no clutch slippage, gear changes all good, no worries.

[slofox]

Do you sell that stuff brp?

[onearmedbandit]

The big BS blurb by oil companies is cause the gearbox and engine oil is shared - the gearbox has
a hi share factor on the oil lololl my terrano has no cambelt - gear driven and so are countless
front wheel drive cars ......

Cam chain driven I'm guessing you're actually meaning. Which is different to gear driven.

[Richard Mc F]

Diesel oil is usually rated to be used in transmissions and wet cluches, ok on lower reving egines but probably lacks the anti foaming additives I would like to see in any engine going north of 7000rpm to 8000rpm.

I used it in my bevel drive ducati for 45000km (may it rise like the phoenix from the back yard one day)

M' 'onda on the other hand I use semi synthetic boike oil

Meh it matters little

[Road kill]

I've also used diesel oil in a number of my bikes after being advised to use it by a guy that raced classics and port classics an swore by it.
But with my latest bike which the manufacturer says USE HIGH QUALITY SYNTHETIC OIL OR ELSE "I think I will.

[G4L4XY]

"nek minnit" the bike garages have an influx from people using such oil in their bikes...rather not be one of them

[PeeJay]

Diesel oil is usually rated to be used in transmissions and wet cluches, ok on lower reving egines but probably lacks the anti foaming additives I would like to see in any engine going north of 7000rpm to 8000rpm.

I used it in my bevel drive ducati for 45000km (may it rise like the phoenix from the back yard one day)

M' 'onda on the other hand I use semi synthetic boike oil

Meh it matters little

How often did you change the oil in yr Ducati?

[willytheekid]

...Oh goody!...an Oil thread (should be interesting to say the least)

[Flip]

Most motor oils have dual petrol and diesel ratings. I am a great fan of mixed fleet lubes myself, have been for years. They usually come in bulk and do not have any fancy packaging and I would rather pay for good oil than some expensive bottle and some flash holographic label.

Oils in recent years (after SG) have been formulated with low metals so that they do not pollute the cats on modern European motors. The metals are part of the detergent and anti friction additives, just like soap that is made of fat and potassium or a hydrocarbon and a metal, the detergents are made up of a metal like zinc and a oil-hydrocarbon.

Diesel motors need a good strong detergent-ant wear package. Diesel motors pollute their oils, and after too longer service the oils can become acidic. Some of the heavy diesel oils are called high ash (strong detergent) and are used in the biggest diesel boat motors. These motors often run on MDO and Bunker oil which is a crappy smelly black diesel fuel. Medium ash oils are usually big truck oils. They are called ash because it is the metal oxides that are left after all the oil has been burnt from a sample of oil in a lab.

Bikes tend to kill their oils because the oils run in gear boxes and the gear boxes are hard or chop up the VI (Viscosity Index) additive so the oil thins with use. Thats why bikes usually-always change gear better with new oil. The VI additive is the gorilla snot that is used to make a straight 20W weight oil behave like a 50 weight oil at high temperature ie 20W50. The VI additives are big stringy molecules and are not very shear stable so break down under mechanical work. Synthetic oils tend to have a better VI than mineral oils natually and have less VI additives, so last longer (hold their viscosity when hot longer-better) espcially in bike motors.

All motor oils are lab tested to meet API (and other) standards. These tests are done using commercially available new automotive motors, the only test I know for bike oils is the JASO-MA, which is a friction test for suitability for wet clutches.

Keep in mind also that Mobil1 the flagship (im)Mobil lube has dual S and C (Service station and Commercial) petrol and diesel ratings. Who would logically run a "racing" quality oil in a dirty old diesel motor, or put dirty old diesel oil in a racing motor?

[manxkiwi]

b. Drain all the oil, run dry. Benefit of additional weight saving.

Have heard of TT riders dropping a litre of oil out for such 'weight saving'! Sounds well dodgy, but I have heard this from more than one reputable source.