10/40 oil

[jpssantos]

Im doing a service on the Blade to get her ready for France in April....

If I remember right, last time I used Castrol GPS 10/40.... can I find it again??? can I fk...

Halfrouds only has 10/30? the only 10/40 is fully synth..

where you get your oil from?
or any recommendation on other brand? I've always used Castrol....

[Squashed_Fly]

I just did mine - used silkolene 10/40 semi synthetic and got it from Steve Lynehams ( http://www.stevelynhammotorcycles.co.uk/modules/wfchannel/index.php?cid=11 ). Cost me £37 for 4lts of oil, filter and a filter wrench.

[Snowy]

First thing is to find out the specification your bike manufacturer specifies. This will be in the manual and covers many other properties than just the temperature range which is whats indicated by 10/40, 20/50 etc such as the GL rating. Once you have the spec you can then source the oil manufacturer and the supplier.

I use Opie Oils and have them deliver to my door.

[jpssantos]

who checks their bike manual for all the oil properties and then compares with whats written on the back of the bottle??

[Snowy]

who checks their bike manual for all the oil properties and then compares with whats written on the back of the bottle??



I do ;D

[Mitch9128]

JP it's called Power1 now, GPS is the old name, more than a good enough oil for a blade.

[Chappers]

^ what he said for my blade

I bought my last lot from these guys

http://www.nielsencdg.co.uk/acatalog/Castrol_Power_1_Racing_4T_10W-40_Oil.html

[Mitch9128]

Busters on Ebay are doing 4 litres & filter for circa £29, for a zx9 anyway, have a gander there might be Homda filter packages too.

[jpssantos]

Haaaa!! So they changed the name! that's why I couldnt find it!...... but that one from the link is fully synth? I want semi.... do they still do the semi in 10/40?

[jpssantos]

found it on that website! :D

[Mitch9128]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CBR900-RR-2000-2003-CASTROL-POWER1-OIL-AND-FILTER-KIT-/300459670322?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item45f4c abb32

£29.99 delivered with a filter!

[Dex]

Haaaa!! So they changed the name! that's why I couldnt find it!...... but that one from the link is fully synth? I want semi.... do they still do the semi in 10/40?


Any particular reason you want semi-synth rather than fully synth?

[jpssantos]

Because that's what I've always used and I think its whats recommended? always heard fully synth can or may cause clutch slip?

or is there a better reason to wanting fully than semi?

[Chappers]

Because that's what I've always used and I think its whats recommended? always heard fully synth can or may cause clutch slip?

or is there a better reason to wanting fully than semi?

LOL! The eternal debate on many fireblade forums... I think the clutch slip thing is a bit of an urban myth because I never heard anyone actually say theirs developed that fault using fully synth. Having said that, if your bike runs fine on semi then most recommend you stick with it. I've only ever used synth and it's fine. In either case, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[jpssantos]

exactly.... and having a 500 mile ride ito Magny-cours in France next month I really dont want to take any chances!

[Dex]

The reason people get clutch slip with fully synthetic oil is if they use Car engine oil (which has friction modifiers and is designed for a dry clutch setup)

On bikes the engine and gearbox oil are shared, and most have a wet clutch. So you don't want *too little* friction in the clutch - or you get clutch slip.


Personally I only run my bikes on full esther synthetic oil. Unfortunately, marketing and engineering are two different things. Many "Fully Synthetic" oils are actually modified hydrcarbon based oil (dead dinosaurs) with sufficient Esther based additives to be able to claim "fully synthetic"


An Esther synthetic oil has no dinosaurs in it, it's a purely synthesised product.


For the first few miles after the oil change the difference is minimal. The additives package in multigrade oil work as advertised, and it stays "in grade" (eg 10W40) - as the miles and use rack up the harsh environment of a high revving engine and gearbox tend to "chop" the long chain molecules, meaning they don't work so well to keep the oil "in grade"

Over time your 10W 40 becomes a 10W30, then 10W 20 and so on (generally the base stock used to make oil has the same viscosity as the W rating of the multigrade. The hot rating of the multigrade oil is achieved with additives)

Essentially this means that over time your oil protects less and less. Better oil - longer before losing grade.

Hydrocarbon based oils react badly to excess heat, while your water temp may stay fine (but warm) in traffic, it's not unusual for some parts of the engine to have localised hot spots. With Hydrocarbon based oils these can "cook" the oil - leading to permanent chemical change, at worst this can cause sludge (often a problem if crankcase ventilation is poor)



The oil I run my bikes on is Silkolene Pro S. It's a full Esther synthetic and cost me about £45 for 5 litres. With the cost of an oil filter, let's say a fiver, that's £50 for 5000 miles riding.

That's 1p per mile for the best quality oil and genuine filter. I reckon I pay about 13p per mile for petrol. The petrol goes through the engine once, the oil is in there all the time.

[Mitch9128]

Just for balance, a workmate runs his ZX9r with Diesel car oil, always has done and he's on 70k miles with no slip or bother. He's old skool and reckons specific oil is bollocks, there's obviously something in what he says.

[Dex]

Just for balance, a workmate runs his ZX9r with Diesel car oil, always has done and he's on 70k miles with no slip or bother. He's old skool and reckons specific oil is bollocks, there's obviously something in what he says.

My mate's Grand-dad smoked like a trooper and drank like a fish. He lived past 90.


For 1p a mile I'll happily take a bit more care in looking after my bikes :)

[Snowy]

It takes 5 minutes to read the manual to see what spec the engineers who built your bike recommend. You can always go up through choice, but why would anyone want to take the risk anyway by using a lower grade when there's absolutely no need. You only have to do it once when you first get the bike. Same reasoning behind not putting DOT 5 brake fluid into your lines if it's not spec'd to take it. Would you do that?