Don't use auto oil in your motorcycle

[pilninggas]

13 hours ago, KellyL said:

I'm going to offer a rebuttal to this statement. It's a bit off topic, but hey it's an oil thread - so situation normal. Wet clutch unit design is not inferior 'cost-cutting' - it has several advantages, and solves several issues that come with motorcycle dry multiplate clutches. Anyone who's owned a 20th century Ducati V2 can attest to grabby clutches that wear out prematurely, early clutch basket notching, and warped plates at low mileage due to overheating. Wet clutches solve all of these issues, to the point where Ducati has gone entirely wet clutch in their current range of bikes. It's actually a good thing that the clutch dust is captured by the oil (and thus the oil filter).

The dry multiplate clutches on my previous 996 and Monster S2R were the worst part of the bikes. Replacing notched clutch baskets on a regular basis really sucked.

Dry single plate clutches on Moto Guzzis and BMWs are a different thing altogether, as they are more like diaphragm clutches in cars.

We now return to our regular programming.

(Edit: Ducati still run dry clutch in their SBK homologated Panigale R models.)

I'm going to respond to this with a very simple reply:

Wet clutches are fine. Running in the same oil that lubricates the bottom end and top of the engine is less good (as I said it's contrary design). There is no reason for wear residue from a wet clutch [a high friction compound] to circulate an entire engine and potentially contaminate surfaces that depend on low friction.

 

It would be very easy to separate the lubrication of the transmission and engine; heck have the clutch run in it's own bath of oil with it's own replacement schedule.

It remains cheap and lazy convention by the Japanese manufacturers. i definitely would avoid conflating Ducati's crappy dry clutches with the contrary engineering of wet clutch running in the engine oil.

Edited February 8, 2022 by pilninggas

[SlowBo]

Boy ... this room has been quiet.

Anyone wanna suggest best tires for the FJ ?

[betoney]

7 minutes ago, SlowBo said:

Boy ... this room has been quiet.

Anyone wanna suggest best tires for the FJ ?

 

[SlowBo]

😏

[Ride365]

If it is a 40 weight or a 50 weight, then the amount of friction modifiers are none to practically non existent. To the OP, folks have been running 40 weight car oil in motorcycles for decades, it works just fine and not worth the typical internet misinformation that is rampant. Same goes for changing car/truck oil at 3K miles, what a waste of perfectly good oil. I ran Rotella/Delvac many times in multiple bikes for years, however I prefer "true synthetic" PAO ester motorcycle oils now oever anything else, as the film retention and shifting quality is superior to dino oils. But hey.....y'all do as you like, run a good 40/50 weight oil of your choice and enjoy the ride.

[peteinpa]

As long as the oil filter gets it, no clutch grit goes to the engine.

[PhotoAl]

I've always used motorcycle oil in my bikes and scooters.  Usually the scooters get whatever is left over.  Got to thinking about the wet plate clutch issue.  Scooters have centrifugal clutches that are dry, they don't have oil filters either as they don't need them as the function of the oil filter is to filter out clutch dust 🙂  Looked in the Honda manual and guess what, they recommend motorcycle oil with no friction modifiers.  Guess they felt a need to be consistent or maybe just an error.

As for oil I've run all the oils mentioned except for AmSoil and they all go in light color and come out dark and the bike ran fine in between.  On some bikes I've noticed some have slightly better shifting.  Have had 2 600CC and one 636cc i4 and they all would have more valve train noise with some oils than others.  Seemed like some oils would "last" better than others but never anything significant and certainly no engine or transmission damage.  IMO if you run a good oil and change it when it should be changed then it is very rare for an engine to have an oil related failure.  I would even say that such a failure is probably a defect or material failure or operator error.

On my BMW F800GT it made all kinds of mechanical noise which unfortunately sounded more like nuts and bolts in a tin can but it ran well.  I had a service contract on it and they dealer put the standard BMW oil in it - semi synthetic I think.  6,000 mile service intervals and no problems over the 32,000 miles I had it.

[fddriver2]

On 2/8/2022 at 5:34 AM, pilninggas said:

I'm going to respond to this with a very simple reply:

Wet clutches are fine. Running in the same oil that lubricates the bottom end and top of the engine is less good (as I said it's contrary design). There is no reason for wear residue from a wet clutch [a high friction compound] to circulate an entire engine and potentially contaminate surfaces that depend on low friction.

 

It would be very easy to separate the lubrication of the transmission and engine; heck have the clutch run in it's own bath of oil with it's own replacement schedule.

It remains cheap and lazy convention by the Japanese manufacturers. i definitely would avoid conflating Ducati's crappy dry clutches with the contrary engineering of wet clutch running in the engine oil.

Harleys do that. Just saying...... 🤷‍♀️

[littlebruv]

On 3/1/2022 at 2:50 AM, betoney said:

 

What type of riding do you do ?, touring, sporty, all weather etc

 

[betoney]

4 hours ago, littlebruv said:

What type of riding do you do ?, touring, sporty, all weather etc

 

Both touring and sporty riding.  I don't ride in the rain by choice but have been caught in many rain storms.

[littlebruv]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:12 AM, betoney said:

Both touring and sporty riding.  I don't ride in the rain by choice but have been caught in many rain storms.

what about something like Michelin Power RS

[CJ3cyl]

One key clarification on his comment, upon further review the one exception that he notes at 4:45 is if you are stranded somewhere without access to proper motorcycle oil that JASO MA/MA2  will work temporarily if you're left with no other alternatives.

 

Of course it will work temporarily.  People have been using non-motorcycle oils for decades and many many miles with never an oil issue. 😉

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by CJ3cyl

[PhotoAl]

As mentioned previously the problem with modern oils is the friction modifiers they have.  Those can cause slippage in a wet plate clutch.

Don't have to worry in my scooters as they don't have wet clutches but my Honda Metropolitian is running Motul 7100 motorcycle oil.  Sure just because I like to spend lots of money - NOT.  Had 600cc left over from an oil change on my Tracer and it was the perfect amount for the scooter 🙂   She says thank you very much!

[CJ3cyl]

To avoid the possible clutch slippage, avoid the energy conserving or resource conserving label.

 

If you pay attention to recommended grade and viscosities in the owners manual and change at the recommended intervals, you'll be temporarily good to go for decades and many many miles. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by CJ3cyl