UK & European owners - which oils go in your engine and shaft drive?

[r1d1]

I've been reading some of the oil related posts on the forum, and it seems that a lot of the oils used by our members on the western side of the pond are unobtainable on our side. For example, the Mobil 1 4T 10W-40 synthetic that many members swear by can only be found in the 15W-50 grade over here.

As for the elusive SAE 80 API GL-5 or SAE 80 API GL-4 Hypoid gear oil, plenty of 75W-90 synthetic to be found here, but straight SAE 80?

Out of curiosity, what do you put in your engine and final drive come oil change time?

 

[Rasher]

Um, Oil...

...of the grade specified ::008::

My local dealer flogs Silkoline, I do not buy into this oil being better than that oil, or you must use brand x - I have used several over the years and never blown a bike up, I avoid what could potentially be cheap rubbish (like supermarket / budget brands) but anything in your local bike shop should do.

 

[Dogdaze]

Just make sure it's not 'energy efficient' as that will make the clutch slip, these are mostly long life car oils.

 

[Grumpy]

Put Yamalube in as it was a reasonable offer on ebay and a friend with an FJR seemed to thing it quite good. Only done 200 miles with it in, but no bang, rattle, crunch and blue smoke as yet ::26::

 

[cosmic]

Re: UK & European owners - which oils go in your engine and shaft drive?

I use Motul products. Last 20kkm I went back from fully sint 7100 to semi sint 5100. I used 10W-40 whit the fully sint, and now 10W-50( I guess) with the 5100.
I love the way engine/clutch works with 5100.
My final drive gets new Motul Gear every 10kkm.
Never a problem so far, touch the wood.

 

[r1d1]

Just make sure it's not 'energy efficient' as that will make the clutch slip, these are mostly long life car oils.

Yes, I've noticed that a lot of people across the pond are using plain old car oil rather than bike specific oil. Some of the newer car oils over this side are starting to have the "Energy Effiecient" markings on them, Mobil seem to have revamped their range recently.

My bike currently has Mama Yama's oil front and back, I'm trying to decide whether to stick with that or try something else that's widely available ( The dealership where I had my bike serviced is no longer in business, so it may be down to me to do the oil changes). Interestingly, Mama Yama's own hypoid oil is 80W-90, not the straight 80 it asks for in the manual, as others have pointed out.

I'm in agreement with Rasher about avoiding the cheap and nasty stuff which just suddenly appears on the scene, and then disappears from the shelves just as quickly as it appeared (Del Boy's Peckham Spring Water comes to mind).

Thanks for the replies folks, just curious as to what other people are using.

 

[Purificator81]

Re: UK & European owners - which oils go in your engine and shaft drive?

Motorex for both...top quality for motorcycles in my opinion

Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk

 

[Rasher]

Interestingly, Mama Yama's own hypoid oil is 80W-90, not the straight 80 it asks for in the manual, as others have pointed out.

I forgot about that, I just used a quality (Silkolene) gear oil which I think is something like 80-90. As it is so cheap to change and only takes 5 minutes I change the FD oil at every 6k service (BMW ownership has convinced me these things need lots of love)

Where I live we do not have any temperature extremes so most oil ratings are fine - up in the Frozen wastelands of the North perhaps you need specialist Ice-Age oils

 

[r1d1]

Where I live we do not have any temperature extremes so most oil ratings are fine - up in the Frozen wastelands of the North perhaps you need specialist Ice-Age oils

I live on the coast, so it's not too bad during winter - move a few miles inland and -19 oC is not unknown.

Interesting to see that on the Silkolene product finder, it shows three oils as being suitable for the pumpkin;

http://fuchsmoto.lubricantadvisor.com/Result.aspx?sType=51d33e4ce2c2630cac66cdfb60bd34a6 On looking at the tech specs of the three oils recommended, it states " Not suitable for hypoid applications." on each of the three oils ??? I am surprised that Silkoline BOA 80W-90 is not recommended for the bike, as that is their EP hypoid specific oil. Just goes to show that you've got to be careful out there.

 

[Scouse]

You can get 5 litres of Shell helix H7 semi synthetic on Ebay for about £20 inc delivery. JASO SG+.
Strictly speaking it's marketed as a car oil, but it also has the JASO rating so is compatible with a wet clutch. The SG rating I believe is also OK for m/cycle engines.

 

[Xt1200zsupertenere]

It has to be MA or MA 2 reated !! Api : SG + ?? sAys what quality the oil has

 

[Scouse]

I have been using car marketed 10/40 semi synthetic for many years in various m/cycles without problems. I admit to using Motul 10/40 in a recent intermediate oil change on my S10, but that's purely because of warranty and I got a very good discount on the oil. I expect I will use the Shell Helix once my warranty is up. Its working well on a friends Honda VTR 1000 that has covered over 20,000mls on it.

 

[r1d1]

You can get 5 litres of Shell helix H7 semi synthetic on Ebay for about £20 inc delivery. JASO SG+.
Strictly speaking it's marketed as a car oil, but it also has the JASO rating so is compatible with a wet clutch. The SG rating I believe is also OK for m/cycle engines.

It is a car oil, and it doesn't have the required JASO MA (or higher) rating for our bike. Shell make motorcycle oils which meet the required specs and which are only a few quid more expensive. I wouldn't consider using Helix H7 at all, for these reasons.

 

[Don T]

Picked up my brand new S10 2 month ago.

The first service (1000km) was performed by the dealer where i bought the bike and he used Yamalube for both the engine and the shaft.

Since then I've decided to maintain/service my S10 myself - that way I'm sure it's done right and I'll save a bunch of money.
The only downside with doing the maintenance myself is that I'll lose the 5 years free mileage warranty Yamaha offers on motorcycles here in Denmark if all service is done by a Yamaha dealer - I'll still have a 2 years warranty though.

From now on I'll use Motorex oil products for my S10 as that is what the local Kawasaki/Honda dealer (that I know personally) have on the shelves.

The 10.000km service is coming up and for that I'll use:
Motorex TOP SPEED 4T 10W/40 for the engine - according to an experienced and renowned motorcycle mechanic at the local dealer it should prevent oil consumption (compared to POWER SYNT) and work well for the clutch on a big twin like the S10.
Motorex GEAR OIL HYPOID SAE 80W/90 API GL-5 for the shaft drive - exactly the same specs as the Yamalube transmission oil recommended by Yamaha but at 1/7 of the price.

 

[Scouse]

A few years ago I used to sell motor oils and assorted lubricants. I had it on good authority from the company rep with whom I placed my orders that the 10/40 semi synthetic engine oil was suitable for motorcycles although it was packaged for cars. They put the same oil in a motorcycle branded container and charged more. In recent years this company changed the brand name and packaging so that the car oil no longer showed the relative motorcycle specs.
I ran a diesel land Rover Discovery, a Nissan Micra and various motorcycles for years on this 'car' oil without any problems. Several friends also used to buy 25 litre containers from me and use it in both cars and bikes with out mishap.
I still have two of those containers, one is a 20/50 semi synth the other a 10/40 semi synth, both have JASO MA, and API SG ratings along with car related specs shown.
I would assume it reasonable to think that other oil companies use similar marketing practices.

With regard to shaft drive diff oil for years I have used full synth 75/90 in BMWs and Moto Guzzis and will for the S10.