Car Engine Oil on GSA1200?

[DaveH]

I use the old stuff that comes out of my Speed Triple in the GS then the stuff that comes out of the GS goes in the mower and the stuff that comes out of the mower I pour on my neighbours Leylandi

Now thats what I call recycling....what model of Leylandi has he got by the way....are parts still available ???

 

[Mark Hooton]

ha!

Interesting topic. I'm suprised it's not been covered before. Well, you live and learn, don't you.

I shouldn`t but it is funny. Who`d thought we`d get a thread about oil of all things?



But seriously, you`ll get all the answers you need here mate and more besides.

 

[Mark Hooton]

It really doesn`t matter but.................

It really doesn`t matter but my dealer sticks 10/40 semi in my 2010 GSA. I did question them about the specified Castrol stuff and they replied "we`ve always used 10/40 semi"

Odd that they don`t use the Castrol stuff but I suppose they know what they are doing......................

 

[Engineer]

Seen it.

Read it.

Just swinging it around,,,,,,

You will notice that the cylinders are empty.

I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself.....

Yeah but he doesn't know how to use it - his finger isn't even on the trigger

 

[Wapping]

- his finger isn't even on the trigger

A bit like the OP, then

 

[prwatts]

Hi all,
I just gotten ownership of a 4 months old GSA. It has done 5000km and i am planning to prepare for the oil change soon.

I have a carton of engine oil, 10W-40 SM grade fully syn for my car and wonder if i could use them on the GSA since it is using dry clutch as i usually buy in bulk of a few cartons?

Does anyone has the typical characteristic of the Castrol approved lube oil, Power 1 Racing 10W-50 or the Actevo 20W-50? I would like to make a comparison with the car engine oil that i planned to use...

Cheers!
Dylan

Dylan, you can use that oil but isn't your bike still under warranty? Is oil that expensive in Singapore that you'd risk a £12k bike on an oil that you don't name? Hope it's not some Petronas stuff.
At 5000kms the conventional wisdom is to stick with mineral oil a bit longer.
And in your climate a 20W50'd be better. I am in Riyadh and use a 10W60.
Peter

 

[glenn2926]

OIL Again

What do they make synthetic oil out of? I have never seen a synth does it look a bit like a haggis?

 

[prwatts]

What do they make synthetic oil out of? I have never seen a synth does it look a bit like a haggis?

They are synthesised from chemicals the same as nylon or acylic or any other man-made plastic polymer based stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_oil

Synthetic oil is made to remain stable as temperature increases. Stable. Shear properties remain good at higher temperatures.

I use double ester oils such as Motul 300V Chrono in my bikes and Subaru.

Many will say its an unnecessary expense - that's why I like the free world, it's my choice.

Peter

 

[glenn2926]

Thanks prwatts

So if we can make oil out of chemicals why do we bother to drill for the stuff in places that are always politically unstable? lets just make our own.

 

[rudiemoto]

Me and some mates ran Happy Shopper vegetable oil in our strokers back in the 80's after some bike mag ran a tests of a load f 2-stroke oils and the 50p (or whatever it was back then) litre of veggy oil outperformed all but the most expensive (read 10 time as much) oils.

It worked great for many months and the bikes left an amazing scent behind them, eventually though performance slowed and we discovered the stuff gummed up badly leaving the underside of the pistons gunged up and exhausts blocked (Something the scientists did not test for)

The moral (if there is one) is that to a large degree oil is oil, new oil is always better than old, and new cheap oil is probably better than dirty old oil.

Most modern oils (even the cheap ones) are probably much better than yesteryears expensive oils, which lets not forget have seen many an engine beyond 100k.

I have a mate who worked in petro-chemical research who always pissed himself at the oil adverts, all these liquid engineering and magnatec bollox that was bandied about were his favourite, apparently sticking to metal surfaces is actually a normal property of any oil - anyone who has ever washed up an oily baking tray will know this.

More power, cooler running

Sure synthetics are a bit better, mainly with regard to lasting longer, for those with nothing better to do:

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/motoroil.html

http://www.smartsynthetics.com/articles/motorcycle_oil_technical_facts.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_use_synthetic_or_semi-synthetic_motor_oil

not a truer word said
i have used 20/50semi for years now only 10/60 f/s
i can feel how easy the bike rpm's
but thats just me and about 60 tossers
putoline for me ,rock if you like it cheap

 

[Rasher]

So if we can make oil out of chemicals why do we bother to drill for the stuff in places that are always politically unstable? lets just make our own.

You have not been reading the articles everyone has posted for your benefit have you now

Here is another:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-synthetic-oil.htm

Note the phrase

Synthetic oil is an oil product that contains additional chemical ingredients that are not present in crude oil. These additional ingredients are synthesized or created artificially and added to petroleum as a means of meeting specific needs for lubrication

See it is still an "Oil Product" and as such they still have to dig up oil in the first place.

Just search the web for much more info such as the extract below, again highlighting the need for oil at some point in the process.

Instead of making motor oil with the conventional petroleum base, "true" synthetic oil base stocks are artificially synthesized. Synthetic oils are derived from either Group III mineral base oils, Group IV, or Group V non-mineral bases. True synthetics include classes of lubricants like synthetic esters as well as "others" like GTL (Methane Gas-to-Liquid) (Group V) and polyalpha-olefins (Group IV). Higher purity and therefore better property control theoretically means synthetic oil has good mechanical properties at extremes of high and low temperatures. The molecules are made large and "soft" enough to retain good viscosity at higher temperatures, yet branched molecular structures interfere with solidification and therefore allow flow at lower temperatures. Thus, although the viscosity still decreases as temperature increases, these synthetic motor oils have a much improved viscosity index over the traditional petroleum base. Their specially designed properties allow a wider temperature range at higher and lower temperatures and often include a lower pour point. With their improved viscosity index, true synthetic oils need little or no viscosity index improvers, which are the oil components most vulnerable to thermal and mechanical degradation as the oil ages, and thus they do not degrade as quickly as traditional motor oils. However, they still fill up with particulate matter, although at a lower rate compared to conventional oils, and the oil filter still fills and clogs up over time. So, periodic oil and filter changes should still be done with synthetic oil; but some synthetic oil suppliers suggest that the intervals between oil changes can be longer, sometimes as long as 16,000-24,000 km (10,000–15,000 mi) primarily due to reduced degredation by oxidation.

Tests[citation needed] do show that fully synthetic oil is superior in extreme service conditions to conventional oil. But in the vast majority of vehicle applications, mineral oil based lubricants, sometimes fortified with synthetic additives and with the benefit of over a century of development, continues to be the predominant and satisfactory lubricant for most internal combustion engine applications.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

So if we can make oil out of chemicals why do we bother to drill for the stuff in places that are always politically unstable? lets just make our own.

Where do you think the 'chemicals' come from.
Plus it's a lot more expensive making synth than refining what mother nature made.



If you want to put Synth in your F'blade - fair nuff.
If you put it into your GS you are just spending money on the feel-good factor.

Synth IS better - but completely OTT for this type of engine.
You will not get any benefit for the extra outlay.
You will just think you do - but that is just the feel good factor, feeling good.
Enjoy it.

 

[prwatts]

Where do you think the 'chemicals' come from.
Plus it's a lot more expensive making synth than refining what mother nature made.

If you want to put Synth in your F'blade - fair nuff.
If you put it into your GS you are just spending money on the feel-good factor.

Synth IS better - but completely OTT for this type of engine.
You will not get any benefit for the extra outlay.
You will just think you do - but that is just the feel good factor, feeling good.
Enjoy it.

Just to make you jealous we pay £1 for 10 liters of 95RON fuel here, so you know how much tax our glorious gophermunt is making out of us...crude is WAAAAY cheaper than chemical synthesis.

On the matter of Synth being OTT for the Boxer Engine, please don't forget that they have been wringing more and more power from the engine and steadily raising the redline and now it has a strange DOHC Valve Arrangement (I don't like the look of the cam chain routing) so I believe that Synthetic Oil is entirely appropriate for these engines, as shown by BMW now specifying it. The Motul I use is double ester = no dinosaurs at all in it. I use it out here because it is stable to much higher temperatures and we hit 60C in mid-summer.
Peter

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Couldn't agree more.
An aircooled engine with those sort of ambient temperatures needs all the help it can get.

Still maintain that for most folk, Synth is OTT.
But, hey ho - it's horses for courses.

 

[mercuri]

Thank you for all your inputs...it is an interesting subject for me since i already know what is the Typical Characteristic of the lube oil that i plan to use on the GSA and it would be self assuring to know what is the recommended characteristic of the recommended BMW oil.

My car lube have these specs:
a) Viscosity Index: 164
b) Kinematic Viscosity @40degC (cSt) : 96
@100 degC : 14.8
c) TBN: 7
d) API SM/CF
e) ACEA A3/B3-04, A3/B4-04

Greg: All if not most typical car engine oil does not contain JASO specs like motorcycle specific lubricant which are friction classification. Can i safely say this spec does not apply for the GS? Else car engine oil will never meet this classification since it is meant for engine use only.

prwatt: yes my bike is under warranty. but since i imported mine from the UK, the sole distributor here wants an admin fee of 2500quid before they will help me process any warranty claims should i have any. Blood suckers!
Nope it is not petronas but i would still try if they have been certified by API, ACEA. Over here, ambient temp is around 34degC and i am tempted to try the fully syn 10-40 that costs me only 25quid/4 liters max whereas bike specific lube would set me back 29quid for a semi or mineral.

just to give you an idea...over here, carlube 5w40 is retailing as little as 14quid for a 5 liter bottle. Wonder if it is cheaper in the UK?