Oil thread of a different sort

[TasGS]

I've been doing a bit of reading on engine oils as my bike is due for some new stuff. I wanted to make sure I got it right after recently replacing cams and tappets after the last ones looked like this:

Some thoughts from my reading, is it a possibility or am I way off track?

• BMW suggests SF/SG/SH oil for the GS
• These oils are now 'obsolete' as they have had the zinc and phosphate levels reduced to comply with modern environmental requirements
• Traditionally flat tappet cams have required zinc and phosphate (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate - ZDDP) in the oils as it forms a coating that stops wear between the cam and tappet
• See this - (WFS) - http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/flat_tappet_cam_tech/viewall.html

Chance that the wear and lack of ZDDP in the oil are related? Anyone posted similar thoughts/discussed this before? I tried searching but couldn't find anything...

 

[Steptoe]

Anyone posted similar thoughts/discussed this before? I tried searching but couldn't find anything...

Been posted previously, in fact only last week in mikeO's thread - I doubt it's anything to do with oil. One side of the engine can be in perfect condition, the other as in the pictures below.. I've seen quiet a few over the years. The pictures below are from a thread i posted a few years ago.



Cam/rocker holder.


Cam and cam followers.


Camshaft.





Cam followers in the holder.



Cam followers


New cams and followers

 

[rusto]

Does anyone have any ideas why one side would fail so badly when the rest of the engine is fine? I've only seen cams like that when an oil pump drive failed which ruined the whole engine (non boxer).

 

[Black Rooster]

mabey running the bike on the sidestand might starve the righthand pot of oil

 

[littleredrooster]

mabey running the bike on the sidestand might starve the righthand pot of oil

So my car engine, with the head/valves vertically above the sump won't last very long, then...?

Disaster.

 

[Black Rooster]

So my car engine, with the head/valves vertically above the sump won't last very long, then...?

Disaster.

your car engine is not at an extreme angle unless you park it on its side , look at ur GS when its on its side stand , right pot is way higher than left , so oil will pool in the left starving right of some of the supply

same with in line 4 sports bikes

 

[ghiribizzo]

Tosh. Utter load of. If that was the case all the BMWs and Urals, Goldwings would suffer from the same disastrous consequences.
Citroen 2CV, AlfaSud and Subaru with destroyed engines because their owners regularly parked on a steep cambered road?
I think not.

 

[fringe]

had camshaft wear and follower wear on my zx10r, camshafts and valve clearances were fine at 15k using silkolene bike oil but changed just after this, when costco were doing mobil 1 fully synth for cars for £18, oil and filters changed 3 times inbetween 15k and 30k and the damage at 30k valve inspection:

mobil 1 fully synth for cars has less zinc (hardly any) due to damage of catalytic converters (like most oils). While it oculd of been both cams were at fault from a manufacturing batch (but doubt it would happen to both inlet and exhaust)! I still rekcon it could have possibly been the oil due to lack of zinc

Bike is now coming up to 45k and at 30k I changed back to Motul 300v, will be due to check the clearances again. I done nothing apart from replace both camshafts (happend to both inlet and exhaust) all the followers and re-done the valve clearances at 30k.

 

[littleredrooster]

your car engine is not at an extreme angle unless you park it on its side , look at ur GS when its on its side stand , right pot is way higher than left , so oil will pool in the left starving right of some of the supply

same with in line 4 sports bikes

So what is the purpose of the oil pump which is fitted to modern engines? Are you seriously suggesting that the cams and valves need to sit in a puddle of oil in order not to fail?

Or are do you have a theory that all of the oil from the sump will end up in the L/H head?

 

[wessie]

had camshaft wear and follower wear on my zx10r, camshafts and valve clearances were fine at 15k using silkolene bike oil but changed just after this, when costco were doing mobil 1 fully synth for cars for £18, oil and filters changed 3 times inbetween 15k and 30k and the damage at 30k valve inspection:

(SNIP photo)

mobil 1 fully synth for cars has less zinc (hardly any) due to damage of catalytic converters (like most oils). While it oculd of been both cams were at fault from a manufacturing batch (but doubt it would happen to both inlet and exhaust)! I still rekcon it could have possibly been the oil due to lack of zinc

Bike is now coming up to 45k and at 30k I changed back to Motul 300v, will be due to check the clearances again. I done nothing apart from replace both camshafts (happend to both inlet and exhaust) all the followers and re-done the valve clearances at 30k.

surely a ZX10R engine would be designed to use the low zinc oils that were current when the bike was launched?

this thread is about the change in zinc content since the R11xx was launched in the 90s