Which Automobile oils will work in my 700cc bike?

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I'd like to find something @ Walmart that won't harm my 700cc Suzuki Intruder. I was told to buy Rotella T5 here. They don't have it. I can't afford synthetic or synthetic blends anyhow. So what kind of 10-40 non synthetic at Walmart is safe for my bike?
 
Well, you could use any of the 15w-40 Heavy Duty Engine Oils (HDEO's) in the gallon jugs (White jug Rotella, Delvac) as long as you don't ride it when it is really cold out.

Other than that, just about any of the 10w-40's would work, such as yellow bottle Pennzoil, or the Mobil 5000 oil.

I have a local Farm supply store which sells a Valvoline 4-stroke 10w-40 Motorcycle oil at a fairly reasonable price. That might be an option as well.
 
If the bike has a wet clutch he needs to be careful about what oils go in it! Oils with a lot of friction modifiers like moly can mess up the clutches, stay with bike oil or diesel oil. Stay away from the pcmo oils. Call a cycle shop to see for sure whats safe.
 
Stay away from PCMO oils 10w30 and thinner; they have all that energy conserving mumbo jumbo and super slick friction modifiers. The 10w40s you're looking at will do okay. (Though the suggested 15w40 HDEOs even better.)
 
I was always told that PCMOs get sheared apart in the transmission of a motorcycle.

I have run Castrol GTX 20W50 in motorcycles. I did have transmission problems on one. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a sportbike ridden like that, that still has 2nd gear above 60K mi. In fact I seldom see any sportbikes above 40K anymore. But still I wonder if it would have happened if I would have stuck with the Bel-Ray.

You should be able to find Valvoline 4-stroke motorcycle oil for about the same price or less than Rotella. WalMart might be able to "site to store" it for you.
 
I'd recommend that you avoid any automotive engine oil. Any of the diesel engine oils are more robust and will do a good job...Rotella 15W-40 being the best know, plus it has been tested and certified for wet clutches that we have. Rotella syn 5W-40 is better for cold weather, and $20 a gallon.
 
I've used Mobil 1 15/50 for thousands of miles without any clutch slippage or any other issues. It gets good ratings on this site.
 
I was told that as long as the oil meets JASO MA, it will be ok to use with wet clutches (no moly). Rotella T5 is not JASO MA, just JASO DH-2.

Rotella T6 is JASO MAO and DH-2. Wal-Mart usually has T6. Is T6 totally kosher to use in Honda's with wet clutches?
 
Originally Posted By: metroplex
Rotella T5 is not JASO MA, just JASO DH-2.

Yeah, which is why I was wondering why someone suggested it to him, unless his bike does not have a wet clutch...

Quote:

Rotella T6 is JASO MAO and DH-2.

T6 would work, but he said he wanted to stay away from synthetics for cost reasons, hence I threw in the T 15w-40 suggestion since it carries JASO MA spec as well.
 
Roger! Yes, I saw that the Rotella 15W-40 was JASO MA and is affordable. Good call!

That said, T6 isn't much more expensive and is a better oil. You could even extend the oil change intervals with the Synthetic T6.
 
Rotella 5W-40 and 15W-40 are JASO-MA rated.

Many use Mobil Delvac 15W-40, or the Mobil diesel 15W-40 or the whatever else diesel 15W-40. Even the WalMart SuperTech 15W-40 diesel turns in good numbers in an oil analysis.

Moly content is not the basis for "energy Conserving" oil, nor does it's presence necessarily mean that it is bad for a wet clutch. Some of the present motorcycle-specific oils have moly in amounts from 50-200 ppm and do just fine.

Many of the "energy Conserving" oils have zero moly content.

Newer and cheaper additives have taken the place of the ever more expensive moly and (so far) there's no way to know.

An indication would be the "Energy Conserving" donut on the container but the absence of that stamp does not mean that that the oil is OK for shared sump bikes with wet clutches.

At the present time, most agree that virtually all "diesel" oils in the 15W-40 variety will give good service for this application.

The 5W-40 "diesel" oils also appear to perform well, but exhibit more shear than their 15W-40 grade cousins.

Personally, I like the Rotella or the Delvac in the 15W-40 variety. It's reasonably priced and available just about everywhere.
 
Originally Posted By: metroplex
So are you saying there's no benefit to running a synthetic in a bike?


There is a benefit if you want to run longer oil change intervals. However, from the UOA's It's just that Group III synthetics (e.g. 5W-40) they tend to shear more than their 15W-40 conventional counterparts. The PAO based synthetics typically do much better in this respect. Looking at the available conventional Rotella motorcycle UOA's on this site, I don't see an advantage between them and the motorcycle UOA's with synthetic oil - except price.

I would think that a good synthetic oil would be a "plus" in an air-cooled bike, due to the higher flash-point of the oil. Ah, but the Harley riders have been using the conventional Valvoline VR1 Racing 20W-50 and there's even a Genuine Harley 360 20W-50 UOA with 5k miles and both turned in good numbers.

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The Gold Wingers seem to be sold on the 15W-40 diesel oils and there are more than a few of them with 200,000+ miles and still going. Maybe not a fair comparison, but at least it appears that these oils aren't detrimental.
 
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I'd go into the rebates section here and click on the Mobil Delvac 15w40 thread and get $4 off each gallon on up to 5 gallons of Mobil Delvac 15w40. It's at Walmart for about $10/gallon, which means you can get it for about $6 per gallon after rebates. Can't do any better than that, and IMO, it's just as good, or even better than any flavor of Rotella for many motorcycles..

I've had the same Delvac 15w40 in my oil since last July and it still feels as though I just put it in 100 miles ago. Holds up very well for the type of use I give my Kawi.
 
I also like the Delvac 15W-40 in the primary chaincases on my Harleys. It gives me the best shift "feel" of anything I've tried.
 
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