Bell-ray 10w40 Full Syn

[sanoptic]

Hi,
Been using Yamalube semi 10w40 in my 2012 Yamaha XJR1300 for the last 5k klms.Fairly ordinary oil i think as the motor is quite noisy when hot ,neutral hard to select & gearshift is not the best.
Changed over to Bell-ray full Syn 10w40 ...very pricy oil here in Australia at $110.00 for 4 litre pack.
After using this oil now for 500 klms the gear change is super smooth ,neutral is easy to select & the motor is humming quietly.
Will be changing it every 10k Klms or 12 months as per Yamaha schedule.
I'll get the oil tested after 12 months to see how it holds up..

Cheers

 

[FowVay]

I'd love to hear back from you in 1600 km's to update us on the shift quality. It seems that many oils degrade rapidly within this time/distance frame.

I am presently using Mobil-1 Racing 4T in my ZX-14R but it's well past its useful life. I have about 5,000 km's on this interval and I'm going to change it in the coming weeks. I may give Bel-Ray a try. It is pricey here in the States also but not quite what you're paying.

Aren't you guys coming into the cooler weather? Not sure what the climate is in your neck of the woods but hopefully you can keep racking up the seat time and give your new oil a chance to show its strengths. Keep us posted please.

 

[sanoptic]

Winter is just 6 weeks away but in my area [ most of Australia actually ] we can ride year round.
Just checked the Bell-ray pack & it's 10w50 & not 10w40 as previously stated.
Cheers

 

[Chris142]

i put bel ray in an old 3 wheeler and noticed it shifted great.i had forgotten about that brand.thanks for reminding me about it.ill try it in my quad that shifts terrible.

 

[Mackelroy]

Is that the EXS, I used to run it back when it was about $10 per litre, its ridiculously priced nowadays. Like $18 or $19 per litre.

 

[Warstud]

About $40 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Bel-Ray-EXS-Synthe...rds=bel+ray+oil

 

[Mackelroy]

I thought you meant $40 was for a couple quarts, OMG!!! $40 for a quart on amazon, what the Heck is going on, that's insane.

But Ive seen at local shops for 18 or 19 and that's rediculous

 

[Warstud]

Originally Posted By: Mackelroy
I thought you meant $40 was for a couple quarts, OMG!!! $40 for a quart on amazon, what the Heck is going on, that's insane.

But Ive seen at local shops for 18 or 19 and that's rediculous


It shows a liter but it's 4 liters for $40..description says 8 pounds. 1 liter is $10.99 and is 2 pounds.

 

[CentAmDL650]

If the Motul ester oil I've been running is any indication, the Bel Ray exs sythetic should make for a really quiet, smooth, cool running, free-revving engine and no-deposits in the crankcase. Other than seriously high price, not sure what the cons are. But going 10k km strikes me as optimistic - at a minimum I'd sample it along the way.

 

[Mackelroy]

Ive mostly ran 15w40's and below, they seem to be good for a couple thousand miles, car oils I usually don't go more than about 1500 miles.

About the longest run Ive done on a bike, is about 4,000 miles and that was Mobil1 vtwin, when I drained it I thought it looked like it could have went longer (5000 mile although I didn't test it), judging the way my other oils looked around 2000, or 2500 miles, and some of those tested were High end PAO oils, they all were out of grade and flash around 375 to 390 degree.

So that's basically where I set up oil change interval, between the grade and the flash. Assuming I also stay around the single digits on wear metals also.

I spent $45 on some redline several months back, A $45 oil change, I tried for a specific reason that I wont go into, but since I ran it Im thinking of sending a sample off, it has about 2300 mile on it, 2 quarts of 10w30 and one 20w50, drain looked thinner than typical 15w40 at that interval. But they didn't have 10w40 and I didn't want full 10w30 or full 20w50, so I tried to cross it.

The replacement oil was $2.75 per quart Supertech 15w40, I ride it tomorrow and see how it do.

As to the super tech, first thing I did was stick my nose it, smells like a group 3 hydrocrack oil, not a cheap group 2. Really reminds me of Delo smell wise.

 

[sanoptic]

Normally i change oil at 5K intervals but since my new bike is an aircooled 1251cc 4cyl motor which only makes 98bhp i think full syn should last 10k easily.
The Yamaha owners book recommends 10k intervals & oil filter every 20k.
I'll take a sample at 5k & see what the results are & decide then if 10k changes are ok for this bike.

cheers

 

[Mackelroy]

New motors are funny. on my vfr I broke it in on 5w40 rotella, but I was seeing substantial break down around 1100 mile intervals, so I sent off a sample to see if it showed something my eye was seeing, and I stopped running it cause I was tired of 1100 mile intervals. Around 10 to 15,000 mile though, I noticed oils were looking much better. Under 10,000 miles even higher viscosity pao's were breaking down by 2,000 miles.

IMO even if the goal is too run long intervals, the first 10,000 if it needs flushing, then you have to go that route.

Now this particular motor has about 105,000 miles, no oil burn runs great, and Ive not tested any oil in it for over 90,000 miles, so it will be interesting.

 

[smokey422]

The trouble with synthetic blends is you don't know how much actual synthetic you're getting and it doesn't have to be much to meet gov't. standards. I've been using Amsoil full synthetic since 1983 and have always enjoyed great shifting through the full change interval, which usually runs between 5-6,000 miles. I use their filters, too. I get my Amsoil at dealer's cost so the expense is not so bad. However, I agree with Mackelroy that when a bike is new it needs more frequent changes. My first oil change will come within the first 200 miles, sometimes less, because I don't know how much machining particles and gasket material are in the oil. I usually use Castrol GTX 10W40, then switch to synthetic around 1,500-2,000 miles.