I own a 96 suzuki dr350 dual-sport motorcycle that i use to commute to work on, which is 4 miles round trip. I tried using a non motorcycle oil in it for the first time, mobil1 15w50, and shortly after switching to it, the clutch started to slip in a way that when you started off from a stop, the revs would build up but the bike would catch itself when you let the clutch all the way out. The bike has 6k on it and the clutch adjustment is fine, and the problem stopped when i switched back back to mobil1 10w40 mx4t.
mobil1 15w50 and clutch slippage
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It is weird feeling, it only slips when you have your hand on and are using the clutch, it does not slip when you have your hand off the clutch. I used this oil on a kawasaki kz750 years ago and it did not affect it at all.
switch to the Rotella T syn...no Moly
Different bikes react differently to the different oil additives. My quad calls for jaso-ma oil. No problems with regular car oils.
It slips just like your zuk does on Torco oil though.
It slips just like your zuk does on Torco oil though.
I just came back from looking at uoa's and found 2 uoa's that are mobile1 15w50 that seem to indicate this oil contains moly. Is mobil consistant with their oil's?
Same here.
Have used M1 with my Yamaha FZR-750, my VFR-750 and now my RC-45 and have had no problems whatsoever, can tell you that my FZR-750 lasted over 55000 hard driven and raced miles before being sold, had around 28000 hard miles on my VFR-750 and have really hard, dusty and super hot Indian miles on my RC-45 and no troubles whatsoever. I also use M1 on my Honda scooter which is geared and has wet clutch and can tell you that my shifting is smooth and the engine never overheats even on 50c days.
If you contact Mobil, they will tell you that the SL formulation of 15W50 has friction modifiers in it. Only the lower viscosity "energy conserving" grades need friction modifiers but there is nothing preventing the use of friction modifiers in the other grades. The SL formulation of 15W50 certainly includes moly which is often considered a friction modifier.
The "friction modifier" in the Mobil 1 15W50 is a little bit of moly, but not much.
For what it's worth, the most common oil that the turbo Hayabusa guys are using is Mobil 1 15W50, and they are (as might be expected) very hard on clutches.
There presumably isn't enough moly in the redcap to cause clutch slippage in most bikes.
I don't know why you experienced a problem, but I'm glad you got things squared away with the the other oil.
Too bad that oil costs 8 bucks a quart though...
The Shell Rotella 5W40 synthetic is inexpensive and contains no moly. It's fast becoming a favorite of motorcyclists who can use a 40 weight oil.
Wear out the MX4T first though. Can't afford to waste that stuff!
Dan
For what it's worth, the most common oil that the turbo Hayabusa guys are using is Mobil 1 15W50, and they are (as might be expected) very hard on clutches.
There presumably isn't enough moly in the redcap to cause clutch slippage in most bikes.
I don't know why you experienced a problem, but I'm glad you got things squared away with the the other oil.
Too bad that oil costs 8 bucks a quart though...
The Shell Rotella 5W40 synthetic is inexpensive and contains no moly. It's fast becoming a favorite of motorcyclists who can use a 40 weight oil.
Wear out the MX4T first though. Can't afford to waste that stuff!
Dan
A lot of people that used M1 15w 50 had real good luck with the old version over the years suddenly started have problems with this oil on their dirt bikes when it went to its current SL version. SL version is defiantly slicker.
It kind of depends on the combination of horsepower, clutch spring pressure and clutch plate surface area as to how it will work for you.
It kind of depends on the combination of horsepower, clutch spring pressure and clutch plate surface area as to how it will work for you.
This is not true anymore. The new stuff has a little friction modifier in it like fueltankerman said. Some bikes won't have a problem with it and some will. I suspect a new clutch will work fine, but I bet they will wear out quicker with the new blended 15w50
Yeah, when my KL250 was still new (around 4k miles) I tried Amsoil 20w50 racing full synthetic and it made my clutch at highway speeds. I immediatly switched back to dino 10w40 and have had no slippage since. (Whew)
KL250
KL250
I am also in a bit of a quandry. After getting my mod'ed XR650L sorted, going to a hardened Megacycle cam and rockers, and putting in Red Line 20w50 now my clutch slips under hard accelleration. This never happened before, and I know the Red Line is high in moly. I asked Megacycle about Mobil and for some reason they are very negative about it. Instead of RL they recommended Honda HP4 w/o moly. What do you guys think? This is a high compression, heavy valvespring motor that I run hard.
Mobil makes two motorcycle oils, the 10W-40 and the 20W-50.
Both have very high flash points. The 10W-40 uses only a bit of a very high shear strength VI, and the 20W-50 uses none.
I believe you've discovered one of the reasons Mobil offers motorcycle-specific oils.
No one on the Hayabusa forums seems to be complaining about the 15W50 Mobil 1, and as mentioned earlier it's a favorite with the 300 HP turbo Hayabusas.
It's possible that the clutch in this case may be on its way out...
Dan
It's possible that the clutch in this case may be on its way out...
Dan
I'm assuming you meant to say it made your clutch slip - FYI, Amsoil doesn't contain any moly at all.
It's possible that some of these clutches are on their ways out and needing all the help they can get, so to speak.
I can't see any other reason for these experiences; guilt by association with the oils...
Dan
I can't see any other reason for these experiences; guilt by association with the oils...
Dan
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