Is GC a good motorcycle oil?

[Audi Junkie]

Wondering.

 

[deepsquat]

may not be thick enough for most tranny/motor combo where you need at least a 10/40 prefer a 15/40 for mine or does GC come that thick ?

 

[Blake Sobiloff]

GC is 0W-30 only. I have not heard of any modern motorcycle specifying anything thinner than 40-weight oil, and many still recommend 50-weight. This is in part due to the significant shear stress from the transmission.

So, GC does not meet manufacturers' recommendations. This does not mean you can't use it, but I'd tread very cautiously (read: many UOAs with Terry's expert advice) down that path.

 

[MHC]

My 2001 Yamaha R1 calls for 10w30 or 20w40.

 

[drive it forever]

I've tried it out in a Suzuki DR350 Dual-Sport. The oil seemed to break down rather quickly, the tranny didnt shift as smooth after a hard freeway blast. The bike does 7500 rpms at 75mph in gear 6, and kills the oil if you freeway ride it for a few hours. I've used Yamalube 20w40 with the best results-maybe because the 20w40 doesnt need as many VI in it.

 

[DeaconBlue]

Motorcycle oils tends to have a lot of additives in them to help them better work with the wet clutch trany setups and to meet the demands of a high load, high revving air cooled engine. These additives are used in a higher concentration levels than is typically found in SL rated automotive oils and in fact can be toxic to catalytic converters. These additives also tend to be the ones that have been removed for the most part from the newer SM rated automotive oils.

For those reasons, I would recommend that you use the correct weight and rated motorcycle oil in your motorcycle.

 

[Jay]

My Honda VFR recommends 10w-30 or 10w-40. I've tried a wide variety of motorcycle-specific and automotive oils, and I have not found that the motorcycle-specific oils perform any better than much less expensive automotive oils. I used M1 10w-30 in it for the first 30,000 miles and I'm using Delvac 1 5w-40 now.

 

[LVHospiceRN]

quote:

---

Originally posted by DeaconBlue:
Motorcycle oils tends to have a lot of additives in them to help them better work with the wet clutch trany setups and to meet the demands of a high load, high revving air cooled engine. These additives are used in a higher concentration levels than is typically found in SL rated automotive oils and in fact can be toxic to catalytic converters. These additives also tend to be the ones that have been removed for the most part from the newer SM rated automotive oils.

For those reasons, I would recommend that you use the correct weight and rated motorcycle oil in your motorcycle.

---

and many of those "Motorcycle oils" are nothing more than relabeled cans of car oil with a sprinkling of something that is irrelevent...Motorcycle oil is a good name for a car oil that you want to sell for a couple more dollars a quart...

Run the specificed weight and be happy...

Just IMHO, YMMV
darrell
sin city

 

[DeaconBlue]

Motorcycle oils tend to have very high levels of zinc and phosphorous (which will NOT be found in any SM rated automotive oils. Motorcycle oils will not contain any fiction modifiers, which can play havoc with the trany's wet clutch. Motorcycle oils also have a very robust additive package to help fight corrosion and sludge built-up for short trip use and long storage periods.

I have known a few motorcyclists that have had problems using automotive oil in thier rides and a few catalytic converters that have dead an early death due to zinc and phosphorous contamination.

As always, YMMV.

 

[wileyE]

Deacon brings up a good a point about the catalytic converters. More and more new bikes are using them now (inside the pipe where you don't see them) so the oil companys and bike OEM's may respond with reduced zddp in their MC oils? The epa requirement for how long the cat must last may the deciding factor in where they go with the oil. I think we're at 120K now for cars, not sure about bikes.

Car vs. MC? all the oems seem to agree on the avoidance of friction modified oil, but if you stay with the 10/40's and 20/50's that they mostly recommend your shouldn't be getting the fm's anyway. Another question would be are the SL/SL oils that are on the shelf now totally backward compatable to the SE/SF/SG (recomended by most MC oems)? And does this backward compatability also include MC usage.

 

[DeaconBlue]

I have noticed a lot of MC oils on the shelves are currently only SG/SH rated.