Looking for oil with good cleaning properties

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My 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650R calls for 10-40 motor oil. I have been feeding it a steady diet of the Castrol conventional motor oil that you can find anywhere. Now, while I don't have anything bad to say about the oil, I would like to try out synthetic motor oil and see if it it's something I will continue to feed the bike. With that said, I am thinking a motor oil with good cleaning additives might be my ticket. What would you suggest?

I honestly haven't even looked to see what my options are. I'm sure amsoil, redline, and mobil 1 offer good oils, but I'm unsure who else I might look towards. I am tempted to grab the mobil 1 for the sole fact that it is very easy to buy; I simply don't know how well of a "cleaner" it is.

Thoughts?
 
I use Shell Rotella T6 5W-40 in my Honda, lawnmower, and snowblower. I don't think you can go wrong with any synthetic in terms of its "cleaning" ability.
 
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Redline, nothing cleans and protects better then Ester based products
 
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Originally Posted By: DieselTech
Redline, nothing cleans and protects better then Ester based products


You say this, yet you object to Auto-RX, which is an ester based product?
 
Most motorcycles use the same oil for the wet clutch, transmission, and engine. Unfortunately this oil is able to flow between each section in most motorcycles. Therefore motorcycle oil must be able to perform triple duty.

When oil is put through the squeezing between gears in the transmission, if the wrong oil is use the molecules will sheer and loose viscosity. So motorcycle oil must be very shear resistant.

If the oil is too slippery the clutch will slip. Therefore the oil must be slippery enough for the moving parts and not too slippery for the clutch. If you put an oil into a bike and the clutch slips, you will have to disassemble the entire engine and wipe down every part with a solvent to get all of the too slippery oil out. A cousin of mine put STP oil treatment in a bike and the clutch would not engage enough to go up a hill. He had to disassemble and clean the entire engine, trany, and clutch.

Many motorcycle engines are air cooled and run very hot. Therefore the oil must have the proper additives to insure lubrication when hot. Oils that are used for cars have recently undergone major changes in reducing the amount of ZDDP (a lubricant containing zinc and phosphorus) because this additive can poison (ruin) a catalytic converter. Modern car engines are designed with roller rockers and wider bearing surfaces to work with this modern oil. Old solid lifter engines and air cooled engines do not get enough lubrication with this newer oil and are quickly damaged.

In-between the double circle on the back of the bottle look to see if it is SL or SM. SL is the good old oil with enough ZDDP for air cooled engines. SM is the newer oil without enough ZDDP. Shell Rotella SM may be the only exception so far. It appears that Shell has added enough of other lubricants to still provide proper lubrication in high demanding engines.

Than said, many people have used Shell Rotella products in motorcycles with great success. One harley owner put an outrageous number of miles on his bike with Shell Rotella and the engine still showed no sign of wear. It was a while sine I read about that, but if I remember correctly it was over 900,000 miles. There was one report of someone having clutch problems with it, but that bike was known for a very light spring pressure clutch.

Shell Rotella is a very good oil. Many farmers use it in the high demanding environment inside their tractors and other farm engines. Truckers also use it. One reason you will not see advertisement for Shell Rotella is because farmers and truckers are the major users of it and they demand a great oil at a great price, and that leaves no room for advertisement.

T6 is a new improved version of Shell Rotella synthetic and it has just been recently released.

Also some Shell Rotella now has the Japanese motorcycle accepted endorsement. For years many people have used it in bikes because it is good even though it did not have the motorcycle endorsement.

What ever oil you chose you should check for others having success with it in your type of bike before you use it.

It has been a very long time since I had motorcycles. It use to be that you just put Castrol HD 30 mono grade in them and they were fine. But that was over 30 years ago. By the way Castrol HD 30 mono grade is still a very good oil.
 
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A buddy of mine switched his FJ1200 over to Rotella 5W-40 synthetic (available at Walmart) after hearing me rave about it.
 
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Originally Posted By: DieselTech
Redline, nothing cleans and protects better then Ester based products


You say this, yet you object to Auto-RX, which is an ester based product?


I'm not objective to totally, but mainly objective to any oil addiitives. Most either thick or thin oil and frankly don't work. I have yet to see proof that Auto RX does anything and have read enough to not reccommend it. If it's so great why are they not present on this forum. Buy good oil and you don't need snake oils!!
 
Try to find what bike had the clutch slip problem with Rotella. I can't remember but it might of been a Kawasaki Ninja. Before you put it in a Kawasaki Ninja find someone who used it with success in one, or find the post on BITOG who had clutch slip problems with it and thus reduce the probability that it will cause the clutch of a Kawasaki Ninja to slip.
 
If you want synthetic any HDEO 5w40 will be choice or a 15w40 conventional would do as good but shorter OCI possibly and good chance of less shearing.
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA

If the oil is too slippery the clutch will slip. Therefore the oil must be slippery enough for the moving parts and not too slippery for the clutch. If you put an oil into a bike and the clutch slips, you will have to disassemble the entire engine and wipe down every part with a solvent to get all of the too slippery oil out. A cousin of mine put STP oil treatment in a bike and the clutch would not engage enough to go up a hill. He had to disassemble and clean the entire engine, trany, and clutch.


Not necessarily. This happened 30 years ago to a co-worker, he put Bardahl racing oil in his bike and his clutch was slipping so bad that he couldn't get out of the parking lot. We just drained it, put in his regular oil and he took right off.
 
Any ester based synthetic, e.g., Motul or Redline, will clean the inside of an engine superbly.

I've used it in two cars - Mazda Miatas - to clean out noisy hydraulic valve adjusters ("lifters") with great success. The engines were noisy, with wide-open valve clearances. Redline cleaned them both brilliantly, giving quiet startups.
 
Originally Posted By: Velo_Fello

Any ester based synthetic, e.g., Motul or Redline, will clean the inside of an engine superbly.

I've used it in two cars - Mazda Miatas - to clean out noisy hydraulic valve adjusters ("lifters") with great success. The engines were noisy, with wide-open valve clearances. Redline cleaned them both brilliantly, giving quiet startups.


I recently purchased a 1985 XV1000 Virago with 36 000 kms. The dealer installed EXP 10W40 oil. Have you ever heard of this stuff?

Would using Amsoil 10W40 MCF be a better choice? Would it clean up inside of engine?

I also have some Seafoam engine treatment. Would adding a bit to crankcase be advisable?
 
Well you have a 25 year old bike w3ith almost 25,000 miles on it, that started life when the oils of the day weren't as good as what they make today.So the EXP oil would probably do the job with no problems. Just about any oil made today could handle it like Rotella t, delo 400, or delvac, and they are priced right and proven to perform.,
 
Originally Posted By: inHaliburton
Originally Posted By: Velo_Fello

Any ester based synthetic, e.g., Motul or Redline, will clean the inside of an engine superbly.

I've used it in two cars - Mazda Miatas - to clean out noisy hydraulic valve adjusters ("lifters") with great success. The engines were noisy, with wide-open valve clearances. Redline cleaned them both brilliantly, giving quiet startups.


I recently purchased a 1985 XV1000 Virago with 36 000 kms. The dealer installed EXP 10W40 oil. Have you ever heard of this stuff?

Would using Amsoil 10W40 MCF be a better choice? Would it clean up inside of engine?

I also have some Seafoam engine treatment. Would adding a bit to crankcase be advisable?


I don't know much about EXP but I think it's as good as Redline

Amsoil would not be a better choice. It's based on Group 4 PAOs which do not have good cleansing properties.

Don't add Seafoam to oil; use Marvel Mystery Oil; I belireve it is popular on this site for cleaning engines.
 
Most PAO based oils will keep a cleaner engine. Regular oil changes also help to keep an engine clean. Remember that there's always some oil left in there when you change the oil. Look in the owners manual and see xxx for oil change with filter and xxx+ for "teardown".

Esters? Sure, they are typically more agressive solvents but still - the blenders add detergents and it's the detergents that (for the most part) keep your engines clean.

As far as the Rotella - I've used it for 30+ years in everything and have no complaints. Look on the back of the bottle and you'll now see the JASO MA wet clutch certification. The reason that they didn't have it previously was that they were a tiny bit over the limit for sulphated ash. Mind you, this is not a bad thing. A little ash helps to keeps rings and piston skirts clean.

Check some of the UOAs on this board. Rotella holds up much better than the Castrol and better than many of the motorcycle-specific oils on your dealer shelves. No joke.

Me, I use the 15W-40. I suppose that you could use the 5W-40 but it's a GRP III hydrocracked (conventional) oil and contains no PAO nor ester base stocks. The 15W-40 appears to "hold up" as well as the 5W-40 variety Rotella.

Check out the UOA's
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Any HDMO is going to have more detergent/dispersant additive than PCMO or motorcycle-specific oils, regardless of base stock. Diesels produce a lot of soot and the oil has to handle it. There is Rotella T in the Yamaha to clean it up. I just bought it and it looks like it has had a hard life. Ive used Delo 400 in everything without a wet clutch (im worried about the moly in Delo) and the engines are sparkling clean inside. BTW, Shell's Group III+ is made from slack waxes, not the same as other Group III's.
 
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