Will my motorcycle blow up overnight??

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So.... I've read that people use Valvoline VR1 in their bikes. Valvoline says to use their motorcycle oil. I just put on a fresh K&N oil filter and poured in 4 quarts of Valvoline VR1 10W-30 into my 1989 GSX-R750. Let's see if the clutch slips. Let's see how it compares to the Mobile 1 4T oil that it replaced.
 
I will note that the used Mobile 1 4T, despite being in the bike for over a year, having over 6k miles, having the bike backed into in Seattle twice, and being flooded so bad that I had to drain the water out of 2 of the 4 carb float bowls, looked perfectly clean and there was zero (0, Nada, none) metal on the magnetic drain plug. Will cut the oil filter tomorrow and share results. Planning to update semi-regularly with how this non-synthetic dino f&#k juice stands up to expensive synthetic bike oil.

I ride my bike like I'm racing on the daily. Mobile 1 made it look like I'm a grandma. How will the 10w-30 not-for-motorcycles compare?
 
No.

This is, by the way, the Standard Automatic Always 100% Correct answer to any headline or forum topic post poised as an Answer written in the form of a question.
 
Originally Posted By: Jon130
.....looked perfectly clean and there was zero (0, Nada, none) metal on the magnetic drain plug. Will cut the oil filter tomorrow and share results. Planning to update semi-regularly with how this non-synthetic dino f&#k juice stands up to expensive synthetic bike oil.

I ride my bike like I'm racing on the daily. Mobile 1 made it look like I'm a grandma. How will the 10w-30 not-for-motorcycles compare?


Looking forward to the updates.
You had not even metal dust on the magnetic drain plug? How was it with other oils?

I don't get the last sentence, you ride your bike hard daily, but Mobil 1 did what?
 
Originally Posted By: alex_at
Originally Posted By: Jon130
.....looked perfectly clean and there was zero (0, Nada, none) metal on the magnetic drain plug. Will cut the oil filter tomorrow and share results. Planning to update semi-regularly with how this non-synthetic dino f&#k juice stands up to expensive synthetic bike oil.

I ride my bike like I'm racing on the daily. Mobile 1 made it look like I'm a grandma. How will the 10w-30 not-for-motorcycles compare?


Looking forward to the updates.
You had not even metal dust on the magnetic drain plug? How was it with other oils?

I don't get the last sentence, you ride your bike hard daily, but Mobil 1 did what?


I think he means that the apparent lack of engine damage makes it look like he's not riding close enough to the screaming edge.

Most bikers have crashes to establish such credentials, we don need no steenkeeng metal dust stylee
 
I've used conventional 20w50 Vr1 in my Harley's for several years. 3,000 mile OCI's. Three separate holes for engine, trans, and primary. My magnetic oil drain plug has no visible metal particles at all, not even a grey film on it. YMMV as Harley's don't have a shared sump. Let us know how it affects your clutch action.
 
You're not really any different than most other sport bike riders.

You won't blow up your bike. ZX-6R's and other 14,000 RPM bikes have been around since the late 80's and didn't blow up with the lousy oils we had back then, either.
 
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Originally Posted By: Jon130
So.... I've read that people use Valvoline VR1 in their bikes. Valvoline says to use their motorcycle oil. I just put on a fresh K&N oil filter and poured in 4 quarts of Valvoline VR1 10W-30 into my 1989 GSX-R750. Let's see if the clutch slips. Let's see how it compares to the Mobile 1 4T oil that it replaced.


I'm running VR1 SAE 40 in a Yamaha - no clutch slip. I'm at 2500 miles on the oil and the transmission still shifts brilliantly. Many other (multigrade) oils would have gone notchy by this point. Very impressed with monograde VR1 - as it has no VII's to shear I expect shifting quality to be more or less unchanged throughout the entire OCI (I'll probably change at 4K miles).

On an air/oil cooled GSXR I would not go lower than a xW-40, especially not in summer. These bikes run their oil very hot. It's not unusual to hear owners changing to 20W-50 for summer.
 
^^^

Yep, those old oil-boilers run hot. In my old FJ1200, (another hot running bike) I ran 20w-50 for the best summertime results.
 
I chose the 10w30 based on a choice between 10W-30 and 20W-50. Truly, my only concern is the 30 weight vs. the recommended 40. I'm likely going to change the oil at the end of the summer and possibly have an analysis done.

I'm not sure what had been in the bike when I got it, but it came out chunky and there was a lot if fine metal in the drain plug. Not ideal.

The Mobile 1 10W40 4T came out looking dark but nowhere near as dark as anything I've drained from a car. Otherwise, it appeared and felt the same as it went in. I was surprised by the absolute lack of metal on the drain plug. I cleaned it on a white towel and looked at it in bright light just to be sure. Nothing. I'm going to cut into my filter today, but the Mobile 1 seems to work very well. Still, I'm not a huge fan of the $40 oil change.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to see how the VR1 does. It's close to the upper end of the temperature range for using the 10W-30 here. I believe the Suzuki manual says that 96 degrees F is the upper limit for using 10w-30. Given that my bike lives at 8k to 11k rpm, this should be a proper stress test.
 
20-50 in summer? I would have thought that would be too heavy for a gixxer. Small oil passages, tight clearances, yada yada.
 
Do you have your owners manual? If so, it will show the acceptable viscosity oils for various ambient temperature ranges. In short, 20w50 is fine for use from IIRC, 14°F on up.
 
Originally Posted By: Jon130
I chose the 10w30 based on a choice between 10W-30 and 20W-50. Truly, my only concern is the 30 weight vs. the recommended 40. I'm likely going to change the oil at the end of the summer and possibly have an analysis done.


There's always the monograde SAE 40 VR1. Not having a W rating doesn't matter in the summer, and you'd get the benefit of no shearing.


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I'm not sure what had been in the bike when I got it, but it came out chunky and there was a lot if fine metal in the drain plug. Not ideal.
The Mobile 1 10W40 4T came out looking dark but nowhere near as dark as anything I've drained from a car. Otherwise, it appeared and felt the same as it went in. I was surprised by the absolute lack of metal on the drain plug.


Yeah, sounds like a bit of neglect by the previous owner, but it also sounds like the Mobil 1 did a good job cleaning it up.

Valve clearance checks on these are every 3000 miles IIRC, so it won't be too long before you'll need to open up the valve covers and take a look inside anyway.
 
Originally Posted By: jeff78
Valve clearance checks on these are every 3000 miles IIRC, so it won't be too long before you'll need to open up the valve covers and take a look inside anyway.


Good call on the valve clearances. I should probably get on that sooner than later, maintenance unknown and all.

The bike was completely restored and painted at some point. I actually work with a guy who claims to have contributed to that effort. Since that time, it has seen some neglect.

I took the body and fuel system apart over the weekend to replace the fuel lines and vacuum line. I noticed the float bowl breathers had no lines and were just open in an upright position at the carbs. Crankcase breather? Yeah, just a gaping hole. The rear subframe was held on with 3 of 6 bolts, two of which with damaged threads. The truly special treat was a previous owners electrical projects that left all unused connections fully exposed, rear led turn signal resistors melted into the rear upper fender, and an oil pressure idiot light connector just dangling free with no bulb. Clearly a master mechanic at work. All corrected now with the exception of OEM bolts and light bulb on order.

The bike seems to run just fine on the VR1. The clutch and shifting are noticeably smoother, though that's normal for an oil change. My girlfriend just got her endorsement and we are practicing and wrenching every spare minute, so it doesn't look like I'll be having any high-rpm fun in the short term.
 
Originally Posted By: Jon130
Good call on the valve clearances. I should probably get on that sooner than later, maintenance unknown and all.


Valve adjustment is by screw and locknut - easy peasy.


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The bike was completely restored and painted at some point. I actually work with a guy who claims to have contributed to that effort. Since that time, it has seen some neglect.


Yeah, that's the thing with older bikes, sometimes their history is not entirely known. On the other hand, they're relatively easy to work on. OEM parts will be hard to come by although I think Suzuki has some sort of 'Classic bike parts' program where they do new production runs of older parts.

These oil burner GSXR's are fairly bulletproof though and aftermarket support is strong. Plus there's good parts interchangeability between the various models.


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Crankcase breather? Yeah, just a gaping hole.


I love the smell of crankcase fumes in the morning!


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The bike seems to run just fine on the VR1. The clutch and shifting are noticeably smoother, though that's normal for an oil change. My girlfriend just got her endorsement and we are practicing and wrenching every spare minute, so it doesn't look like I'll be having any high-rpm fun in the short term.


VR1's really a great oil with a healthy dose of antiwear additives, there's a reason why the classic car guys love the stuff. And it doesn't break the bank. Valvoline does not recommend its use with wet clutches, but after 2500 miles my clutch is fine and the transmission still shifts effortlessly.

Sounds like you've got a handle on the bike's issues, post some pics if you can.

Saw a beautiful '86 Limited Edition 750 the other day, brought a tear to my eye (I had an '86 non-LE and a '92).
 
This is probably mostly in my head, but I'm not thinking this VR1 is doing so hot. Logically the difference between 30 and 40 weight isn't that huge but it lurks at the back of my mind every time I ride. I'm also not sure why the oil turned dark so quickly, but it turned very black after only a few miles? Does this have better or different detergents than the Mobile 1 4T? I'm assuming that's the cause. No clutch issues at all, but shifting seems to have gotten rough quickly.

This could be the "for motorcycles" getting to me, but I'm going back to the Mobile 1 very soon.
 
Originally Posted By: Jon130
This is probably mostly in my head, but I'm not thinking this VR1 is doing so hot. Logically the difference between 30 and 40 weight isn't that huge but it lurks at the back of my mind every time I ride.


Yeah I personally would not have run a 10W-30 in an air/oil cooled GSXR, a 40 is the lowest I'd go and still be able to sleep at night.


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I'm also not sure why the oil turned dark so quickly, but it turned very black after only a few miles? Does this have better or different detergents than the Mobile 1 4T?


The additives package would be different, but I wouldn't really sweat the color. Some oils turn darker quicker than others.


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No clutch issues at all, but shifting seems to have gotten rough quickly.


Yeah, the 30 was thin to begin with, then add to that hot running and shearing by the transmission and now it's thinned even more to the point where it's noticeable. Unfortunately, it won't get any better from there.


Quote:
This could be the "for motorcycles" getting to me, but I'm going back to the Mobile 1 very soon.


If you don't have that many miles on the current fill and don't want to dump it all immediately, you can try draining half the sump, pick up 2 quarts of 20W-50 VR1 and fill it with that and see how it goes (IIRC total sump capacity is 3.6 or 3.8L?). That will thicken the oil up a bit.

Mobil 1 15W-50 is also pretty good and usually less than $25 at Walmart in the 5-quart jugs if you don't feel like splurging on the pricier 4T stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: jeff78
Mobil 1 15W-50 is also pretty good and usually less than $25 at Walmart in the 5-quart jugs if you don't feel like splurging on the pricier 4T stuff.



That sounds like a winner right there. I'm not much on Walmart, so I think I'll try to find elsewhere. 15W seems like a good fit for western WA too.
 
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