I just purchased a 1981 yamaha 550 maxim with 25,000 miles. Any oil recomendations?
BEST OIL FOR 1981 YAMAHA 550 MAXIM
- Thread starter dooley
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Rotella 15w-40 / Chevron Delo 15w-40
Amsoil or M1 MC oil's
Best "on paper" might be specialty oils like amsoil, mobil,maxima, spectro, or even the diesel oil. Best "in the bike" for wear and longevity of the engine the paper #'s aren't so clearly evident.
For every glowing testimonial about brand A or B boutique oil. There are 100's of bikes out there doing fine and lasting a long time on brand nothing special off the shelf car oil. The things that seem to shortenen the engines life that I have seen, like filters, valves not adjusted, improper fueling, poor parts machining and tolerance, couldn't have been helped by super oil. A couple low mile motors recently have worn cams lobes run on red wht blu oil, not the oils fault, rough machining on the buckets got them. Another in the shop, 98k ex500 twin, looked great everywhere inside and still pumped spec compression. Owner bragged he religiously changed oil every 5000 miles with brand C (car) oil 10w40. LOL, by bitog forum data it should be goin to the scrap yard, heck it probably speant 1/2 it's life with 20w in it? And I know it speant many years on the track too?
For every glowing testimonial about brand A or B boutique oil. There are 100's of bikes out there doing fine and lasting a long time on brand nothing special off the shelf car oil. The things that seem to shortenen the engines life that I have seen, like filters, valves not adjusted, improper fueling, poor parts machining and tolerance, couldn't have been helped by super oil. A couple low mile motors recently have worn cams lobes run on red wht blu oil, not the oils fault, rough machining on the buckets got them. Another in the shop, 98k ex500 twin, looked great everywhere inside and still pumped spec compression. Owner bragged he religiously changed oil every 5000 miles with brand C (car) oil 10w40. LOL, by bitog forum data it should be goin to the scrap yard, heck it probably speant 1/2 it's life with 20w in it? And I know it speant many years on the track too?
Yeah, whatever you use, if you have a wet-clutch (since you have a Yamaha, you probably do), change it out early. That's the number one thing. I plan 2000 miles on my Honda Shadow 750. It's a high RPM cruiser at 60mph+ in 5th gear, and it shares the oil with the transmission, so the oil takes a beating. Using Rotella 15w-40 I plan on always changing at 2000 miles.
http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/FilterXRef.html
From there I found the Purolator (under category 5)... Purolator Pure One could fit my bike, so I bought the bigger one and it worked great. My tranny shifts sooo much smoother now on the Rotella/Pure One combo than whatever oil it was on when I got it at 12,500 miles. It had a Honda filter on it when I got it, and the purolator for automobiles fit just as good, and was bigger. So, I think I'll stick with what I'm doing for now.... until I see that I NEED synthetic... or that 5w-40 holds its viscosity as good as a 15w-40.
http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/FilterXRef.html
From there I found the Purolator (under category 5)... Purolator Pure One could fit my bike, so I bought the bigger one and it worked great. My tranny shifts sooo much smoother now on the Rotella/Pure One combo than whatever oil it was on when I got it at 12,500 miles. It had a Honda filter on it when I got it, and the purolator for automobiles fit just as good, and was bigger. So, I think I'll stick with what I'm doing for now.... until I see that I NEED synthetic... or that 5w-40 holds its viscosity as good as a 15w-40.
I prefer the valvoline m/c oil 10W40. works great for wet clutches, and only around 3.25 a qt. adv auto or auto zone have it. I have switched from the 15w40 oils to this and it stopped clutch slippage in about 1/2 doz bikes. hondas as well as yamahas, Tim
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Where do you get this oil at? I might try it with a 20w-50 mix. I run my bike a little hard with a few redline shifts every day. I don't rag it out or anything, but I am a little hard on it. I just like to hear the sound
I do 50/50 10W-40 & 20W-50 of Valvoline. What I like about this oil is that it makes my 919 runs kinda effortless compared to Rotella I used. I buy it at Auto Zone for about $3.39.
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