oil

[yan101]

got my diversion 600 1992 the other day and was gonna do an oil change, but the bike oil ive had from halfords is the wrong api??? my dad says he didnt know they had seperate oils for cars and bikes, and he knows his stuff about bikes (back in the day anyway) he said its a load of sh*te that theres different oils for bikes, when he changed oil on a wet clutch bike he only ever used normal engine oil and experienced no slipping and the bikes were always ridden over 50k miles before he got rid. on other diversion forums people have also said the same that car oil is fine and some have also been using them for years,

my question is can car oil be used???

[cam7777]

'can of worms' springs to mind.

This subject has been discussed over and over again without agreement, some run their bikes on car oil and swear by it, others will only use bike oil, nothing else. I personally use halfords motorcycle oil in the mauve container (10w-40).

I'm afraid there is no real conclusion, its down to you to decide.

HTH

[yan101]

i used to own a jinlun 125 and a guy on their forum put me on to this at wilkinsons (links below) its car oil and very cheap so id be able to afford to do many many more oil changes than ordinary, i wondered if the bike would need semi synthetic or mineral based? not that im going to use the wilko's stuff just thought id ask the opinion of the forum.

www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/0198942

www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/0257960

[m40man]

I see little wrong with using this one:

www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/0257972

Good value 10w-40 mineral oil. Cheaper than I can get locally! You can read the reverse & check the spec but I expect it'll easily exceed what the requirements. Persnally, I change my oil often & I'd prefer a clean fresh oil of lower spec rather than a higher-spec or bike-specific oil that has seen more miles.

[m40man]

yan101 said:

... the bike oil ive had from halfords is the wrong api??? ....

I think you're worrying over nothing here. I doubt Halfords even stock a bike specific oil which falls BELOW the standard for a Divvy 600. So if you have this - use it.

[yan101]

so mineral oil over synthetic? is this cos there will be no silly additives that'll make the clutch slip? i dont plan on leaving it in over 1000miles before i change anyway

[m40man]

yan101 said:

so mineral oil over synthetic? is this cos there will be no silly additives that'll make the clutch slip? i dont plan on leaving it in over 1000miles before i change anyway

Not really. Just that mineral is fine, IMHO, & it's generally cheaper. I've used semi-synthetic occasionally though - never suffered any clutch slip. I've used fully-synth in some bikes, but I just don't believe that the Divvy needs it.

But whichever you use - changing it at 1000 miles is gonna cost you! I used to change my oil in my Divvy around about 1000 miles before the schedule (so I did it around 3000 miles). I'm sure many folks think that is excessive. But then some do it, apparently, around 2000 miles. Every 1000 miles is going a bit far, I think.

[CD]

Its important to change on time OR mileage. If the bike does only 1000 miles in the service time period then the oil should be changed as many of the additives will have degraded. Modern long life car oils might help if the bike is doing a very low mileage.

[General Gman]

I think that divvies are probably fine with whatever oil you stick in them, as long as it's not fully synthetic.
If you're worried about oil specification, then bike oils are certified to the JASO spec, and if it's MA then that's the one to get for a wet clutch bike.
I personally use Hein Gericke's own semi synthetic - it's a fair bit cheaper than Halfords' and Hein Gericke is also nearer
I wouldn't use car oil in my bike, though - there is too much going through the clutch for me to afford any risk of it slipping - and if the plates get impregnated with anti-friction stuff, it can be the end of them.

[m40man]

gurninman said:

I personally use Hein Gericke's own semi synthetic -

Too posh for me. I use car oil. Never had any probs. On any of my bikes.

[General Gman]

Thing is, car oil ain't exactly cheap - unless you buy tesco blue stripe stuff.
The Hein Gericke gear is £11.99 / 4L - pretty good price.
I do use Wilko's antifreeze/coolant, though.
Mucho cheap

[HRHpenfold]

gurninman said:

I personally use Hein Gericke's own semi synthetic - it's a fair bit cheaper than Halfords' .

I never liked that stuff, it made it difficult to change into first and more clunky, on both my 600 and 900, especially that first gear clunk, when not being used for s while, I used car oil in my Thunderace, fazer 1000, 600 both divvies, and both beemers, though the beemers are separate gearbox and dry clutch