Car oil in div600s

[ibbo]

I've heard that you cant put car oil in a bike, however when I had the big scary red light start flashing wildly at me the other day had no choice! Castrol Magnetec 10-40W, as yet absolutely no problems.

Is it worth flushing the oil???

[chunk166]

you should be ok, i run my xj900s on car oil with no problems & i think some other members do aswell.

ray

[taint]

Hi Ibbo

The concern with car oil is clutch slip. Most car engine oils are not designed for wet clutches; which is what most motorbikes have. Though some of them will mention if they are suitable.

The theory goes that car oils car have additives such as detergents which result in clutch slip; however many of the members here have used car oils for a long time with no consequences.

Personally, I stick to motorcycle oils but there shouldn't be any problems with a mix.

Hope this helps

T.

[El Fuego]

I use Halfords 10W-40 in my D900.

[amorti]

I would think cheaper car oils with fewer anti-friction additives would be a better bet than flashier car oils? More important by far to keep on top of changes.

[HRHpenfold]

What you must not do, is run your bike on fully synthetic car oils, use semi synthetic myself, and have never had a problem

[yan101]

dont beleive what anyone says about car oil in bikes, my dad has used castrol gtx in all his bike with no clutch slippage, i use it too with no problems infact it runs better than halfords sh*tty bike oil, which is basically expensive poor version of gtx. Its just a marketing ploy, there was no such thing as bike specific oils up until the early 90's

[ibbo]

Cheers for putting my mind at ease guys.

[DahDit]

I use car diesel (otherwise known as heavy duty) oil in my & Jane's bikes. It has the same zinc additives that are put into bike oils. 15w40 or 10w40, never had a problem at all. It's cheaper and the best thing you can do for an engine is to regularly give it a transfusion.

Paying over the odds un-necessarily will only lead to the opposite happening. Change every 6,000miles or so (filter every other change) and all will be sweet. With 5L costing about £15 it's far less than a tankful - and it's good for 6k.

As long as it's SAE SG or greater (diesel oils are SL last time I looked) - you're ok. Just avoid "energy conserving" oils as they can lead to clutch slip.

It's all on the label.

Any 10w40 will do. Semi-synth or mineral, it doesn't matter. Just change it regularly - you won't have problems.

[CD]

I know of a Honda Hornet 600 with 100,000Ks and going strong on car type full sythetic.

[General Gman]

yan101 said:

dont beleive what anyone says about car oil in bikes, my dad has used castrol gtx in all his bike with no clutch slippage, i use it too with no problems infact it runs better than halfords crappy bike oil, which is basically expensive poor version of gtx. Its just a marketing ploy, there was no such thing as bike specific oils up until the early 90's

That's because oil manufacturers didn't start adding friction modifiers to oil until the 90's..... ;D

[CD]

As Gman say's if the oil is JASO MA spec it will be fine in a Divvie. I would say if the oil is at least as good as JASO MA then it will be fine.

[nobby]

In my FJ1200 I use 10/40 in the winter and then 20/50 in the summer.
The FJ club recomends this so thats what I use.
As the XJ is a oil cooled engine aswell then I will use the same grades in this

[General Gman]

But is car oil actually any cheaper anyway ?
How much is semi-synthetic car oil ?

[m40man]

nobby said:

In my FJ1200 I use 10/40 in the winter and then 20/50 in the summer.

So did I in my FJ1200. But that's because the Yamaha owners manual advised it. 10/40 has always been fine all year round in my other bikes.

........... nearly always car oil, which I find is generally cheaper. When I find bike oil at the same price, then I buy it. Don't often find it the same price though, because I buy in 5lt bottles for economy. There's not much bike oil sold in that size container.

[General Gman]

How much would one shell out for 5L of car oil ?
HG semi synth bike oil is £11.99 for 4L - certainly cheaper than Halfords semi synthetic car oil

[cam7777]

I believe in the right oil for the engine, my car oil is dearer than bike oil anyway as my car has to use PD specified oil.

I always use Halfords bike specific oil in my bikes and it is £10 per 5 litres cheaper than my car oil anyway.

[General Gman]

Exactamundo - I use HG bike oil, and it's cheap, too.

[m40man]

gurninman said:

How much would one shell out for 5L of car oil ?
HG semi synth bike oil is £11.99 for 4L - certainly cheaper than Halfords semi synthetic car oil

I could buy cheaper [1], but I support my local shop. Usually about £12.00 / £13.00 for 10w/40. Have paid over £14 before now. Current oil's spec is API SL/CF:ACEA A2,B2.

Recommended spec for my Fazer is API SE, SF, SG or higher. (Semi-synth not specified.) Is semi-synth specified for your Kwacker?

Halford's nearest equivelant is £14.99. More expensive, & I don't have one near where I live anyway, so I'd spend on petrol getting there.

I've paid £26 for 4L of bike oil before . I know better now though. I prob change oil & filter rather more than necessary. But I'd do that even if using posh bike oil.

[1] Go on - Someone tell me they use the Tesco oil. £7.99 for 5L. There's no way I'm the tightest person on YDC ;D.

[General Gman]

My bike manual specifies the same, but I cxan't find mineral oil any cheaper than HG.
I use the blue stripe stuff if I put oil in the wife's fiesta when I do work on it.
I've spent fortunes on bike oil in the past, but as I have Hein Gericke local, and it seems to be good... and I have a short-stroke high-rev motor, and the HG stuff is fairly cheap (half the price of the Motul stuff they sell)..
Oh, And I can confirm that bike oils *do* have different additives - one of my clients is a famous oil manufacturing company who has been having problems with BOMs - I've been fixing a number of problems, and whilst testing scenarios used a few of their BOMs and had a look at what goes into the oil (and the stupidly low cost of it).

[beeblemaster]

Texaco Havoline 10/40 semi-synth from Morrison's Petrol Station for me. £13-£14 for 5 litres. Used in all my bikes (about 18000 miles worth on the TDM). No problems at all.