Car oil (yes, thin of worms...) experiences

[Slaninar]

Not trying to open a can of worms, just looking at the maintenance bills - wife's car vs my bike. Got me thinking. So far I've only been using 100% synthetic motorcycle specific oil in all bikes - no problems, none whatsoever. Old, new models - all sweet... except the PRICE. Now:

I've been listening to lots of different stories. Some people swear by hundreds of thousands of trouble free kilometers with car oil in their motorbikes, while others (including the mechanic I often hang out with) say that FZS's revvy engine should use only motorcycle specific oil.

Now, I like to ride hard (when I warm the engine up of course), take it just below the red line often (11-12 k revs).

I'm interested to hear from FZS600 owners with lots of miles on their bikes that have used regular car oil. Did the engine start using up oil quickly, clutch, valves - was everything OK? How many miles did you test car oils, what change intervals?


Is it better to use full synth motorcycle oil and change at 8000 km, or use cheaper car oil at 5000 km change intervals?


I use bike for joyrides - so not even commuting. Just shorter or longer trips, or track.

[Fazerider]

I used car oil in my first proper bike... suffered massive wear on the cam tips and pitting on the rest of the lobes. Never again.
Semi-synthetic is all the Fazer really needs, you don't need to go to the expense of fully synth. As long as the engine always gets up to full temperature before being parked up you'll be fine at 8000km intervals. More frequent changes might be worthwhile if you do lots of occasional short runs which don't give it time to warm up and boil off condensation.

[Lawrence]

I always thought the difference between car and bike oil was the amount/type of friction modifiers put in which could cause clutch slip on the bike.
 
I've only ever used bike oil, the last lot that went in was genuine Yamaha stuff which was semi synth.  And the last lot that came out had done 13000 miles and appeared to be ok still

[darrsi]

I used Castrol Magnatec once and remember the bike absolutely hating it, so i had to get it changed.
It may have even caused the clutch to slip as well.
The thing is, if they say certain oil is designed for bikes then just buy bike oil, it's your engine you're playing about with here, is it really worth risking anything over a couple of quid?
+1 for the semi synthetic too.


I remember now as well, the bike took much longer to warm up in winter when i had the Magnatec in, but once i changed it everything went back to normal.

[Dead Eye]

Slaninar - How much is the oil costing you? You can get some good deals on decent semi-synthetic oils on eBay. I got 5 litres last time for about £22~ delivered

Mind you, car oil is cheaper, just bought 4 litres for £13.95! But that's for the car...

[Superfour Tom]

Iv'e never had any problems with car oil. I tend to get Diesel oil though. 10/40w Semi-Sinthetic, Halfords brand will do me.

[Slaninar]

Slaninar - How much is the oil costing you? You can get some good deals on decent semi-synthetic oils on eBay. I got 5 litres last time for about £22~ delivered

Mind you, car oil is cheaper, just bought 4 litres for £13.95! But that's for the car...

Serbian customs are robbers, so getting things from abroad (e-bay, or else) is too expensive. I have to order to a mate's foreign address and then he delivers it when he comes to Serbia - twice a year.

Prices here are OK, but motorcycle-specific oil is at least 50% more expensive.

Fully synthetic oil even more so.



Guess it's not wise to play with car oils.


For moto-specific oils:

Would using full synth at 8000-10.000 km intervals (once a year for me) be any harsher on the engine than using semi-synth at 5000-6000 km intervals?      Aynone have experience with longer change intervals?

[darrsi]

Slaninar - How much is the oil costing you? You can get some good deals on decent semi-synthetic oils on eBay. I got 5 litres last time for about £22~ delivered

Mind you, car oil is cheaper, just bought 4 litres for £13.95! But that's for the car...

Serbian customs are robbers, so getting things from abroad (e-bay, or else) is too expensive. I have to order to a mate's foreign address and then he delivers it when he comes to Serbia - twice a year.

Prices here are OK, but motorcycle-specific oil is at least 50% more expensive.

Fully synthetic oil even more so.



Guess it's not wise to play with car oils.


For moto-specific oils:

Would using full synth at 8000-10.000 km intervals (once a year for me) be any harsher on the engine than using semi-synth at 5000-6000 km intervals?      Aynone have experience with longer change intervals?

The actual service period was upped to 6000 miles, which is near enough to 10,000km anyway.
I personally change oil every 4000 miles, but it's not that necessary, just habit really.

[Slaninar]

The actual service period was upped to 6000 miles, which is near enough to 10,000km anyway.
I personally change oil every 4000 miles, but it's not that necessary, just habit really.

So it's no problem in the long run to change that rarely? 99% of the bikers and mechanics I know swear by 4000 mile / 6000 kilometer oil changes, but from what I've read so far - yes, Yamaha does say 6k miles /10 k kilometers.

[Motorbreath]

If I remember correctly, car oil is lower quality. But it has a lot of good additives that make it work very well but cause clutch slipping in bikes. No-additive car oil is crap.

My Fazer burns oil since I bought it 8 years ago, I change it each 20000km to change the filter too. I add a little amount when needed and that's it. "Old" oil looks very good when replacing.

I use synth or semi synth. 10w50, 15w50. (You know I am from Spain)

[Dave48]

How many every day car engines spend time @ or around 10000rpm?
Why would you want to use anything other than what the manufacturers recommend?
When is a bargain a bargain?
Motorcycle specific oils are designed for the job-so why use car oil  that may contain friction modifiers, or, in the case of diesel oil, large quantities of detergent?
Any reputable brand of 10W40 semi or fully synthetic is what goes in my bikes in this climate.

[john 087]

I use car oil, but change oil and filter every 4000 miles. bikeis only driven hard every now and then.

[darrsi]

How many every day car engines spend time @ or around 10000rpm?
Why would you want to use anything other than what the manufacturers recommend?
When is a bargain a bargain?
Motorcycle specific oils are designed for the job-so why use car oil  that may contain friction modifiers, or, in the case of diesel oil, large quantities of detergent?
Any reputable brand of 10W40 semi or fully synthetic is what goes in my bikes in this climate.

Exactly, time and money is spent on all this kinda stuff, it's pointless trying to outdo the boffins for the sake of a few quid!!

[Farjo]

"I used Castrol Magnatec once and remember the bike absolutely hating it, so i had to get it changed."
"Why would you want to use anything other than what the manufacturers recommend?"
From a previous topic:

Don't use "Magnatec" ... it has molybdenum sulphide in it and that may well bugger up your clutch. That's what Mr Yamaha means when he says "Avoid oils woith friction reducing additives"
Having said that, several on here have used Magnatec or fully synthetic with no reported problems.
 
Any standard car oil that meets the SE, SF or SG spec or has a grade "CD" or higher will do fine: (ie NOT "Car-lube's" cheapest offering).
Asda or Tesco semi-synth are both cheap and good.
 
If you like your oil to be "reassuringly expensive" then use something with a picture of a motorbike on the label.
Bike oil is simply car-oil with added marketing by suits that sponsor bike-racing. I have yet to see any evidence otherwise.

What he's saying is that any oil that meets Yamaha's specification is fine, and that some car oils do indeed meet that specification.

Whilst I too have never seen any actual evidence to the contrary, other than a picture of a motorbike on the can, I've never tried car oil, so I too prefer my oil "reassuringly expensive"

[Punkstig]

motorbike engine oil is for wet clutches, you need to check all the afi No's. etc
Engine oil is the very one thing you should never attempt to question saving money on!

[Lawrence]

I use car oil, but change oil and filter every 4000 miles. bikeis only driven hard every now and then.

Bike oil done every 8k would be just as good, work out cheaper and require half as many changes

[Jacko]

Yamaha does not recommend bike or car oil just an oil specification letter / number, as long
as this is ok then you are good to go.
Just stay away from the friction reducing stuff, just plain old oil is the stuff.

[darrsi]

9. CAN I USE CASTROL MAGNATEC IN MY MOTORCYCLE? We would not recommend using Castrol Magnatec in your bike. Castrol have a specialist range of Motorcycle oils engineered with Trizone Technology™ which offer unbeatable protection of your bike’s, engine, gearbox and clutch.Visit the Castrol Moto website for more information.


I remember reading this online when i started having issues after changing the oil for Magnatec.
That turned out to be an expensive oil change!