Engine oil

[Slaninar]

With a caveat of you have to be careful what you buy i.e. no friction modifiers and it meets the standards previously mentioned, car oil is fine.


I ran my GPZ1100 for nearly 80,000 miles on cheap Ford motor oil (my dad got big discount) changed with a new filter every 3000 miles with no problems whatsoever. When he was working my dad used to run all his bikes on he same oil (CB750,CB550,CX500,CX650) for years.


Supermarket own brands are also good value as long as they meet the spec.

Motorcycle specific oil is better. Good motorcycle oil vs good car oil that is.

Differences are:

1) Revs
Motorcycle engines rev a lot higher. This asks for more anti-foaming qualities in oil. It also breaks the viscousity of oil down quicker - so it should be "tougher".

2) Power to capacity ratio
600 cc fazer engine makes almost twice the hp of a 1200 cc car petrol engine. Add a bit higher working temp, greater compression ratio. This also asks for a "tougher" oil and makes most purely mineral oils just not good enough.

3) A lot mentioned wet clutch - motorcycle oil should make good scratch protection inside the engine, witout making the clutch too slippery. If oil is JASO MA2 approved - it does just that perfectly.


Changing good motorcycle specific oil every 4000 miles is better for the motorcycle engine than changing car oil every 3000 miles.