Car oil vs Bike oil

After doing some research this spring I decided to buy car oil for my VTX 1800. I made sure not to buy the energy conserving oils because they can make the wet clutch slip. I went back and forth, even changed my oil twice before I ended up just putting bike oil back in the motor. Was I just being paranoid? Has anyone used like Mobil 1 car oil,in their bike with no problems? All the studies say that there is no difference between the two oils. Can that it is just a label they put on the oil to charge double the price.

I talked to a Mobil tech about it. He said the car oil was fine for the Harley because we have a separate clutch oil. Otherwise, the M1VT would be
the oil to use. Around here they cost the same anyway. Me, I got tired of the noise and went to Valvoline dino, after some study.

In the VTX I would use Rotella 15/40, I have found that the 15/40 doesn't shear as quick in my bike(VT1100-T) as the Rotella T6 5/40, another good oil is Delo 15/40. I haven't used motorcycle oil's in 30 years(waste of money) in any of my bikes(dirt and street) and they all have/had wet clutches.

ROD

I run Rotella in all 4 scoots here. An 1800 wing, 2 vtx 1300's and a shadow 600. I like it a lot.
It's not a car oil ... it's a diesel oil.
Honestly, the only thing that matters is that it is not an energy conserving oil. Even then it will not detonate the engine or clutch. Just makes the clutch not near as grabby. It will clear up after going back to non conserving oil.

See you out there
Smokey

Just an upper for yez, I ran diesel Valvoline for many years in my Trumpets, rippin' and shreddin' as usual. No problems, but sold 'em.
SOoooo...I sold my 750 bonnie Bob Job Chopper to a 1st class Navy Ensign who rode it around the USA - his only problem was the clutch nut
came loose and had to be readjusted. All on diesel oil. I'd consider that to be major kudos to my build,  but more so, to the oil itself.

I use Delo 15/40 diesel oil in both of my Goldwings.    140k miles on one and 38k on the other not problem with the oil.  I change it ever 3 to 4 k miles.

92,000 plus miles and my bike has never seen bike oil.

+1 on diesel oil. I use Rotella or Delvac. Depending on which one is on sale at the time. I've heard Delo has a high moly content, so I don't use it. Car oil is fine as long as it's not "energy conserving" or otherwise has a high Moly content.

i run castrol 20w50 in everything as does my dad i have put 300,000 on a mercury car 200,000 on a 66 chevy pickup after i rebuilt the truck because i was born in 66 50,000 on a 82 honda nighthawk then my son rode it 96,000 on a 02 shadow plus many more vehicles ive owned but the shadow is still goin great and i love being dark 22,000 miles and many more to go on this tire   

lj birdman wrote:i run castrol 20w50 in everything  as does my dad  i have put 300,000 on a mercury car 200,000 on a 66 chevy pickup after i rebuilt the truck because i was born in 66 50,000 on a 82 honda nighthawk then my son rode it 96,000 on a 02 shadow plus many more vehicles ive owned but the shadow is still goin great and i love being dark 22,000 miles and many more to go on this tire     

20w oils are ok in warmer climates, in colder climates the heavier start up viscosity causes the oil to take longer to pump thru the engine on startup and more wear

99% of engine wear is on startup

fwiw, I had a Jeep 4.0 with over 400k still runs like a champ as a woodlot buggy, running on any old oil, mostly 5w30 or 10w30, but sometimes 10w40 or 15w40, brands= anything from Walmart Superflow to Valvoline Fleet, 135k on my SV650, mostly MC oil cause its 100% dealer serviced, but what ever oil the mechanic felt like that day and I topped it off when low with anything handy including energy conserving car oil

my observation when energy conserving oils are used with wet clutches does NOT cause slipping, but the opposite, it caused the plates to stick, with viscosity modifiers and no shear strength additives, upon engagement of the clutch, the springs squeeze all the oil from between the plates allowing direct contact and bonding

imho the best oil would be a 0w50 synthetic, but why waste the money if your gonna replace it every 3000-4000 miles and cheap fossil oils are more than up to the task

[quote=99% of engine wear is on startup[/quote]
Woah, CWF, I have to wonder about this post! It sort of sounds like you swallowed some of the additive coolaid in a sense: there have been many
blogs on this and none seem to back up the "cold oil startup" problems stated by the addititive people. I've always ran oil pressure gauges, and
honestly, I can't for one, believe that my 50# pressure at immediate startup is starving my engine, and secondly, every engine I've taken down
that had set a while, still had a coating of OIL over all the bearings and parts.
Personally, I think it's media crap; sales hype. I'm not alone in this amongst mechanincs.
What do you really think?

quadancer wrote:
What do you really think?

I think the engines in EVERY vehicle I have owned for the past 45 years makes noises during the first 5 seconds that they don't make after that

does a residue of oil film lubricate as well as flowing oil

what do you really think

You may be right, but 99% of engine wear from 5 seconds? Doubtful. OTOH, I live in the south and you up 'nawth - we use thicker oils even in winter than you do,
so that may add to the equation as well. Your thinner oils may let you hear noises we don't down here; except my Chevy 5.3L, which is supposed to clack the lifters
for a little while.

thinner oils are quieter, they pump up quicker

run a 20w in winter time an you'll hear your engine clatter for 20 seconds instead of 5 seconds with a 0w oil

remember, in a warmed up engine, 0w50 oil is same viscosity as as 20w50, the difference is when the oil is cold

Another Rotella convert here. The manual specifies JASO and MA for oil, the the Rotella 15W-40 has that designation on the bottle. The bike runs so different since I switched. Much smoother now.

Grinch,
Well did you get your answer about oil.

ROD

For many thousands of miles i used Castrol 10w40 Automobile oil in my 1800 vtx with great results, i have also used it in my 1982 Goldwing 1100 cc and also in my 2008 Goldwing 1800cc.   No problems of any kind, i have now switched to Castrol Edge Full Synthetic Automobile 10w40 im my 2008 Goldwing...I don't think that there is any advantage in using "motorcycle oil" in a liquid cooled motorcycle.....*smile* Automobile oil works just fine.

aries44109 wrote:For many thousands of miles i used Castrol 10w40 Automobile oil in my 1800 vtx with great results, i have also used it in my 1982 Goldwing 1100 cc and also in my 2008 Goldwing 1800cc.   No problems of any kind, i have now switched to Castrol Edge Full Synthetic Automobile 10w40 im my 2008 Goldwing...I don't think that there is any advantage in using "motorcycle oil" in a liquid cooled motorcycle.....*smile* Automobile oil works just fine.

10w-40 tis not the car oil that is not recommended

what kind of car you have ? do you have a car?

most cars today recommend they water they call oil in viscosities like 0w-20 or a more heavyweight 5w-20

Rotella !!! or Royal Purple

Well, who can afford the Grape Juice? Methinks they think too highly of theyselviz.

Who can afford an engine ??

Heh, troo dat. I used to work in a Triumph shop in Norfolk, and one of the old owner's (Motorcycle Mac) sayings was "Oil iz cheeper than parts."
I say change and change often. That's also why I went back to good dino.

+1 for the HD/Diesel/Fleet Oils.

I run Rotella T6 5w40 with an oversized Purolator PureOne (PL14610) car filter on my 1100 Honda. Runs great on that combo.

Honda oil was garbage imo. Mobil1 MC Oil was good.

The Rotella T6 with a P1 filter runs CLEAN. Clutch is super smooth. Engine stays cool, quiet as a mouse. When I first ran it, I ran it with a Wix filter, which I swapped after a week.. I had a bit of top end noise, not much but a little. Swapped it for a size bigger PureOne, top end tap went away. Not sure if was a flow rate issue, pressure, or what. I know one other person who had tapping on the same bike with a wix, but ppl with other bikes run em and swear by em. They are smaller inside, and have lower bypass. I run T6 in everything I own... the lawnmower.. my Van that has 240,000 miles on it and runs better on the T6 than it ever has. I go a size up on them P1 oil filters on both. They flow fine. They are FINE for bikes imo.

Regarding the car oils... i dunno. I would not put any of the energy cons. oils in a bike. Ive known a few ppl that run the Mobil1 High Mileage Car Oil in their bikes and swear by it. I wouldn't run it in mine, but thats me. The additive pack is what most car oils are lacking vs MC and racing oils. Zinc, Phosphorus, it helps protect stuff. car oils hardly have any if at all now, whereas MC oils have it, and the HD/Diesel oils mostly have it as well. My buddy had an old bike and ran nothing but castrol 20w50 in it, ran great til he smoked his valves and had mad banging noises out of his top end around 80k miles.. even his mechanic told him it was because of the valve setup in his bike, and him not running a proper oil. He changed it monthly too, sure wasnt for lack of maintenence. One of them things that depends on the bike, and the owner...

I saw this is an older thread, but thought I'd add info for people reading. Best you can do is ask around, see what other people are running, and make your own decision on what you run. Like paint, or exhaust, or anything else on yer bike, it dont really matter what other people want, its what you want. you wanna save money on oil then buy whats on sale. You wanna protect your engine then run something that's proven itself. If you wanna pick something and stick with it, or change it up, well.. do it to it.  IMO a lot of the good oils dont cost much anyhow. The HD/Diesel oils mentioned in this thread are pretty proven. Someone mentioned DELVAC - thats another HD/Diesel/Fleet oil that has a good rep, and Ive never ran the Valvoline HD Oil but I run Valvoline coolant, gear oil, brake fluid, and ATF+4 (forks) in my bike.. I wouldn't hesitate to put the Valvoline HD Oil in my crankcase, Ive been eyeballin it up at the store lately. Lotta people up here run that 15w40 rotella dino in their dirtbikes and they run them bikes like they stole em and swear by it. I run the 5w40 Rotella cuz it starts easy in winters, it dont get too hot in summers here and my scoot is liquid cooled. I like bein able to use the same oil in everything too. It just don't make sense to me to fry an engine on the grounds of being different, but there are other oils besides "MC Specific" oils that will run GOOD. Are they the best? That probably depends who u ask. Looks like the HD/Diesel/Fleet oils are workin well for other posters here too.

Another Rotella fan.Been running it in my Wings and both my atv's for years.T6 mostly now but I have used the dino as well with good results.

Rotella in all my bikes also, never a problem.