Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech oil changing

Hi,
I am going to be changing my oil for the first time. I have let the dealer do it all the other times but he is getting too pricy. I bought the kn filter recommended by KN website. A friend told me he uses Castrol synthetic 10w40. I read that Mobil 1 10w 40 is a better choice but its 11 bucks a quart vs the Castrol of 5 bucks. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Ron

Just be sure that it's a motorcycle specific oil.
The Castrol MC syn that I've seen are semi-synthetic but that's OK.
I get the Mobil-1 4T 10w40, about 8 bucks per quart.

thanks.
The mobil 1 oil 10w40 sells for about 11 bucks a quart. Is that a reasonable price for that oil?

Ron

Make sure that it is for a wet clutch also.

Yeah, that's what the motorcycle specific covers.

I pay about 8 dollars a quart for the Mobil (at least last time I bought some, it may have gone up).

castrol slips, use shell rotella syn from wallyworld for $12/gallon (blue jug), used it for 30k, no problems.

The Mobil-1 for cars has friction modifiers in it that will
make a wet-clutch on a bike slip. The Mobil-1 4t, or V-Twin
oil is bike specific, and will work. Many here use the Shell
Rotella synthetic diesel oil, with good results.

AMSOIL has been voted the best wet clutch oil within my circle of friends. Is fully synthetic and will go the distance whether you ride hard or sunday drive. Just my $.02

Amsoil Motorcycle 20-50 is the best stuff out there as well as the Amsoil or K&N filters. Just look at the friction tests. Rotella and most of the others are way down the list. I don't know about you but I wouldn't skimp on oil to save a few bucks in the short run. Only oil close is the Mobile 4T and it really is a toss up between the Mobile and the Amsoil.

Oops, Pat beat me to it!

..and my vote also goes for Amsoil M/C, wet clutch oil, which meets all the specs recommended by Triumph, incase you're worried about your warranty!

Mole

oh, and if you're worried about price, do what I do and buy a liter a month!

From my research the K&N filter is "low grade media with nut welded to bottom" Pure One PL 14612 is very good recommended filter. You can get it on Amazon.com two for $9.88. Also I use Motul 5100 Ester 15W-50 $31 a gallon, TBA has 20,000 miles never has any problems. I change oil every 5000 miles.
http://www.amazon.com/OIL-5100-15W50-4TB...5127&sr=1-5
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_auto/0...o.y=7&Go=Go

Thanks for all the advice.
I ordered the AMSOIL synthetic motorcycle oil since none of the places around me carry it in stock.
Nice to know I can get advice and not made to feel like an idiot.

Thanks
Ron

Thanks for all the advice.

Ordered the AMSOIL. Glad to be able to ask for help and not made to look like an idiot

Ron

Where did you order the Amsoil from? I'm not seeing it locally anywhere.

If you can't find it locally Fast Eddy sells it.

http://www.fasteddysports.com/?page_id=3&category=78

Quote:

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Not to be argumentative, but Shell Rotella Synthetic is not bike specific either.

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I understand that they're working on getting the JASO stamp. They (Shell) say it meets the requirements.

I buy my Amsoil at a Napa auto parts store if that helps anyone.

Actually that does help, my local napa is one of the places I haven't checked yet.

Since we're on the subject of oil... does anyone know if it would be harmful to run a Lucas additive in my oil? Currently I'm using dealer installed Mobil 1. One of the reason I ask is because I have this pesky oil leak coming from the clutch actuator rod. A certain dealer in Phoenix (4 hours away, I won't post their name just yet as I'm not sure how this site is when it comes to things like that) had the bike for a week, charged me $500 bucks, tried to overcharge me by adding items twice to the ticket, and it leaks again after just 300 miles! As you would guess, I'm not the happiest person in the world with this dealer. I plan on calling them tomorrow to see if I can get something done to stop this leak. I digress, since I'm a little low on oil and happen to have some Lucas additive laying around, would it be ok to run it in the bike? The bottle says yes, but I just wanted to hear what everyone hear thought.

Don't know about their additive but Lucas oil products were at the very bottom of the test sheet with the worst performance of all, along with Royal Purple and a couple others. Additives are snake oil in my opinion anyway. Nothing you add to the Amsoil or Mobile is going to improve it's performance and in some case will even hinder it.

That's a little surprising, I was always under the impression that Lucas was good stuff, I guess it was just that; an impression. Do you have a reference for the test you mention? I'd be interested in reading it.

Don't put any snake oil in your bike.
The recommended lubricants and fuels are best left alone.

Here is one but it isn't the one I saw with Royal Purple and Lucas on it. This one tested fewer oils. All you have to do is google "oil comparison test" and you will find lots of info. There are similar filter tests. test page

You can also buy directly from Amsoil just go to their website hht://www.amsoil.com

Also as a side note the oil filter Amsoil makes for our bike is the best you can buy. It is rated at 98.7% efficient at 15 microns and 80% at 1 micron. The next best filter is 80% efficient at 10 microns. The efficiency rating is the % of oil that is filtered to the specific level. 98.7% is considered the absolute maximum any filter can operate at per ASTM. Also the filter like their oil has a warranty of twice the manufacturers recommended change interval or once a year.

Tom

Been running the Rotella T from Wallyworld for the last year and change it every 3 to 4K miles. Best bang for the buck. No problems whatsoever.

Just cant see paying the hight price of Mobil or AMSOIL syn.

Hey guys, I am home on leave at my folks house and my owners manual is in NY. What's the oil quantity that goes in a 2004 Speedmaster (790 cc). Thanks.

Three full quarts and most of the fourth. Prefill your new oil filter first and then add the rest. I usually find I have an ideal level showing via the oil level window with the bike held upright and level and will still have a bit of oil left from the fourth quart.

Welcome back AV8R! What branch and where are you on leave from?