oil

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 2:10 am

I noticed a thread discussing what weight engine oil to use. I have been using 10W40 in my old girl. At 116,000 she burns / leaks quite a bit. Should I stick with the 10 W 40 or make a change?

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 2:45 am

Uh oh, somebody guard the kittens...

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 2:49 am

Just noticed Shawn_Mc's post.. thinking 20w50

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:05 am

As well as 6949 more (not counting yours, and Shawns threads):

http://www.cb1100f.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=search&mode=results

Not trying to be a dick. It's a running joke, that oil has been discussed so many times that each time an oil thread is started, a Litter of kittens dies...

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 5:52 am

cb900fNH wrote:

......... At 116,000 she burns / leaks quite a bit. Should I stick with the 10 W 40 or make a change?

Your a first year site member.. 2003... Cool.. I don't see many of us , (2003 ) , posting much anymore . Good to know that you are still hanging around..

As for your CB-F, It's time to make a big change.. It's rebuild time..

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 9:00 am

melchiro wrote:

cb900fNH wrote:

......... At 116,000 she burns / leaks quite a bit. Should I stick with the 10 W 40 or make a change?

Your a first year site member.. 2003... Cool.. I don't see many of us , (2003 ) , posting much anymore . Good to know that you are still hanging around..

As for your CB-F, It's time to make a big change.. It's rebuild time..

I'm still here Wink

Yeah, time to get the spanners out I reckon.

ian

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 2:47 pm

cliffiec wrote:

It's a running joke, that oil has been discussed so many times that each time an oil thread is started, a Litter of kittens dies...

LOL.

Perhaps one reason for which is that there are so many oil out there. It's like beer--everybody has their brand.

I think that the main lesson to be taken is that we should constrain our choices to those which contain zinc.

Save the kitties!

OSC
www.oldschoolcarbs.com

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:07 pm

Sorry Cliffiec, I find the search function on this site to be next to useless; when I typed in "oil" I got so many threads I could have knitted a quilt.

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:13 pm

And I like kittens! Wink

Love this site; it has given this armature mechanic invaluable assistance over the years.

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:07 pm

I got indoctrinated the hard way...Meow.....Valvoline 20W-50 motorcycle oil is one that contains a high amount of zinc and is specifically suited for our wet clutches....The look on the cats face will always be a priceless reminder of my indoctrination....

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:53 pm

I really don't think this qualifies as an oil thread. He has a serious question and deserves an answer. It is not quite about opinion what is the best brand or weight.
The way I see it, he is curious, if a different weight oil would reduce his oil consumption/leakage.
I think he could do better than 10W-40 in that respect with a 20W50 or even a Valvoline VR-1 50w or 60w

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 8:32 pm

DOHCRob wrote:

I really don't think this qualifies as an oil thread. He has a serious question and deserves an answer. It is not quite about opinion what is the best brand or weight.
The way I see it, he is curious, if a different weight oil would reduce his oil consumption/leakage.
I think he could do better than 10W-40 in that respect with a 20W50 or even a Valvoline VR-1 50w or 60w

The issue with the straight weight 50 and 60 is the cold flow. As long as you dont rev the thing until its warm you'll be ok. But with the "straight weight " oils, you fire that thing up and ice cold the oil pressure is going to be nearing the 100 psi mark unless its already rattling all the bearings on the crank.

The nature of these flexy flyer air cooled engines with plane bearings (that hate being flexed) IMHO, we all probably oughta be running a 20/50 if the temps are over 80F.

These 10/40 no zinc oils are like a low drip of arsenic in your coffee. Wont kill ya all at once, but sooner or later...the bearings are going to starve to death. Cams go first because of point loading and film strength. Mains and rods will last longer because they've got a pressurized wedge to ride, sacrificial babbit and the last defense of copper.

No kittens were injured, threatened or prepped for dinner in this post. Laughing

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 10:55 pm

Shawn_Mc wrote:

a low drip of arsenic in your coffee.

You didn't tell me that you knew my wife.

Ask for expert advice and actually get it! How refreshing. Seriously, you're adding to the general knowledge base for everyone's benefit. I ran non-zinc for a long time but lucked out and switched before wrecking a moto. I even wonder if it bears on the legendary cam problems with the V4's.

Here's a funny one: I used to be head of tech support/failure analysis for a power equipment manufacturer. I specified sae 30w non-foaming for our pressure washer pumps. Someone at the "point of origin" put api 30w in them, for which the sae equivalent is 100w. Gear oil. We're talking 2500 pressure washers that had to be unboxed, drained, refilled, and tested.

Whether or not I like cats depends entirely on how you cook them.

OSC

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 11:08 pm

Shawn_Mc wrote:

These 10/40 no zinc oils :

What 10W40 oils in particular are no-zinc? I know of several 10/40s that have fairly high nominal zinc levels of 1100-1500 ppm

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 3:13 am

I like chinese food.........

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:46 am

cb900fNH wrote:

Sorry Cliffiec, I find the search function on this site to be next to useless; when I typed in "oil" I got so many threads I could have knitted a quilt.

Go ahead and just put "oil" into Google and see what happens. With that poor of a search query, what do you expect to find? It's not the fault of the tool.

Here's a few clues:

http://www.cb1100f.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=73273&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:34 pm

My apologies for my poor use of the "tool" genesound; in the future I will try to live up to your lofty standards.

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 3:51 pm

cb900fNH wrote:

My apologies for my poor use of the "tool" genesound; in the future I will try to live up to your lofty standards.

I hope you are not offended. I have found the search tool to be vey useful but of course you do need to know ahead of time some keywords to refine your search. Over time some of the comments or terminology that you know exists in a particular posting will help you narrow the search down a bit.

In this example you would on find one page of results if you type in: "oil AND kitten"

But of course you didn't know about kittens until just now. The thread that started the use of "killing kittens" actually has a massive amount of great information to read about oil for these bikes.

Good luck,
Dave

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 1:13 am

Upshift....160,000 RPM's are just up and out of the powerband. I find my faster blue bike pulls best at 159,000.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 1:24 am

And use Castrol 10w-30 4T motorcycle in the fall, winter and spring and 20w-50 in the heat of summer. Always use Honda filters. Never use synthetic.

http://www.castrol.com/en_us/united-states/motorcycle-oil/4-stroke-engine-oil/4t-4-stroke-motorcycle-oil.html

The zinc is not there to protect the bearing inserts as much as to prevent camshaft lobe wear. The reason they took the zinc out of automotive oil is it was destroying catalytic converters. (That is why they put roller lifters in cars.)

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 1:28 am

I have heard many times not to run synthetic oil in a 900F because it will make the clutch slip. Has anyone ever actually tried synthetic and, did the clutch slip?
I was looking at the zinc levels in Mobil 1 V-twin 20w50. Seems to be the highest. Has anyone tried this before?
I usually run Mobil 1in my cars but if it will work in my bike..why not

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 2:11 am

Hondo57 wrote:

I have heard many times not to run synthetic oil in a 900F because it will make the clutch slip. Has anyone ever actually tried synthetic and, did the clutch slip?
I was looking at the zinc levels in Mobil 1 V-twin 20w50. Seems to be the highest. Has anyone tried this before?
I usually run Mobil 1in my cars but if it will work in my bike..why not

I used Ammsoil for years til it got to 12 dollars a quart. Now I use lucas semi synthetic 10W40.

CB1100F Joined: Feb 17, 2009 Posts: 2105 Location: Oz

Hondo57 wrote:

Has anyone ever actually tried synthetic and, did the clutch slip?

Yes and no.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 2:53 am

DrOlds wrote:

Upshift....160,000 RPM's are just up and out of the powerband. I find my faster blue bike pulls best at 159,000.

And if you think about it at around 160,000 RPM you are pulling damn near 1500 hp - not bad from a 900.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:56 am

DOHCRob wrote:

Shawn_Mc wrote:

These 10/40 no zinc oils :

What 10W40 oils in particular are no-zinc? I know of several 10/40s that have fairly high nominal zinc levels of 1100-1500 ppm

Low Zinc..no zinc...If its not enough...does it matter? Hence the slow drip of arsenic comment.

From what the Valvoline rep told me, back in the day...a nominal level of zinc was 1800-2000 ppm. There's a limit to the amount they put into the oil from what he told me. Too much...is just as bad as too little.

And its correct, the zinc isn't there to protect the plain bearings, but it did when the film or wedge failed and contact was significant. Which happens when these aluminum split block engines start flexing around.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 8:59 am

Hondo57 wrote:

I have heard many times not to run synthetic oil in a 900F because it will make the clutch slip. Has anyone ever actually tried synthetic and, did the clutch slip?
I was looking at the zinc levels in Mobil 1 V-twin 20w50. Seems to be the highest. Has anyone tried this before?
I usually run Mobil 1in my cars but if it will work in my bike..why not

Yes, it slipped when I did it on my 750 before I knew better....Mobil 1 20-50 energy efficient oil for cars

And it didn't slip the way you would figure, which would be at max power at high rpm....It slipped when the bike was cold and warming up..like when you were maneuvering out of a parking spot at work with some toe dabbing and tight turning...then the clutch was jerky, and it would make a weird sound. Change the oil, problem gone.

Don't know if the V twin Mobil 1 oil is designed for wet clutches or not but if it has any "energy efficient" symbols or designation I would stay away.

There are plenty of other testimonials on the board from years ago where other guys had similar experiences with synthetic "energy efficient" oils not designed for wet clutch use.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 9:15 am

Wow! Cool. Never heard anybody discuss oil before. This is really interesting.
But I will vote for The Search Function Is Damn Near Useless item. As it seems to be, on at least four other forums I subscribe to.
Alright, if you're a computer geek and you get your jollies jerking off to computers for a living, that's fine. But for the average guy who just wants some input on a specific question, fucking useless. I repeat, fucking useless.

You're much better off just doing a Google search on your specific question. You'll get actual answers with supporting videos.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:21 pm

deandeib wrote:

Wow! Cool. Never heard anybody discuss oil before. This is really interesting.
But I will vote for The Search Function Is Damn Near Useless item. As it seems to be, on at least four other forums I subscribe to.
Alright, if you're a computer geek and you get your jollies jerking off to computers for a living, that's fine. But for the average guy who just wants some input on a specific question, fucking useless. I repeat, fucking useless.

You're much better off just doing a Google search on your specific question. You'll get actual answers with supporting videos.

Sorry do not agree. The search engine here isn't the best but it isn't useless either.

No computer jollies or jerking off required. Wink

Simply add the word "AND" between a few key words is not computer geekdom nor rocket science.

Oil AND Viscosity AND Brand

Returns only 21 matches.

Oil AND Viscosity AND Heat

Returns only 11 matches.

Oil AND Rating[b]

Returns only 75 matches.

I do not call that useless and it isn't too much to read at all.

Dave

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:30 pm

Oil? Never use it, never have never will.

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 4:11 pm

AlaskaGriz wrote:

deandeib wrote:

Wow! Cool. Never heard anybody discuss oil before. This is really interesting.
But I will vote for The Search Function Is Damn Near Useless item. As it seems to be, on at least four other forums I subscribe to.
Alright, if you're a computer geek and you get your jollies jerking off to computers for a living, that's fine. But for the average guy who just wants some input on a specific question, fucking useless. I repeat, fucking useless.

You're much better off just doing a Google search on your specific question. You'll get actual answers with supporting videos.

Sorry do not agree. The search engine here isn't the best but it isn't useless either.

No computer jollies or jerking off required. Wink

Simply add the word "AND" between a few key words is not computer geekdom nor rocket science.

Oil AND Viscosity AND Brand

Returns only 21 matches.

Oil AND Viscosity AND Heat

Returns only 11 matches.

Oil AND Rating[b]

Returns only 75 matches.

I do not call that useless and it isn't too much to read at all.

Dave

I knew if I said it was totally useless somebody would come back with some reasonable instructions to using the search. Fair enough, I'll try it. But I still think you get better information by doing a general Google search.