A thought on engine oil type . . .

DodahMan

Turbocharged
Joined
Jun 12, 2017
Messages
509
Location
Coastal South Carolina
Ride
Yamaha Roadstar, 2011 Triumph Rocket III Tour
Guys, I did my first oil change and chose the Mobil I 15w50. Well . . . I did a hundred miles today and noticed a difference, a difference in the NEGATIVE. It indeed seemed a bit sluggish and once the engine even CUT OFF with the oil light coming on. I think I am going to switch to rotella T6, 5w40.

I have a contact at Hendricks racing who a built many an engine and he assured me that a thinner oil in modern water cooled engines yields GREATER HP, always. He says the Rotella 5w40 T6 is the better oil.

I am doing another oil change tomorrow. Seriously, I indeed did notice a performance decrease today with the Mobil I 15w50. Too thick.
 
WyldCFH said:
If you want to get into the nitty gritty of oils, read this >>> MOTOR OIL ENGINEERING TEST DATA
Click to expand...
Interesting analysis.

For many years I ran "straight " 50w engine oil in my Piper aircraft engine. It had a 360 CI 4 cylinder air cooled Lycoming engine that produced 180 hp at 2500 rpm. When I decided to experiment a bit to take it past TBO (time before overhaul) limits, I switched to Phillips XC multigrade 20w50. I did oil analysis annually and 50 hour oil changes and ran that engine to 800 hours PAST TBO. When I finally overhauled it at 2800 total hours, the crankshaft did not even have to be reground for balance, just polished. I became a believer in lighter multi grade oils.
 
Last edited:
Why not use MOTORCYCLE oil ? Remember you are also lubricating the transmission, which is a grinding mill. You should use motorcycle specific oil. Triumph says to use Castrol 4T Full Synthetic 10W/50. Good stuff. I use it with good success. There are all kinds of Motorcycle oil that is good for the Rocket if you would like to research it.
 
Hype, this "motorcycle oil" stuff is hype. Our bikes have a CAR ENGINE stuffed onto a bicycle frame. Call it what you want to but it's still a car engine!
 

Not buying this as attributed to oil.
Too many thousands of motors use Mobile 1 4T successfully, including my R3R.
 
DodahMan said:
Hype, this "motorcycle oil" stuff is hype. Our bikes have a CAR ENGINE stuffed onto a bicycle frame. Call it what you want to but it's still a car engine!
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right but the big difference is that car engines and transmissions/clutches do not use the same oil. That is why the antifriction modifiers in car oil is considered a bad thing for motorcycles, you are putting those anti friction components into your clutch oil. You do what you want, it is your bike. I will continue using motorcycle specific oil.

bob
 
You said the oil light came on when the engine quit.
DodahMan said:
Hype, this "motorcycle oil" stuff is hype. Our bikes have a CAR ENGINE stuffed onto a bicycle frame. Call it what you want to but it's still a car engine!
Click to expand...

Your right about the car engine but what car engine shares it's oil with a tranny and a clutch? None.......
 
1olbull said:
Not buying this as attributed to oil.
Too many thousands of motors use Mobile 1 4T successfully, including my R3R.
Click to expand...

No kidding Steve. Oil will never effect engine performance. There is another problem lurking with this one.
 
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