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Amsoil substitute


silverbird1100

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I'm sick of paying max dollar for oil in a bulletproof engine.

Anything safe will do. :icon_evilgrin: I have no intention of starting an oil thread :icon_evilgrin:

Synthetic, semi syn (blend) or straight dino?

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I have a buddy I went to school with since elementary, so I know him more than a friend of a friend. I remember the day he bought his Cougar from a schoolmate with 60 or 70K miles on it. He finally put it in storage with 370K miles on it.

Mobil 1.

Can't say what frequency of oil changes, but 5K sounds about right. I also remember him mentioning, when he was short on income for about 4 years, how he would just top it off every once in a while and kept on driving it.

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Who are you buying it from?

Become a "personal" distributor.....and get it from Amsoil Direct. I have been doing that for about 10 years.

I order 10 gallons of oil, 1 gallon of gear oil and it winds up being just a couple of bucks more expensive than any of the other FULL SYNTH stuff.

$7.85/quart or $31.40/gallon.

If you just buy it straight....$10.35/quart or $40.80/gallon.

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I'm sick of paying max dollar for oil in a bulletproof engine.

Quality lubricant is what keeps a engine bulletproof. :icon_snooty:

Sorry, but that's horse shit, at least in terms of spending $8-$12 a quart on "quality" lubricant.

+1 on the Shell Rotella T 5w-30.

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Quality lubricant is what keeps a engine bulletproof.

I'm at 67,000+

67,000 miles is a bunch. I think I change my oil about every 4-5 thousand. :icon_biggrin:

I probably posted something similar to this at one time, but.....

I'm more picky about the oil and oil filter that goes into my truck than my bike.

My pickup cost a bunch more than the bike, and it gets used a lot harder. It has to deal with short trips that really don't get the oil up to full operating temperature, and a lot of stop and go driving.

My bike, by comparison has it easy. It gets nice long rides in the country, not much stop and go, and it has enough horespower that I don't need to run the crap out of it to go fast. I use Silkolene oil in the bike only because my dealer buys it in bulk, and they sell it to me cheap if I supply the container.

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That Rotella sounds fine but is it OK to go from 10w-40 to 5w-30 like that?

As for the bulletproof thing; any honda engine under normal use would go 25,000 on canola oil.

Haven't you seen those youtube vids when they pour in some sand and redline until they get bored? I'm over this oil thing.

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That Rotella sounds fine but is it OK to go from 10w-40 to 5w-30 like that?

As for the bulletproof thing; any honda engine under normal use would go 25,000 on canola oil.

Haven't you seen those youtube vids when they pour in some sand and redline until they get bored? I'm over this oil thing.

I went from the Castrol oil 15w-50 I think it was to the Shell Rotella no problem. Got hard to find the new Castrol 4 yrs or ago or so and the price went up. Thats when I changed and no problems since.

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That Rotella sounds fine but is it OK to go from 10w-40 to 5w-30 like that?

As for the bulletproof thing; any honda engine under normal use would go 25,000 on canola oil.

Haven't you seen those youtube vids when they pour in some sand and redline until they get bored? I'm over this oil thing.

I've used the 15-40 Rotella and find my shifting gets a little notchy around 2000 miles.

Done it twice. I've never tried the 5-40 Rotella synthetic but that may be next.

I use 10-40 Mobil motorcycle specific synthetic mainly because of the turbo but there is no doubt in my mind that the shifting is smoother to start with and stays smoother longer, much longer. I use Mobil 1 in my truck, my garden tractor and my pressure washer. I also extend the drain intervals so the price difference isn't really that much. For filters, I use the K&N or Purelator Pure 1. Both these filters have a different filtering media in them and trap finer particles. I'm quite sure the Mobil 1 car oil could be used in a bike to save some money and be more readily available.

I've leaked down higher mileage BB and Bandit motors as well as disassembled some and the one's that have been run on Mobil 1 come apart clean and with minimal cylinder leakage and bearing wear. That's my $.02 on it...Hank

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At my local auto part store, there are a couple of different Shell Rotella varieties. How

can one tell which is OK for M/C use? I'd like to make the switch, but don't want to put

in something harmful or that will mess up the clutch.

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Rotella was designed for Diesel engines, and it contains more of a specific additive than can be added to automobile specific oils.

ZDDP (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate)

ZDDP does not reduce friction or wear.

What ZDDP does, is to minimize damage caused by metal to metal contact. (which shouldn't happen anyway)

This amount of this additive is restricted in automobile specific motor oil because of potential damage to catalytic converters.

Interestingly enough, ZDDP is used in most motorcycle specific oils, which is why a lot of people use Rotella instead of paying more for motorcycle specific oils.

In the end....it probably doesn't matter at all.

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Keep in mind that one of Amsoil's benefits is extended drain intervals.

So, if you're replacing the oil at the normal interval and not going 2 or 3 times as long (changing maybe only the filter and topping off), you're losing that benefit.

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You should stick with the 10W-40. It is what the motor was designed for. Too thin and the oil might allow some metal to metal contact under heavy loads because the pump can't keep the clearances full of oil. Too thick and there might not be enough pressure down stream to fill those clearances.

I've been running Amsoil for more than 7 years in everything I own. I change it once a year no matter how many miles I go. The only motor I have had apart was my drag-bike motor this last winter. What I saw has made me a life-time customer. Super clean inside, almost no signs of wear on any of the bearings, and only a hint of erosion on the teeth of the transmission gears. Not bad for 20K street miles and 6 seasons of racing with a slick and wheelie bars.

Can't wait to see how long my lawn mower lasts. :icon_cool:

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I've been running Amsoil for more than 7 years in everything I own. I change it once a year no matter how many miles I go.

Yep.

Wait...You change your oil?

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I've been running Amsoil for more than 7 years in everything I own. I change it once a year no matter how many miles I go.

Yep.

Wait...You change your oil?

My Dad is an Amsoil dealer. Makes him feel needed. :icon_wink:

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You should stick with the 10W-40. It is what the motor was designed for.

I'm pretty sure the owners manual offers a range of acceptable alternatives to 10-40, based on temperature range...

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I use Mobil 1 in my cars and bikes and usually get it a Walmart.

Picked some up a few days ago, and noticed they started stocking the Castrol 4t 10W 40 fully synthetic in the gold bottle, next to the Mobil 1. About the same price as the Mobil 1.

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