Hard Starting

[AlanB]

Hi Bluegiant,

Set your idle mixture to suit normal running temperature, and deal with the starting issue seperately.

The choke should be making such a big difference to the mixture that a tweak on the pilots will make no difference at all to a cold start, but will make it run infinitely worse for all the time it is NOT cold-starting..........

The pilot adjustment is the main factor in the whole medium throttle/ lower revs range, which (if we are honest!) is where most of us drive most of the time. It is the range which decides whether a bike is "Fun" to drive, or "A pain in the @ss, tempramental s*n of a B!tch!"......... So set the pilots properly!....... "1 1/2 turns out" is only a starting point; there are good guides on here, or find someone who "has the Ear!"..... they do exist.

Sorry; rant over.......

AlanB

[egsols]

Hey Craz,

As you have well experienced when we leave in the morning, lately, it can be 4 degrees out (39F) and by afternoon its 25c (77f)

Right now its 6c(43 f) and tomorrow they are calling for a high of 28c (82f)!

I used to run 15W40 (diesel grade) all year and never had a problem. Like others have said the main point is good quality oil and frequent changes.

[Crazcnuk]

I run 15w-40 all the time, too.

It's just a better all round oil, and it's a compromise between the two grades recommended.

Nothing like a low-ash, diesel grade 15w-40.

It was 2C the other day when I went to Jasper (180km round trip)

Tuesday night it was twice as warm at 4C.

Last night it was -1C when I got home.

Tomorrow they are also calling for a high in the 20s!

I am running 15w-40 right now.

This time of year I used to put colder plugs in the Shadow, so it would warm up quicker and run a little warmer, to counter the overcooling of the outside temp. I would also cover the radiator with a cardboard, since it was watercooled.

[egsols]

Yeah, your temp swings more that ours. Don't you get four seasons in one day out here? My buddy from Slave Lake is up for the week and is loving the 20C plus weather we're having.

I think I will go back to 15W40 the bike doesn't seem to run quite as good on the 20W50 and I can't find 20W40.

[Axel]

oil

I ran 10w40 all season this year . It has the 10 for easy starts in cold weather and the 40 for the protection in high temps . The high temps of the engine as I understand it . Multigrade oil changes from the first number at startup to the second number at running temp .
Just to throw a monkey wrench . Someone told me the "w" stands for winter . Mutigrades were first developed so ppl wouldnt have to change their oil all year !!!

[mro]

Someone told me

the "w" stands for "weight"


mro

[Axel]

does it ?

quote from a AMSOIL web site

AMSOIL 0W-30, 5W-30 and 10W-30 synthetic motor oils are ALL 30 weight oils. The answer is that ANY one can be used regardless if your vehicle owners manual says to use, for example, a 5W-30. "W" means winter. In winter weather the 0W oil will flow like a 0W oil, and the 5W will flow like a 5W oil and a 10W will flow like a 10W oil just until the engine warms up. In order to understand the differences one has to first understand that the numerical values given to these various weight oils are strictly empirical numbers. For example, 0W does not mean that the oil has no weight. That is one of the reasons why we say it is strictly an empirical number

[blue giant]

Good info Axel!

Thanks for posting!

[Axel]

bye bye

No problemo bud
Good to hear you have another ride project . I was recalling your fine looking XJ to my daughter today as we were giving mine the seasons last polish . Tomorrow it goes away ...

[mro]

more than you wanted to know

On every bottle of motor oil there is a seal that gives you three pieces of information:
The API service rating
The viscosity grade
"Energy Conserving" indicator (it either is or it isn't)
The API service rating is a two-letter rating that tells you the type of engine the oil is meant for (gasoline or diesel) and the quality level.
The viscosity grade (for example, 5W-30) tells you the oil's thickness, or viscosity. A thin oil has a lower number and flows more easily, while thick oils have a higher number and are more resistant to flow.
The standard unit used to measure viscosity is the centistoke (cSt). According to the Automotive and Industrial Lubricants Glossary of Terms:
Viscosity is ordinarily expressed in terms of the time required for a standard quantity of the fluid at a certain temperature to flow through a standard orifice. The higher the value, the more viscous the fluid. Since viscosity varies inversely with temperature, its value is meaningless unless accompanied by the temperature at which it is determined. With petroleum oils, viscosity is now commonly reported in centistokes (cSt), measured at either 40°C or 100 °C (ASTM Method D445 - Kinematic Viscosity).
The centistoke rating is converted into the SAE weight designation
Multi-weight oils (such as 10W-30) The polymers allow the oil to have different weights at different temperatures. The first number indicates the viscosity of the oil at a cold temperature, while the second number indicates the viscosity at operating temperature.
At cold temperatures the polymers are coiled up and allow the oil to flow as their low numbers indicate. As the oil warms up, the polymers begin to unwind into long chains that prevent the oil from thinning as much as it normally would. The result is that at 100 degrees C, the oil has thinned only as much as the higher viscosity number indicates.

Another way of looking at multi-vis oils is to think of a 20W-50 as a 20 weight oil that will not thin more than a 50 weight would when hot.


mro