Motorcycle oil vs. Auto oil

[service writer]

Somewhere along the way I read an article that ended up being inconclusive about using auto oil instead of motorcycle oil.

WEll last year I tried auto oil. I forgot about it and had just accepted that is would be fine. At the end of last year I had several problems. SLipping at high rpms, Some slipping at low rpms, loud clattery shifts.

I few weeks ago I changed the oil with auto oil again.
I had overfilled it and noticed when draining that the oil amost looked like it had metal flake in it. AFter looking closer, I could see it was air bubbles.
The shifting seems better. I started questioning the difference from other people about the difference and got no worthwhile answers including talking to a shop about it. There happened to be an oil salesman in there and he mentioned a few things, one was slipping.
I changed it again using valvoline motorcycle oil. I can't believe it is the same bike. No slipping, quiet shifting. Lesson learned.

[TADracer]

Not being an oil expert I can only tell from experieonce on these manchines that auto oil (in general) is not the best thing to use. Some are OK but it depends on their ratings and the various additives but many will make your clutch slip especially at higher RPMs.

Automotive applications do not have a wet clutch and a transmission that shares the motor oil and that is the rub. Automotive oils with their additives can definately make a wet clutch slip. And synthetics can play havoc with your clutch as well.

I would stick with a motorcycle oil (such as Castrol 4T) or similar and change it out every 2,500 miles or so.

[mro]

I think "oil" has been a topic of discussion here a time or two. Use the forum search feature above.
Pretty much any oil which plays nice with a wet clutch be OK.

I've been using Valvoline for a couple years and just the last change on the Merriam put in some GTX. Think it was a little quiter with the former but no problems.


mro