yamaha 10w-30 oil

[Nightengale]

A. local yamaha dealership sold me yamaha 10w-30 oil, and said that, that is what i needed for my bike. Since then i have looked on here and haven't heard if this oil would work in our bikes, and i changed my oil last night using this oil. What should i do, i dont want to have any problems, or do damage to my bike. Opinions?

[natemoen]

Stay away from that dealership. 20-50 is the yamaha recommended oil. I would think 10-30 would be a bit thin even in hot weather.

[Nightengale]

dang

Stay away from that dealership. 20-50 is the yamaha recommended oil. I would think 10-30 would be a bit thin even in hot weather.

Thats what i thought, i thought the dealer would know. But i should have checked here first. Looks i will be changeing it again friday.

[GLoweVA]

The thinner oil will work okay for a short time. You might experience some clutch slippage becasue of it.
But I do agree that you should probably change it before you do any serious riding.
In other words, while you're still playing around with it and working on it, it should be okay, but when it's time to ride the bike to work or any other longish type ride, change it out.

As a reference point, you've been taking the little hops around the neighborhood with the seafoam in there, so the thinner oil is actually a little better than that.

The thinner oil provides less lubrication to the bearings and such, so don't rev it too high and don't put a huge amount of load on it.
So no burnouts in your street and no 0-60 time checks.

[Nightengale]

The thinner oil will work okay for a short time. You might experience some clutch slippage becasue of it.
But I do agree that you should probably change it before you do any serious riding.
In other words, while you're still playing around with it and working on it, it should be okay, but when it's time to ride the bike to work or any other longish type ride, change it out.

As a reference point, you've been taking the little hops around the neighborhood with the seafoam in there, so the thinner oil is actually a little better than that.

The thinner oil provides less lubrication to the bearings and such, so don't rev it too high and don't put a huge amount of load on it.
So no burnouts in your street and no 0-60 time checks.

So i guess the trip to the dragstrip is out. Thanks for the help guys

[GLoweVA]

Don't fret too much John.
Think of this oil change as a 2nd flush to get the rest of the seafoam and gunk out the engine.
Curious, How did the oil coming out look last night?
Was it kinda thin from the seafoam, black, brown, gritty, smooth, etc?

[Nightengale]

Don't fret too much John.
Think of this oil change as a 2nd flush to get the rest of the seafoam and gunk out the engine.
Curious, How did the oil coming out look last night?
Was it kinda thin from the seafoam, black, brown, gritty, smooth, etc?

It was smooth dark brown and about regular oil thickness. No chunks or metal, and went fairly smoothly as far as getting the drain plug and filter housing off.

[GLoweVA]

Dark brown isn't bad at all. Last time I did mine, it was BLACK.
Cool. Glad it worked out okay.

It's gonna be HOT the next few days and I've GOT to get into mine and fix my right signals and maybe the fork seal leak then get it inspected.
I'm having to park in different locations here at work so the local PO PO won't recognize my bike an write me another ticket for no inspection sticker.
I'd so love to get the antique tags, but knowing my luck, they'd get me for daily use and then I'd have to go get a real tag.

[WSL91]

A. local yamaha dealership sold me yamaha 10w-30 oil, and said that, that is what i needed for my bike. Since then i have looked on here and haven't heard if this oil would work in our bikes, and i changed my oil last night using this oil. What should i do, i dont want to have any problems, or do damage to my bike. Opinions?

You could park the bike and wait until cold weather to ride

[Nightengale]

You could park the bike and wait until cold weather to ride

I think that's not an option, what little bit I'm ridin the bike I love it, yes I'm addicted to my x s 1100

[trbig]

Every bottle of 10/30 that I've seen has the friction modifiers in it.

[ddragon63]

I would think 10-30 would be a bit thin even in hot weather.

I'm confused by this statement. As the temp goes up the thicker the oil you would want to run not the thinner... in cold weather the thinner oil cold flows better. Heat will break down an oil, even a high quality oil, to thinner than its stated weight.

Every bottle of 10/30 that I've seen has the friction modifiers in it.

They make 10w-30 motorcycle oil.... BUT to the best of my knowledge they are not designed for wet-clutches. Even if running 10w-40 MOTORCYCLE oil you must read and make sure they are compatible for wet-clutches. Most 10w-30 bike oils are designed for high power 4 stroke dirtbikes... and you will run into some 10w-40's that say MOTORCYCLE oil on them that are designed the same. none of them say formulated for wet clutch... which is confusing because dirtbikes run wet-clutches.

I gotta go lay down now my head is spinning

[b.walker5]

Maybe oil's different in the States. Personally I've been using 15w40 for years in all my bikes and never had a clutch slip, or any other problem at all. Never had much truck for this 'motorcycle oil without friction modifiers, and works with wet clutches' claim. Castrol GTX 15w40 motor oil is all I've ever used, and all I ever will, and i dont ride like a nana.

In my view much of the stuff published about some oils being better than others for whatever the stated reasons is mostly a scam to get you to buy a particular brand.

Buy a reputable brand, change it at the stated intervals and keep your filters up to date and you'l be fine. 20/50 might have been fine back in the day but technology has moved on and the oils now may well be thinner, but thier lubricating abilities are a hell of a lot better, and they'll work fine in older engines. That said, if your burning a bit then a heavier oil will slow the smoke for a while.

[crazy steve]

In my view much of the stuff published about some oils being better than others for whatever the stated reasons is mostly a scam to get you to buy a particular brand.

Buy a reputable brand, change it at the stated intervals and keep your filters up to date and you'l be fine. 20/50 might have been fine back in the day but technology has moved on and the oils now may well be thinner, but their lubricating abilities are a hell of a lot better, and they'll work fine in older engines. That said, if your burning a bit then a heavier oil will slow the smoke for a while.

I'll agree with you to a certain extent about some oil claims; smoke and mirrors seem to be involved too often.

I will disagree about the advisabilty of using lighter-weight oil in older motors not designed for them; I've seen evidence to the contrary....

For most applications, you'll never see the difference. One big exception is air-cooled motors; the variations you can see in piston clearances there are considerably larger that what you'll see in a water-cooled motor. I know a number of people who race bikes (some drags, but mostly LSR) and to a man they caution against using lighter-than-recommended oils, and most prefer straight-weight oils. Granted, these are race motors, but even with high-tech 'modern' oils they were having serious piston scuffing problems with lighter oils. One guy has an impressive (and expensive!) collection of trashed pistons/cylinders from trying various combinations of oils/piston coatings, all from scuffing of the piston skirts when the thinner oils ran out. He could gain power with the thinner oils, but the cost was reliabilty and longevity.

While every motor is a bit different, I can't see risking the hard-to-replace internals of a XS with a 10W40 or 15W50 when 20W50 is still easily available. I don't worry about it being 'motorcycle' oil, I simply look for a good quality, 'plain' 20W50 automotive oil. That's what was used in them when new, it still should be good enough...

[ViperRon]

I have to agree with Steve on the oil and even though there have been improvements in the friction fighters and enhancements which prevent the oil from breaking down there is another issue. There are flow dynamics with different weight oils that can cause wear and damage. Many of these bikes have wear on them and therefore the clearances are not as tight as a new engine. If you put a lighter weight oil in an engine with a lot of miles or hard miles this lighter oil may not be able to keep the oil pressure up causing loss of lubrication to areas. I would not recomend anyone putting a lower than recomended viscosicty oil in one of these bikes for any long period of time. I also think it is just as bad running oil till it has been beat to death. I do know that the original recomendation for oil included 10-40 weight oil for colder climates. I could actually see possibly considering thinner oil for colder areas of Canada but that would be an extreme.

As for running the 10-30 oil for a short time if you are not reving it hard driving it long distance in heat and the engine is in good shape I do not see it causing a problem for a short term. As for any dealer recomending 10-30 oil I would not ask them anything else and I certianly would not have my bike worked on there.