[1877]

First post! I have never been a fan of any additives, seems like a waste of money to me.

 

[50268]

But if the rest of the country is like the people I live around they'll believe anything.

 

[dbrunell]

Gee, I've been looking all over for wallpaper-sized photos of oil additives. Thanks.



Seriously, good article. What about gas additives, i.e., fuel injector cleaners. Are these worth considering?

 

[smithrob75]

I go to bobistheoilguy.com from time to time, they have good info. They also show oil analysis which gives a pretty good idea about what works and what doesn't. I like Amsoil, and Mobil 1.



There's a lot of Harley guys there and they say the Sreamin' Eagle stuff is pretty much snake oil. It's about $10 a quart I think, and no better than Mobil 1 15w-50.

 

[smithrob75]

Hmmm, I wonder if the Dura-Lube has less viscosity breakdown than KY-Jelly. We can only guess. It has to be good for something..

 

[smithrob75]

I have used http://www.auto-rx.com/ with good results in my 140,000 mile car. They make a motorcyle formula too.. People seem to really like it.

http://www.cycle-rx.com/

Basically same thing..

 

[wickedfastemc]

Great Article.

 

[JohnJG]

My first oilchange (that I did ) on my bike I found oil with the owner's manual rating & viscosity for $1.25 a quart & didn't worry about it. Almost a thousand miles later its still running great - no problems.



Plain old oil. Nothing special.

 

[32754]

friend's SV sat unused for 5 weeks. Ran like absolute crap at anything under 6K on the tach and 1/2 throttle. dumped the whole bottle of carb cleaner in the gas tank (supposed to treat 21Gal not 4) and it cleaned up right quick.

 

[Vlad]

Of course the Harley synthetic oil is no better than Mobil One. That's because it is Mobil One, just more expensive because of "repackaging" costs.



Francis

 

[tokoloshgolem]

Re: Oil is Oil!

Sounds like an urban myth. If the original oil spilled out then the vegetable oil would too. Oops, I cracked my crankcase ... OK, nothin' for it now but to run a quart of peanut oil through the workings. That thin film of creamy goodness will keep it purring sweet.

 

[clinging]

Motorcycle specific oil?

How about the difference between "motorcycle specific" oil formulations and auto formulations? Is there a real difference. Some of the motorcycle oil bottles say they are formulated to work better with wet clutches because there are additives in auto oil that make it too slippery. Is this true? Should we just use a good quality auto oil?

 

[36219]

Re: JB weld strikes again

JB weld will fix alot of problems on the trail. Many a rider has made it back to the pits or his pickup with JB to fix the case.

 

[theovenmits]

Re: Motorcycle specific oil?

As I understand, the oil in your bike does have to be motorcycle-specific, if only because it has to lube the transmission as well - cars have seperate (and different) oil reservoirs for the transmission. Check my math.

 

[2153]

What about the grandaddy, "STP"?

 

[sprintsp]

Re: Motorcycle specific oil?

Remember that the oil in your motorcycle needs to hold up in your transmission (shear-factor) as well as the rest of your engine...for this reason plus the wet clutch factor use motorcycle specific oils... I prefer Golden Spectro full synthetic or Mobile 1 in a pinch, heck there are so many great choices out there now.. like most other things- you get what you pay for... True Value Hardware Brand lawn mower SAE 30 is not going in my bike...

 

[BillyO]

Regarding use of KY Jelly as additive.Only to be of benefit in BLOWN motors.

Oh yes,heplful on STROKED ones ,too.

 

[52602]

I have never used any for the additives. If pressed hard, I'd probably be inclined to use Slick 50 - just because I considered it a "brand name". I realize now that I have been duped.



The only difference I know off from personal experience in oils is synthetic vs. mineral. Many years ago in a different life as a student in Germany, I used to change sythetic oil in my Renault 19 (!) every 35000+ km (~22k miles) with absolutely no ill effects.



Unfortunately, AFAIK, sometime 5 years or so ago, the oil industry managed to lobby for a law that allows them to advertise oil as synthetic even if the synthetic oil makes up only a small percentage and the rest being mineral. Since then I have stopped buying synthetic oil.



I may be misinformed, so correct me if I am wrong.

 

[xxces]

Re: Motorcycle specific oil?

Mototrcycle engines require a different additive package than cars. Automotive oils that conform to the latest API service category SH are unsuitable for motorcycles as the specification required the removal of additives (essential to the longevity of motorcycle engines, which are far more highly stressed than automobile engines) that could destroy catalytic converters. Your engine was designed to operate with oils in the API service categories SF/SJ that contain these essential additives.

 

[sliphorn]

ncelik, some synthetics, usually the lower priced ones from the major oil companies are derived from petroleum that has gone through some sort of extensive "rebuild", if you will. But the top of the line oils from Amsoil, for example, are made from 100% synthetic esters. I'm sure other top of the line synthetics from Motul, Redline, and a few others are also 100% synthetic ester based oils.