Infamous Oil Debate

Rnoodles

Rnoodles

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
So my 10 Ninja 250r is due for a oil change soon. Should I go dino oil and how early should I change it if I do ? Or full synthetic at 3,500km intervals fine ?
I was looking into 15w40 rotella since its cheap and found everywhere. Is it ok for the gearbox ? Will I hear more "engine" sound using diesel oil ?
 
Wth 3,500km? That's too often for sure. Just go what the manuals says and use oem stuff. I'm saying this assuming its a street bike only.
 
daisoman said:
Wth 3,500km? That's too often for sure. Just go what the manuals says and use oem stuff. I'm saying this assuming its a street bike only.
Click to expand...

Im not to keen on finding/going to a Kawi dealer to buy their oil. Manual says 10w40.
 
I use oem or Motul 5100 for my street bike. Just depends if the Motul is on sale or not.
 
Rnoodles said:
Haha I sure do, its to expensive. Thats why I wanted to see if I could run 15w40 dino oil without ill effects
Click to expand...

Just check what the manual says. I think mine says to use 10W40 that meets the SG specifications or higher.
 
I've always used full synthetic and doubled the change interval but I'm not running high stress machine.
But full synthetic is incredible in it's ability to maintain almost no wear at all.
 
The 15W-40, is fine for your transmission and equally fine for your engine. It's a bit thick on start up, but not a problem in the warmer weather, that most of us ride in. The Rotella 5W-40 is a better choice, if you're willing to spend the extra coin. Somewhat better flow on start up and you may find that shifting is a bit smoother.
BTW - both of these oils - while they are diesel "rated" oils, are in fact, an HDEO (heavy duty engine oil), with a "mixed fleet" designation - good for gas and diesel applications. In numerous tests, they've equaled or bettered, a number of "motorcycle" oils.
Not too sure what this "engine sound" you speak of, is referring to. I've been using the Rotella 5W-40, for a number of years now and I haven't heard any difference, between it and what Honda put in at the factory.
 
Not to rain on your parade, but the Rotella 5W-40 is a Group III+ (hydro-isomerised slack wax), while the 0W-40 is a Group IV - what is generally thought of, as a "true" synthetic - along with the few Group V's, that are rated as full synthetics.
The 0W-40 does not however, have the JASO designation.
 
I use the Mobil1 MX4T.


It's readily available and regularly on sale at WalMart and Cdn Tire, and I've done two oil analysis and it holds up very well.
 
I used to use Rotella on all my bikes, but now that we have Royal Purple available at canadian tire, i've switched to that. Will still use rotella in my vintage bikes (non-synthetic).
 
Rnoodles said:
Haha I sure do, its to expensive. Thats why I wanted to see if I could run 15w40 dino oil without ill effects
Click to expand...

Dude, seriously?? OEM is too expensive? Shop around. You don't have to buy it from the dealer directly.
OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer
 
Anything with JASO will be fine. The dino Rotella (15W40 if my memory serves correctly) is cheap as hell and would probably work fine. Personally I'd stick with the T6 (5W40) especially for a smaller engine that spends a lot of time at high RPM but it probably doesn't make a difference in a non-turbo vehicle with frequent intervals.
 
N3WMAN said:
Rotella T6 every 5-6,000km.

T6 is full synthetic 5w40.
Click to expand...
I'm running the same for ages now on my 50,000 km 1000RR and it's been good to me. No issues with clutch or massive oil consumption some Honda 08+ 1000s are having. I change between 4-5k km and it sips about 200 or so mm on the dip stick line.
 
I've used Rotella before, no problems. Both synthetic and mineral.
Nowadays I just grab a jug of mineral Motul when it goes on sale at Rider's Choice (nearest to my house).
Synthetic never hurts but for normal performance engines at normal conditions it's generally not needed.

As for intervals - whatever your manual says. That's usually an overkill already so doing any less is a waste of money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom