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Do you use the Mobil or Castrol car oil in the Bike

  • Mobil One 15W 50

    Votes: 16 84.2%
  • Castrol Syntec 5W 50

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Car oil in bike Question????

2K views 25 replies 15 participants last post by  TeeTee 
#1 · (Edited)
I don't want any lab quotes, just plan and simple real world experience!

I tried the Mobil One 15w 50 car oil in the RC, question for you people that use car oil in a bike, do you find that the oil burns quicker in the motor (high temps) and that you must top up the oil level more frequently, than if you had motorcycle oil.

Observation: 1st time using the car oil in a bike, but I had to add about a litre of oil to the bike. Quick fix until I could change the oil today. This was the 1st time I had topped up the oil level in the RC, before I used Castrol R4 super bike oil, and never did I top up the level with that stuff.

Anyway, I have switched to the 5W 50 Castrol car oil, seems this stuff is very similar to the R4 bike oil from the analysis in the last sport rider mag.

So what's the story people, does this car oil foam up and burn off or what?
 
#4 ·
I tried car oil in my other bikes before, didn't have to top it up.
May be because i was riding like a grandpa. :laughing :D :)
 
#5 ·
Check out the the amount of anti foaming agent in the oil , if there is a low amount added compared to the MC oil it can cause the oil to foam up and evaporate. Most auto oil has low ammounts of anti foam agent in it because auto engines are lower revving and do not cause the oil to foam up , But higher revving MC engines cause oil to foam up.and all thoes tiny foam air bubbles can circulate in the oil and get between wearing metal surfaces and cause premature wear especially at the crank bearings so be cautious with the type of auto oil that you use!
 
#6 ·
Machinist said:
But higher revving MC engines cause oil to foam up.and all thoes tiny foam air bubbles can circulate in the oil and get between wearing metal surfaces and cause premature wear especially at the crank bearings so be cautious with the type of auto oil that you use!
V twins (RC-51) dont rev as high as inline 4s so foaming shouldnt be AS big of a potential problem - in theory

I have a VTR1000 and I am running Mobil 15-50 in mine.
On my ride to Calgary, I had to add some oil once I got there; but not on the way back, go figure.

Another odd thing I have found now is that my bike (with 11,000kms) runs BETTER (more power - runs smoother) after my ride from Vancouver - Calgary - Vancouver.
 
#8 ·
Twister said:
I don't want any lab quotes, just plan and simple real world experience!
Then I'll make it real easy for you.....NO, NO, NO! Never use car oil in a bike engine. I've read a million threads on a million boards about this and there are many valid reasons not to. Maybe they're BS, but for a couple of bucks are you going to take the risk?!?!

Lloyd
 
#9 · (Edited)
this thread has been played out in every forum on the internet. use what ever you like, its your bike.

My question is.. since they did a test on all oils, their poor excuse for not testing all oils in the "major tests" (ball bearing scarring) was they didnt have the funding for it. so they used the shittiest car oil (which no one uses in their bike) and high grade MC oil.. why the funk didnt they choose mobil 1 for that test when its did so awesome in all others??

-gurp (specially formulated for high temps and propaganda)
 
#10 ·
my friend bought a bike cheap off a guy who got shitty unlimited amount of car oil for free. he used in his bike for 25000kms. everyone who went to see the bike and heard what he did said "no way" but my friend test rode it and it was fine. when he got it in possesion he changed the oil to MC oil and it ran the same. bike is written off now. But he said the engine was so strong on it that he thought it would see 100,000km and more.

also CRAZY ANDY used mobil 1 in his gix1000 and shit kicks his bike and wheelies the hell out of it at ludicrous speeds and has no problems with it. his bike has 40,000km on it.

this tread should really die!
 
#11 ·
I just want to know if people have had to add oil more frequently using car oil, than if they used mc oil, simple, don't want all the other dribble about the subject.

I know a lot of people use this stuff, and most are very hard on the mc, so I know the stuff works. I don t save a couple bucks it s around $40 a oil change, and if both Castrol and Mobil one car oils do as good or better job over the MC oil then, I would be a idiot not to try it.

The formula for the Castrol car oil is very similar to the Castrol R4 bike oil, which costs around $17 bucks a litre.

But if the oil burns off, no point in using it.
 
#13 ·
I've run Mobil 1 in all my bikes for years...no oil related problems and the only clutch I ever took apart was slipping because the basket was hooped....
Mobil 1 15-50 is pretty popular in the long distance community and there are lots of extremely high milage bikes running it
 
#14 ·
I run 'car' oils.
The only reason not to use car oils (the good ones) is clutch slippage. My VFR's clutch never slips unless I ask it to. Even if it didi start slipping tommorow, after 50,000km it could be any number if non-oil things.

-Sandworm
 
#15 ·
I run Mobil 1 15W50, same as in my car. But my Beemer has a dry clutch, and completely seperate transmission, so the motor oil is only used in, um, the motor. Tranny and rear end run hypoid gear oil. No wonder the thing weighs 505 lbs wet. But no chain to worry about!
 
#18 ·
Twister said:
I just want to know if people have had to add oil more frequently using car oil, than if they used mc oil, simple, don't want all the other dribble about the subject......

OK, oil does not evaporate at any temperature that your engine can generate. The pistons will melt or frag before that happens. So you are LOOSING oil. If it's not going up the PVC line to the airbox then it's going into the cylinders via bad rings or bad valve stem seals and burning away. Either that or you've got a leaky cover someplace and it's pouring out onto the road.

Check the whole engine for possible oil leaks and the airbox around the big PCV tube for oil. If those two are dry then I'd look to a problem with the engine. Check the plugs for signs of oil fouling (I seem to remember that it can show up as black crusty blobs on the insulator).
 
#20 ·
Just to confuse things...

I have been using semi syntheic oil in my bike since I got it. It goes through about 1 litre every 2000 km. A few weeks ago, I ran out of the oil I brought along for the trip, and was forced to buy some 10W40 oil that said "synthetic performance". After topping up with that, I hardly used any oil for the next 1500 km. Strange.
 
#21 ·
Machinist said:
Check out the the amount of anti foaming agent in the oil , if there is a low amount added compared to the MC oil it can cause the oil to foam up and evaporate. Most auto oil has low ammounts of anti foam agent in it because auto engines are lower revving and do not cause the oil to foam up , But higher revving MC engines cause oil to foam up.and all thoes tiny foam air bubbles can circulate in the oil and get between wearing metal surfaces and cause premature wear especially at the crank bearings so be cautious with the type of auto oil that you use!
My thoughts exactly except for evaporating. It will just be all frothy in the engine case.
 
#22 ·
Motorcycle Man said:
Are you sure about oil not evaporating? Low volatility is something that the manufacturers of synthetic oil brag about.
Low volitility implies that it is RESISTANT to evaporation. Oil will evaporate but it needs to be held up near or above the flash point of the oil. This is typically in the 420 to 450 "F region (I looked it up :D). Like I said, a bit beyond your basic engine temperatures even allowing for the fact that oil typically runs hotter than the coolant by 30 to 60 degrees. Mobil 1 has a flash point of 470. A bit better than most typical oils.

But Prez raises in interesting option. It may be that the Mobil 1, and perhaps most sythetics, are thin enough or persistent enough to cling to the cylinder walls more than regular oil and as a result it's getting past the oil and compression rings easier than regular oil. More oil on the cylinder walls would certainly flash away thanks to the combustion exposure or even exposure to the combustion gases post combustion as the piston reaches BDC. This is just a theory but if there's no other explanation I can't see any other path for it to leave the engine. All engines loose SOME oil this way but typically it's limited to a few ounces over the oil change period in a good engine. Perhaps with the synthetic it's more.

Either way it's still a loss of oil.
 
#23 ·
G-slide said:
this thread has been played out in every forum on the internet. use what ever you like, its your bike.

My question is.. since they did a test on all oils, their poor excuse for not testing all oils in the "major tests" (ball bearing scarring) was they didnt have the funding for it. so they used the shittiest car oil (which no one uses in their bike) and high grade MC oil.. why the funk didnt they choose mobil 1 for that test when its did so awesome in all others??

-gurp (specially formulated for high temps and propaganda)
That's what it all comes down to. It's your bike and how much you want to gamble with "the life" of your motor.

The way I look at it is, why would they design all these different oil types for all the different types of motors if it didn't matter. Other wise we'd all be using "Acme oil" in anything with an internal combustion motor. I.M.H.O.

:rider
 
#24 ·
The only real issue about using car oil in our bikes is the friction modifiers and how they affect your clutch. Some bikes can get away with it and others suffer from slipping clutches. It all depends on how much reserve friction there is in the clutch. You can try it if you like but you'd best know what a slipping clutch feels like and if you do sense this then switch back to a motorcycle specific oil. It's as simple as that. But if you're not sure what a slipping clutch feels like then I suggest you stick with the motorcycle stuff.
 
G
#25 ·
Difference

TeeTee said:
The only real issue about using car oil in our bikes is the friction modifiers and how they affect your clutch. Some bikes can get away with it and others suffer from slipping clutches. It all depends on how much reserve friction there is in the clutch. You can try it if you like but you'd best know what a slipping clutch feels like and if you do sense this then switch back to a motorcycle specific oil. It's as simple as that. But if you're not sure what a slipping clutch feels like then I suggest you stick with the motorcycle stuff.
There is more crucial one known widely. The anti-wear additives which usually are Zn(Zinc) and P(Phosphorous) or composite of the two. MC oil should contain approriate amount of them while car oil might not. Though it might have similiar effect as the friction modifier which usually is moly, it proctects metal to metal contact from wearing (such as in gear box) and does not causes cluch slip.

While danger from including friction modifier could be recoverable (just drain the oil if slipping should occur), The danger from not including the anti-wear additive is invisible at first and can cause permanant damage to the gear box.

Some car oil proven to be safe for years by some brave guys or oil that explicitly states that it's safe to motorcycle would be good choice.
 
#26 ·
I went out and found article aboutOIL ADDITIVES.

It confirmed your memory re the zinc and phosphorous anti wear compounds. It also mentions other anti friction items but didn't get into which are the "new" ones that are used in modern oils with higher than the SAE G rating our bikes are supposed to use.

It's safe to say that if the "new" friction modifiers used in the energy conservation oils are not zinc or phosphorous based that they do the same job as the old types that probably ARE used in our motorcycle oils.

When the problem originally came up back in the early to mid 90's (anyone remember when this happened?) it was because the new J rated oils were more slippery than the G stuff. And that's why the clutch slips. Using the newer oils is great for the rest of the engine and gearbox. So Ducatis and Moto Guzzis can safely use modern car oils since they both have dry clutches.
 
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