Yamalube 20W40 no longer being made

Admins: I tried to put this in never ending threads, but can't start it there. Feel free to move it as it inevitably deteriorates.....

(I'm not interested in alternative views at this point on which oil to use).

I called University Motors to buy a GEN I clutch slave cylinder, and while I had them on the phone bought some miscellaneous items. Included was some Yamalube 20W40 as specified in the GEN II recommendations by Yamaha. Order done, no probs.

Then I got a call back -- thank you UM :clapping: .

Yamaha is not making the 20W40 anymore, but replaced it with 20W50. I was told they can't even order it anymore. I'm passing on this info for those that use the product.

The guy in sales (forget his name, sorry) asked the tech. if I could mix some 20W50 with the gallon of 20W40 I have left from a previous purchase, and the answer was yes.

As far as I know this is new information and I am passing it on......

Gee, that's what I've been using since Day One. Huh, whadaya knows... Yamaha really does listen!

ShinyPartsUp said:

Admins: I tried to put this in never ending threads, but can't start it there. Feel free to move it as it inevitably deteriorates.....

Click to expand...

There's a little clue in that irony. If you want to start a thread in NEPRT...you shouldn't start it to begin with. One should be a bit embarrassed if it gets moved to NEPRT initially.

BTW, I don't remember having heard this topic specifically....so it's not NEPRT. It becomes NEPRT when somebody tries to start the thread again and again.

$8.95 a quart for the synthetic version from Yamaha at the local Motoreamo...$5.95 for the Yamaha dinosaur version...

I've noticed that when starting my bike when it is cold out, and I have 20W40 in the crankcase, that I get a random clunk from the engine until it warms up. It only happens when temps are around 35 or below. During my last oil change I tried 15W40 and the problem went away. This leads me to believe that 20W50 will only make this symptom more pronounced. Has anyone else experienced this?

USMC CWO said:

I've noticed that when starting my bike when it is cold out, and I have 20W40 in the crankcase, that I get a random clunk from the engine until it warms up. It only happens when temps are around 35 or below. During my last oil change I tried 15W40 and the problem went away. This leads me to believe that 20W50 will only make this symptom more pronounced. Has anyone else experienced this?

Click to expand...

However, this is the kind of off-topic stuff that does hijaak perfectly good thread. Go start another thread....or better yet.......please, please.....read through Best of NEPRT.

New post started and Best of NEPRT read. Thanks for the suggestion and for living up to your title of Administrative Idealist.

USMC CWO said:

Thanks for the suggestion and for living up to your title of Administrative Idealist.

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And thank you for not becoming part of the Search Welfare class.

He started a thread here.

Ignacio said:

ShinyPartsUp said:

Admins: I tried to put this in never ending threads, but can't start it there. Feel free to move it as it inevitably deteriorates.....

Click to expand...

There's a little clue in that irony. If you want to start a thread in NEPRT...you shouldn't start it to begin with. One should be a bit embarrassed if it gets moved to NEPRT initially.

BTW, I don't remember having heard this topic specifically....so it's not NEPRT. It becomes NEPRT when somebody tries to start the thread again and again.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the primer

No they didn't replace the 20w-40 with 20w50.

They now have a 10w40.

Here's a link to Mother Yamaha

Genuine_Yamaha_Oil_Options

kballowe said:

No they didn't replace the 20w-40 with 20w50.
They now have a 10w40.

Here's a link to Mother Yamaha

Genuine_Yamaha_Oil_Options

Click to expand...

All I can tell you is University Motors sold me 20w50 and that's what they told me.

ShinyPartsUp said:

kballowe said:

No they didn't replace the 20w-40 with 20w50.
They now have a 10w40.

Here's a link to Mother Yamaha

Genuine_Yamaha_Oil_Options

Click to expand...

All I can tell you is University Motors sold me 20w50 and that's what they told me.

Click to expand...

Yes sir.

They were wrong.

They'll figure it out.

kballowe said:

Yes sir.
They were wrong.

They'll figure it out.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but I'm not seeing anything in print that says either the 10W-40 or 20W-50 is the "replacement" for 20W-40, so I don't see where you can decide who is right or wrong.

- Mark

markjenn said:

kballowe said:

Yes sir.
They were wrong.

They'll figure it out.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but I'm not seeing anything in print that says either the 10W-40 or 20W-50 is the "replacement" for 20W-40, so I don't see where you can decide who is right or wrong.

- Mark

Click to expand...

Well Mark, what do you think?

It appears that they don't have the 20W40 anymore. The owner's manual specs 20w40.

Is it more reasonable to replace it with the Yamalube 10w40 or the Yamalube 20w50?

Just askin'.

Kevin

See, nobody bought the 20W-40 anyway, so they figured they had to make what people buy. I sure hope the 10W-40 is not "Energy Saving." <_<

And for those that have insisted that it's 20W-40 or die, this should be the clue everyone's been telling you to get for so long.

Trying to stay on topic, they're still just a bit too proud of their oil, whatever weight they decide to make available.

Said it before and said it again. My 2003 owners manual (don't know about yours), says 20w40 is only to be used about ~40 degrees (I forget the exact number, will look and edit later), and that below ~40 degress 10w40 should be used. The indicator graphs also show no top end to using 10w40, so it's acceptable as an all-season weight.

YMMV (Your *manual* may vary)

Why not just use the Mobil 1 4T synthetic that all the race teams use on WERA and AMA. By the way, it's a 10W-40 weight. My son-in-law (WERA rider) told me to stop using the 20W-50 as it is harder in the oil pump (when cold) and that the 10W-40 was the best of both worlds. We all have our own opinions about oil (and everything else for that matter). So Admin, please kill this now or it will surely go on forever!

Decades ago (so it may not be too applicable today?) Honda started recommending to m/c dealers to start using lighter viscosity oils. The stated reasons were to lessen the frequency of oil leaks between gasketed internal oil lines and to increase the flow through oil filters. They also, at the time, warned against excessively restrictive oil filters.

Altho, maybe?, a matter of only small degree -- here; I'm not aware of any benefits of heavier viscosity oil vis-a-vis modern motorcycle engines. :huh:

I used 10-40 (dino) on my Hondas and never had any problems. I put 10-40 in the feejer (synth since it is a higher rev engine). I am no expert about the oil thing even though I have read all the different post on this forum as well as the VTXOA and could not undersatnd why a 20-50 would be called for a water cooled engine. I always associated the 20-50 with the hotter running air cooled engines :blink: .