Engine oil

[Donal]

For the last 25 years I use 10-40w in winter and 20-50w in summer in all vehicles. I personally think 10-40 is too thin for summer heat. Just me and they way I was taught by my father. He or I in our 90+ combined years of driving have never had an oil related engine problem.

Viscosity's were developed for climate originally, and then for conservation of gas to meet MPG mandates on cars.

I have run strait 60W in my Road Glide that was 100/100 on the dyno. The high lift cams and compression made 20-50w hurt and cry for mercy. The 60w worked well for heat testing with a heat gun, and made it as quiet as a Harley can be.

Me, I will continue to use the viscosity for my climate.

+1 & Amen to that.......

Don

 

[ionbeam]

The FJR engine is basically unchanged from 2001 to 2011...model years '03 to '08 the owners manual called for 20W-40 oil; from '09 and up the owners manual calls for either 10W-40 or 20W-50...

According to my dealer and personal experience, the reason that they changed the oil weight in the manual was that they changed up the Yamaha oil offerings, and quit offering the 20w-40...

You are correct, Yamaha stopped carrying the 20W-40 oil. And suddenly all their motorcycles ran just fine on other weights of oil. The owners manual specified $12/qt 20W-40 oil that about the only place you could find was a Yamaha dealer. I'm sure Yamaha specified the 20W-40 oil because that was the only grade of oil that would preserve engine function and they regretted specifying an oil that they almost exclusively supplied and received a large profit from Now that Yamaha is mostly out of the exclusive motorcycle oil club their engines miraculously run reliably on generic weights of oil. I am sure that Yamaha regrets being out of the exclusive profit club.

I have some lawn & garden equipment that specify -- Using anything other than a straight 30W oil will void the warranty -- Using any grade but 5W-30 will void the warranty -- NEVER use 10W-40 oil in this engine. At least the specified oils are generic weights, unlike the elite oil that Yamaha wanted us to pay painfully elite prices for. Not that I think money, money, money had anything to do with Yamaha specifying 20W-40 oil and my belief that the engine had design requirements that could only be met with Yamaha's 20W-40 oil.

 

[sullivan]

The Amsoil worked for me but needing to save money this year, switched to the newer Rotella T6, per forum suggestion. Wally-world, 1 gallon plus 1 qt. = half the price for the full synthetic. They stock the 5-40 which is fine for a cooler climate.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

...They stock the 5-40 which is fine for a cooler climate.

Fine in any climate...

The FJR runs at a, somewhat, constant temperature (controlled by coolant thermostat and fan/s) and an oil with '40' in it's description will get no (more or) less viscous than any other '40' oil (will be in the '40' range of viscosities at ASTM specified temps).

 

[frito1]

I'm using Valvoline 20w50 synthetic. Why? Because I had a case sitting on the shelf when the new to me FJR needed a change. Why do I use Valvoline Syn? Because it's locally available from the Parts Plus jobber (overnight if he out of stock), it's reasonably priced, plus I use it in my HD, so I usually have it in my inventory. My HD has an isolated primary, but I have used the Valvoline in that pot repeatedly with no ill effect on the clutch. Bottom line IMHO, is to use what makes you feel good, in a weight close to the MoCo's recommended range. Quality is high across the board with oil manufacturers. I have no doubt that frequency/quality of maintenance has more impact on the life of an engine than the brand/weight/origin of the oil.