Maybe Ican take this thread in a different direction, cause the title "Oil" is a pretty broad topic. I'm assuming that when everyone buys their oil, they get 4 quarts (or perhaps in larger quantities). For those who buy in 4 quart increments, what do you do with the leftover oil? Is there typically an expiration date I should obey, or is the oil that I buy this season still going to be good next season? If it is still good, I assume that if I am brand & type loyal, there should be no issues in mixing that leftover .6 or .4 quarts with some new oil of the same type?

 

I just went to pep boys to check out the mobil1 15-50 and the guy that I was talking to looked at me like I had two heads when I told him I was thinking about using it for a motorcycle. He said that oil was mainly used for diesel engines. Then he took me to the motorcycle oil and showed me Castrol 20-50, 4 stroke motorcycle oil, and asked me why I would not use that. I had no answer for him. At this point I might just go get oil from the motorsports store near me and be done with this ****, I cant take it no more. LOL.

Any comments on the Castrol 20-50 motorcycle oil. It was pretty cheap at about $17.00 for a 4 quart jug. Would anyone recommend not using this oil??

 

Was it Castrol SynTec? and M1 would have been just fine for you....alot of guys that work in parts stores really are not to creame of the crop...remember they work in a parts store for a reason, if they really knew their **** they would be in a shop. This is not saying all part store guys are morons, but you do run into alot....sometimes the best place to get advice from in the parts store is the old guy...he is usally there b/c he phsically can't do the work ne more....

 

The only time I hear that Non-synth should be used is during the break in period to allow for proper seating of rings and whatnot. I wouldnt be scared about using "Diesel truck oil" in the bike. I use 5w40 or 50 Rotella T synthetic in my Ninja 250, along with hundreds of other people and that doesnt give it any problems. As long as the oil doesnt say "Energy conserving" on the round white and black label, it is probably okay as long as the weight is correct.

 

Rotella (for diesel) is my top choice as far as regular oil goes...the synthetic is great too!

don't listen to the walmart dude...some oils may be labeled as motorcycle specific with tiny bit of this and that, just enoughso they can label it motorcycle oil...but bottom line is...can you bike live without it? will it make a big enough difference? i find the answers to be no...so i use car oil in my bike.

i agree with the MC as far as using non-synthetic...only issue with this is determining how long this break in interval is...i would take it up to 4K or even 8K just to be sure but that's just me.

i've read about cars starting off with synthetic and after 40K, when they tore the engine down to do some power mods, found out that it wasn't even broken in...of course...this could be horse $#it... with the intention to show what great wear protection X brand of snythetic oil has.