Opinions on Engine Oils.

[Josh Cox]

Wondering what engine oils people are using out there in their BSA's.

The manual I have quotes a single grade SAE40-50 for engine oils, is there a reason we can not go to multigrade OMD (Oil Mineral Detergants, cleans out carbon and crap).

If you do use multigrade, which grade do you use and which part of the world are you in (for temperature comparisions).

[Bender]

Earlier, i ran forum searches looking for the same thing but can't find a previous similar question to get an answer. (this must have been covered before though...) 

What do you blokes think about running a monograde mineral oil, say a 30 grade in winter with maybe a heavier grade in the warmer months?    What about quality brands?

[Brian]

This question is one that has been much discussed by just about every motorcyclist there ever was. You will probably get a 100 different answers.

Rather than recommend a particular oil I can only say what I use.  I have four A's, two B's and two M's. I have always run them on multigrade 20-50. Up until about a year ago I used Penrite HPR30 but now use Valvoline XLD Plus. The reason for the change from Penrite to Valvoline was purely economical, the Penrite got too expensive. I do reasonably high mileages on my bikes, a normal ride is usually around 400k's and sometimes a lot more and living in the country its all at 60 - 70mph. I use the multigrade in the engines, clutch and front forks and use a 80-90 gear oil in the gearboxes.

The main thing is to change it regularly, every 1000 miles. I think as long as you use a reasonable quality oil and change it regularly you wont have any problems. I've been riding these things for 40 years now and have put all sorts of oil in at different times and have never had a failure that was directly caused by poor quality or the wrong oil.

[BSA_54A10]

I don't normally do "me too's " but this time it is really important.
It matters very little which oil you use, the key is how long you use it for.
We have had members who have used all sorts of oils and the riders which had the fewer problems were the ones who changed it very regularly.
60,000 to 100,000 miles from a bottom end ( BSA recommended 30,000 miles) is quite within reach if you open your pockets and change the bloody oil.
For this reason ( and no other) I always recommend using the cheapest oil and change it every week.
I know of an A65 bought with 17,000 miles on it and a bottom end that was on the way out, it was sold when the owners health got bad with 110,000 miles on the same dodgy bottom end ( although by then it did have an audible knock).
This owner changed his oil just about every time he took the bike out for a run and dropped the oil the instant that he got home, before he had as much as removed his helmet.
I also know of a clown who used fully synthetic oil @ 15.00/l and used to bag every one who did not do similar.
His A 65's bottom end went south with just under 20,000 miles on the rebuild, he blamed "dodgy aftermarket main bearing" but I can never remember him changing his "bullet proof" oil he then spent a forune sending his bottom end over to SRM as BSA shoddy engineering was obviously the problem.
And FWIW I currently use Valvoline XLD 20W50 in every thing because I can get it cheap so am not afraid to change it before it is "all used up".

[dpaddock]

"BSA shoddy engineering"; that's a mighty bold statement about the World's largest and best motorcycle manufacturer, BSA_54A10.

David

[A10Boy]

Ok, my "me too". I am posting this cuz it hasn't been said yet and is important.

You should never never never put a Detergent oil in an engine which has been used with non detergent oils, unless you KNOW it has been stripped and cleaned out. Non Detergent oils let the crud settle in the sludge trap [where it was designed to be], and if you then add a detergent oil it eventually loosens, floats around in the oil, finds its way into the bearings and kills them.

Apart from above, use anything you want and change it as previous posts. I use Castrol XXL 40 [Cuz C&D sell it and they are only 4 miles away], and change it well before 1000 miles.

[LJ.]

Like A10Boy I'm also a Castrol XXL40 user in all my bikes apart from one of my A10s that uses Castrol 'R'40. I'm currently just finishing a drum of XXL50 which is much thicker than the 40 and makes the single cylinder M21 a devil to start in cold weather in which a standing tickover is best before setting off. Good thing with 50 grade is that you hardly get much wet sumping and hardly any oil drips under the bike, good stuff but a regular change is advisable.

[Triton Thrasher]

 Non Detergent oils let the crud settle in the sludge trap [where it was designed to be], and if you then add a detergent oil it eventually loosens, floats around in the oil, finds its way into the bearings and kills them.

Is it safe to ask if anyone's seen that actually happen, or is it sort of conjecture: "detergent cleans things, so oil with detergent must clean the dirt out of the sludge trap?"

[tombeau]

This owner changed his oil just about every time he took the bike out for a run and dropped the oil the instant that he got home, before he had as much as removed his helmet.

  wow

[beezalex]

I generally put in whatever's cheapest at autozone.  20-40 in the winter....20-50 in the summer.  Change the oil every 5K whether it needs it or not.

[dpaddock]

Does anyone else take issue with BSA_54A10's "BSA shoddy engineering" statement? C'mon, let's hear it for our beloved marque!

David

[RichardL]

I think this needs to be straightened out. Trevor (BSA_54A10) was talking in the voice of the "clown" who would spend 15/liter then blame the engineering of the bottom end rather than his own failure to change oil. So, I think we're good.

Richard L.

[LJ.]

I think he should be temporarily suspended and his bike confiscated...(for me to ride!) 

Go stand in the corner Trevor!

[LJ.]

 Non Detergent oils let the crud settle in the sludge trap [where it was designed to be], and if you then add a detergent oil it eventually loosens, floats around in the oil, finds its way into the bearings and kills them.

Is it safe to ask if anyone's seen that actually happen, or is it sort of conjecture: "detergent cleans things, so oil with detergent must clean the dirt out of the sludge trap?"

Triton Thrasher and A10Boy have stimulated a thought in my mind about this matter and I have wondered if, say a bike has always run on monograde and the sludge trap has highly likely been gunged up. Would it be okay to go onto a detergent oil in order to release that gunge? BUT! Changing that oil every... say 100 miles or less? I mean... The gunge is hardly likely to be released in one big lump and the gunge that was originally flowing in the oil was passing through bearings anyway... if it is released slowly into the oil and changed, then in a certain amount of time the trap and engine will be clean, all this better even still with an oil filter! Would the bearings cope with that? What do you think?

Oh and Trevor... we love ya really! 

[Josh Cox]

There are few things I am certain of, one of them is that taking an engine that has been running on monograde non OMD oil, and then starting them on OMD mid life is a bad thing.

Why,

OMD oils, were initally designed for diesel engines, was designed to remove carbon from the engine and increasing engine life.

The cyclinder bore on non OMD engines has a certain level of carbon on the mating faces as a normal thing, when you ad OMD, the carbon is removed very quickly and where the carbon previously formed a part of the close tolerance, air and oil can flow less restricted.

So, IMHO if you change an engine, any engine, petrol or diesel, to OMD mid life you will quite probabaly reduce the life of the engine.

As for carbon destroying bearings, no offence, I'm not convinced.