Can we mix oils? are oil different for car and motorcycle?

[Thaleshwar]

Hi,

Last weekend I noticed that oil level of my SV650S K2 was lower then minimum! and I decided to top it up, so picked a bottle of synthetic oil from sainbury service station and filled in! inspite of my 11 years son kept reading the book and insisting that I should rather drain and replace all oil than mixing!, (I have no clue what oil was in there before as I bought preowned only few months back)

Also does the oil for Motor Bike and Car make any difference if its marked 10 - 40W?

Your comments and suggestions will be appreciated...

[Scoobs]

Shouldn't use oils meant for cars they are full of friction inhibitors that play havoc with wet clutches. Might be alright on bikes with a dry clutch though.

Mixing bike oils is OK, but some manufacturers don't recommend fully synthetic as this to can have adverse effects on the clutch slipping. I am sure a quick top up won't hurt though. :?

[Biker Biggles]

OK so how much car oil did you put in?You are not mean't to but I doubt it really matters that much.When is the bike next due an oil change?Topping up with the wrong oil and running like that for a few hundred miles before it gets changed won't do any harm I guess.Far better than running low on oil.

[Iansv]

RTFM...... :wink:

[skumlerud]

Shouldn't use oils meant for cars they are full of friction inhibitors that play havoc with wet clutches. Might be alright on bikes with a dry clutch though.

I have been running "car oil" (Shell Helix Ultra) for three years on my SV, there's no issues with the clutch.

[Blue_SV650S]

As mentioned, bike oil has special additives for wet clutches, if you look on the bottle bike oil has … ah sod it, this must be written somewhere<searches the net for API codes> ;)

Here you go, this says it all!! http://www.thumperfaq.com/oil.htm

[sdusk]

Not a new article, but something to think about... http://www.xs11.com/stories/mcnoil94.htm

[stumpy]

WE sell silkolene and there line is much the same,do not use car oils on bikes as they contain many addatives which may cause clutch slip,...on the other side they tell me that if we sell any fully synth to a customer and it causes clutch problems they will pay for the repairs.

[21QUEST]

Jeez , you guys worry too much(rich coming from me : :) .

Point is , there is no real reason not to use bike specific oil but picture the scenario

Low on oil but only oil you have available is for a car. Two choices run as is(low) and almost definitely feck your engine or top up with you car oil9and maybe get clutch slip) and change as soon as possible if worried :lol: .


Maybe there is a third option which is don't use bike till you can get a bike specific oil.


The important factor is 'How important is it to have important to have the use of the bike? at that point in time'.


Cheers
Ben

ps : As has been said any oil(maybe not cooking oil) is better than no oil but change if it's keeping you awake at night :wink:

[OldBoy]

I have only used standard car oil in all of the bikes I've owned, from Castrol XL and Castrolite to the modern Castrol GTX and Magnatec. Haven't had any problems.

[falc]

Do not use car oil on bikes, as mentioned before and I asked a salesguy once before in a car place and said it froths up generally messes up the gearbox but that was a long time ago and cant remember the exact reason

You could use it as a temporary measure but as long as its that

[jambo]

I was always informed that bike oil was very different to car oil, but Bike had an article on a courier who seemed to be averaging 400,000 miles to a bike (I believe 2 engines for his VFR did 400,000 each) and used car oil, he reckoned it was fine as the bike was pretty much alweays moving rather than stopping and starting. Me? I use any decent bike specific semi-synth.

[didge]

I use semi-synth on my sv because i have been told that it has used it since new.

[Cam_73]

Base stock is the important bit.

So long as you match the correct API/ACEA or SAE codes, the additive package will not differ hugely from one to the other.

Most engine manufacturers only refer to the above codes.

In certain circumstances they will be particular about additives depending on application.

Best bet, read the label.

Cheers

[RandyO]

only energy conserving car oils are potentially bad for wet clutches, but don't worry, those oils do not meet viscosity specs, they are usually 0w30-10w30

as long as you put 10w40 you'll be fine, oil is oil

motocycle specific oils have shear strength additives, the same shear strenght addatives that are in fleet grade oils for diesel engines

if you are low, you are better to top it off with anything available rather than let it run low

if you do have to add an energy conserving oil to top it off, there is no reason to change it any sooner than regular schedule

too many people make a big deal about oil and frequency of changes, and I hear the old addage "cheap insurance"

higher prices oil does not insure anything except making your wallet thinner
more frequent changes don't insure anything except making your wallet thinner

so again, I say oil is oil, with 128,200 miles on my SV and counting and it's had a bit of everything in it from Quacker State 5w30 energy conserving cage oil to Motul, mostly Suzuki 10w40 bike oil or Valvoline 15w40 diesel oil

[wyrdness]

I've heard that you should never mix mineral and synthetic oils (can anyone confirm?). If you didn't know what was in there, you should have drained it and replaced with fresh oil.

[RandyO]

I've heard that you should never mix mineral and synthetic oils (can anyone confirm?). If you didn't know what was in there, you should have drained it and replaced with fresh oil.


a myth, oil is oil

[northwind]

If people spent as much time checking their oil as they do talking aon the internet about what oil to use, there'd be less blown up engines :)

Wet clutches are demonstrably harder on oil than dry clutches, with a much higher incidence of shearing forces. Is it enough to make a difference? Personally I don't have any idea :)

[wheelnut]

I cant understand why anyone would run out of oil, if you check the oil before you leave home or check it once a week, SV engines dont use oil.

Car oil is no good for motorbikes, but its a damn site better than no oil, fool :P