Used oil for chain lube
 

I have lots of used oil in the garage, my mate advises me never to use old oil on a chain. but will it do any damage if i use my old oil on the chain? Its not going to be used in a Scottoiler, if that makes any different.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I believe hovis is suggesting a search. I think old oils fine in a scottoiler. I don't have one but occasionally run my chain through old oil before using lub/wax


Hovis's sig: where do we find the ar poll & why the hell do we have to decide a year early?!

Edit : infact in reflection I guess it helps with organizing it!

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=138222

While the title of the thread is slightly different, it's discussed at length at the end of the thread.

Jambo

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Hitler it may be, but its very hard to search for oil related topics as 'oil' is too short a word for the search.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I did search couldnt find anything useful, they only say about using them with a scottoiler so i thought i would ask :P

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Some people say it's fine. Others(including me) wouldn't use it simply because it is 'dirty' oil. It's probably ok, I just wouldn't taint my gorgeous Eileen with dirty oil ;o)

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

google.com

used engine oil chain site:forums.sv650.org

et voila

It is dirty in as much as it is black, however suzuki helpfully provide a fine mesh, high pressure filtering system to ensure it isn't all that bad.

I think it was jambo said "10 minutes ago this oil was suitable for lubing an engine spinning at 14000 rpm, dropping it out of the engine doesn't make it useless"

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Yep, Yorkie, we all choose our own path to heaven. After 3k miles or so the oil just ain't what it was. Maybe it's good for chain lube. Maybe I'm just a obsessive bugger about using 'used' oil on my chain and sprockets. Maybe you are right. Maybe I am wrong, Maybe. It's all a matter of personal choice and no big deal.

I'm a bit confused about the filtering system though. Doesn't that just ensure that the crap that is generated by the combustion process and engine/gearbox dynamics, stays in the sump and doesn't get circulated back through the engine etc?

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

No, the crap remains in the filter, it can't get back into the sump because there is a check valve and 80psi of oil pressure stopping it.

But, the nastiest stuff is acid from combustion, the oil has buffer compounds in it to neutralise these.

Probably best compromise is really cheap car oil and a loobman oiler.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

A while ago, graphite oils & greases were all the rage - isn't that the ' black ' in used oil?

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I'm afraid the black in used oil is the suspended by-products of combustion. Carbon deposits give the black colour I think.


Jambo

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I concur. Which make me sad a little because until I run the engine with fresh oil in it, I had red oil. Looks quite cool.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I have no issues with using used oil, especially when it is an expensive synthetic. My logic goes something like this. If the oil is so spent that it is not capable of protecting the chain for the very brief period that it will remain attached, then that is the least of my problems - ie WTF was it doing in the engine for so long! Filters get down into the 8-25 micron range (don't throw the old filter into the drain pan) which is absolutely miniscule in comparison to what the road will throw at it. Last but not least, even new oil will end up a shade of black after it has been run across the chain, heated and mixed with road grime and brake dust...

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I wasn't going to reply to anymore posts about this but: You call that logic? ;o)

You just do not know what is in used engine oil.

If you use it all the time, it is there for the life of the chain and sprockets, not some 'brief' period,

Used engine oil plus the 'heating and mixing with road grime and brake dust' is just maybe a tad worse than starting off with clean oil?

Have you ever felt how skinny used engine oil feels, compared to fresh stuff?

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I feel to some extent we're going round in circles. I think it's unlikely I'll convince you otherwise which is fine. The hot oil coming out of an engine is very thin due to it's temperature, once it's at ambient I've not noticed it to be any thinner than new oil.

Several people have used old engine oil to get 40-50,000 miles from a chain. Maybe it's not as perfect as new oil, but modern bikes like the Z750 go 6,-8,000 miles between changes of oil, and the same stuff goes in the SV or ZX6. Oil is designed to hold the by-products in suspension away from the components they touch.

Short answer is cheap car oil, chainsaw oil, or new scottoil's not expensive, if you're in anyway concerned simply use that, it's not the wrong thing to do, but I remain unconvinced used engine oil is a poor lubricant.

Jambo

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

The tolerances of a chain are nothing compared to an engine so its "clean enough" however a dual weight oil is going to be too thin to be used on a chain anyway so its a bad idea for that reason only.

Yes, I wasted my first post on that!!! :)

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I am fully aware of the contents of used oil. I am yet to see any damage to a chain caused by contaminants. The brief period that I refer to is the time an individual drop spends on the chain - talking a couple minutes. It makes sense to use only new oil, but having had 50k out of chains on both new and used oil it has been hard to see the difference. If the oil is so spent that it has sheared or depleted its entire additive package (ie become "skinny") and has become entirely useless then I have to ask the question, "what the hell was that oil still doing inside the engine?" The oil change was a bit too late.

...

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Hi Black,

Check your manual to see what Suzuki recommends for the chain.

Cheers

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Oddly, I have looked in the repair manual for what is recommended on the chain, but not for the engine (only had my bike for about 6 weeks now). Says use a heavy weight engine oil (30wt or higher) for the chain. Guess I should ask whats recommended for the engine before I post, eh?

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Oddly, I have looked in the repair manual for what is recommended on the chain, but not for the engine (only had my bike for about 6 weeks now). Says use a heavy weight engine oil (30wt or higher) for the chain. Guess I should ask whats recommended for the engine before I post, eh?

I see on the interweb its 10w30 which again would be too thin for the chain. Oh well, I'm just reporting what I'm seeing.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Black, I wasn't being argumentative, just pointing out that engine oil is what is recommended for the chain. I forgot to throw in a smiley. 10W30? 10W40 is more common. You might also be getting too hung up on the low (sub-freezing) viscosity number of the multigrade. :) The chains operating temperature is much closer to the upper viscosity than the lower.

Cheers

PS. I must have been really bored to get into this thread. It has been done over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.... :)

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Cool. I didn't take it that way so its all good.

There was a time last night where the forum wouldn't come up. Apparently I double posted accidentally. I did check back but only just realized my second attempt to send a response went to a third page. Oops!

Anyway I appreciate your responses.I guess I'm up to 4 posts now, so I almost a forum veteran by now.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

How true.

Anyway, assuming anyone actually cares that is, they might like to know that I've used nothing but old engine oil in my Scottoiler, the original chain and sprockets on my ZX6 lasted over 50,000 miles, so I doubt that whatever old oil contains it's capable of much harm to your chain.
Also it might be of interest to know that the Scottoiler in question wasn't new when it got itself bolted to said Kawasaki, and has done very approximately 200,000 miles, all but the first few thousand with old engine oil in it, (the Scottoil supplied with a new Scottoiler being the only time that I can recall the luxury of the genuine article passing through its tubes), so the suggestion that old engine oil contains nasties that will savage your Scottoiler is, to my mind anyway, comprehensively disproven.

Again.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

We used to send samples of our used fully synthetic truck oil for analysis after 30,000miles and never had a bad report yet
A firm in Yorkshire ran a test in conjunction with one of the major oil companies
New engine strip measure everything
Fill with oil AND only top up
Change filters at recommended times
100,000 miles strip engine and remeasure all moving parts for wear

The results were that the fully synthetic oil being used for 100,000miles with only top ups and filter changes was just as efficient as an engine that had oil changes as per the engine maintenance schedule

This was carried out on six new Volvo F12's 3 on test and 3 as per the schedule

I would consider that oil that has been run at turbo temperatures has had as much abuse as any motorbike engine can generate and therefore used motorbike engine oil that has been changed as per maintenance schedule perfectly acceptable for use as a chain lubricant

Then again some people just like to throw money away

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

I have just re-installed my scottoiler and been using old engine oil. TBH any oil on the chain lubricating it while it's running is better than lubricating it while running.

Re: Used oil for chain lube
 

Too thin to stay on there if you apply it like spray can chain lube. But if it is constantly dripped on it is fine.