Explain to me: Motor Oil

I've used the same type of Oil in the bike now for a few flushes that was following reccomendations of an Organ but Im now about to do an oil change on the car. Having never done it I thought I'd see if you lot could give me some basic knowlage behind what it all means.

I know it matters very little on a 1.4petrol engine but I want to look after it / get the most I can.

Little things I wonder about are can I put 5w40 in a car if it says its meant for a bike, will this be better in the car or will it kill it?

Cheers in advance.

[timwilky]

No No

Well any oil is better than no oil. But your Megane probalbly needs a full sythentic with fancy friction inhibitors etc.

Buy car oil for cars, bike oils for bikes, my opinion is never the twain should meet.

[maviczap]

+1 thats why they make different oil for car & bikes

[Dave20046]

Don't be a d1ck Matt, next you'll be snipping brake seals...
Use car oil and preferably what it says in the manual; certainly viscosity wise-if it recommends fully synthetic ,you may get away with semi but I'd check it out.

Originally Posted by timwilky

No No

Well any oil is better than no oil. But your Megane probalbly needs a full sythentic with fancy friction inhibitors etc.

Buy car oil for cars, bike oils for bikes, my opinion is never the twain should meet.

Originally Posted by maviczap

+1 thats why they make different oil for car & bikes

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Don't be a d1ck Matt, next you'll be snipping brake seals...
Use car oil and preferably what it says in the manual; certainly viscosity wise-if it recommends fully synthetic ,you may get away with semi but I'd check it out.

LOL! I thank you all for your faith (or lack there of in my mad skillz init) but all of the above is the logic... I want the reasons.

Tim: My thinking is why is bike oil different from car oil? surely bike engines are higher stressed and therefore need better oil, so why not pop it in a car if its good enough for a bike engine surely its more than good enough for the car. See thats my logic anyway, buts its my reasonings which are all to c0ck.

Mavis: Why, why do they make different oils? not relating to viscosity I mean why is bike 10w/40 differnt to car 10w/40

Dave: It was the dust seals, not the piston seal and it worked a treat I dont have a clue what the ACTUAL differnce between part synth and fully synth is. Obviously ones got more synth in it than the other but WTF does the synth do?

C'mon guys educate me!

[Dave20046]

I know , I was kidding.There are different additives in car oil to bike oil and it has other different properties - in a bike your engine oil lubes the barell,clutch and gears ... In a car you have separate engine and gearbox oil.if you put car oil in a bike the clutch slips like a ******* if you were to do it the other way I imagine there'd be more friction going on in the cars engine

Thats the sort of thing I was after nice one.
Anymore?

[Dave20046]

Someone'll be able to give you a better (correct ) run down but that's my simple take on it
Re synthetic oil my complete guess is mineral (the kind of opposite of synthetic) oil is just almost natural refined oil , synthetic is made with man made additives and will behave,lubricate,last differently and modern engines are spec'd up to utilize this.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

if you put car oil in a bike the clutch slips like a *******

Does it?

It heavily depends on the particular oil, some energy saving 0W30 or soemthing MAY cause monster clutch slip. Cheap crap 10W40 or 20W50 (in an equally crappy engine) makes no difference.


Bike oil is expensive. Use car oil in the car, rock oil in elland will have some cheap stuff which meets the proper spec as will a motor factors.

[_Stretchie_]

I just use Halfords car/bike and Diesel oil in the corresponding vehicle.

My I got my 1.5 1997 Civic in 2005 with 80k on the clock and it's now got 155k on the clock and since I've had it, I've only put Halfords 10w/40 semi synth in it.