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Need Oil

BULLETIN ! : SG is now an obsolete rating. Current ones are SJ/SL/SM/SN


Go to the American Petroleum Institute site and get the ratings guide, use the current standard, and stop stressing over oil ratings. For those still worrying about thin oil and what temperatures are used with what viscosity rating, the bottom of the last page in the PDF file noted below shows the temperature ranges recommendations. PDF file is here:


http://www.api.org/certifications/engineoil/categories/upload/motor_oil_guide_2010_120210.pdf


Now go ride and quit wasting bandwidth, time and oxygen worrying about oil. :bikes

why would we want to use the current API rated oil when it's specs do not fully meet our engine's requirements for ZDDP and other additives?

SG is still readily available & meets specs as delineated by the manufacturer? again- newer is not necessarily better.
 
And once the SG oil is no longer produced, than what do you do?

As oils advance the are typically backwards compatible. Which means they meet and exceed the previous specification and can be used in place of without voiding your warranty.

However, this is not always true with Automatic Transmission Fluids.
 
why would we want to use the current API rated oil when it's specs do not fully meet our engine's requirements for ZDDP and other additives?

SG is still readily available & meets specs as delineated by the manufacturer? again- newer is not necessarily better.


OK here is the REAL truth. When you can no longer get SG rated oils, your bike will implode and melt into an unrecognizable lump of aluminum, steel, copper,magnesium, rubber and plastic, bubble a bit and then reach critical mass and cause a low yield nuclear explosion that will destroy everything within a three mile radius. BEWARE OF USING THE WRONG OIL. OMG !


Oh... and then EPA will send you a bill for the mess you made !

:whistle


:hide
 
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OK here is the REAL truth. When you can no longer get SG rated oils, your bike will implode and melt into an unrecognizable lump of aluminum, steel, copper,magnesium, rubber and plastic, bubble a bit and then reach critical mass and cause a low yield nuclear explosion that will destroy everything within a three mile radius. BEWARE OF USING THE WRONG OIL. OMG !


Oh... and then EPA will send you a bill for the mess you made !

:whistle


:hide

sooo............just sell it to me now, and save the agony......................... for scrap prices of course:D
 
OK here is the REAL truth. When you can no longer get SG rated oils, your bike will implode and melt into an unrecognizable lump of aluminum, steel, copper,magnesium, rubber and plastic, bubble a bit and then reach critical mass and cause a low yield nuclear explosion that will destroy everything within a three mile radius. BEWARE OF USING THE WRONG OIL. OMG !


Oh... and then EPA will send you a bill for the mess you made !

:whistle


:hide

OH, OK, that fixes THAT problem then.........:thumb
 
As oils advance the are typically backwards compatible. Which means they meet and exceed the previous specification and can be used in place of without voiding your warranty.

However, this is not always true with Automatic Transmission Fluids.

A number of European and Asian car makers now ignore the API specs and use the Japanese or European rating systems altogether. The reason is that in some respects the later API specs are not as good as the earlier specs. This is particularly true when it comes to the anti-wear additives. BMW said so regarding their motorcycles when the API went from SH to SJ years ago.

But folks still argue the point on their keyboards even today. Just because the API, under pressure to reduce ZDDP says that a later rating "supercedes" earlier ratings does not mean it is superior in all important respects. I use SG rated oil.
 
I found this Page and it was a scientist that did a study on the comparison of motorcycle oil to automobile oil the study also covered synthetic oil. I would like to hear some feed back on this topic after you read the article. The test covered mobil 1, castrol gtx, castrol syntec, spectro 4, and Honda hp4 the spectro 4 was the poorest rated and the mobil 1 was the best

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/oiltest1.htm
 
I found this Page and it was a scientist that did a study on the comparison of motorcycle oil to automobile oil the study also covered synthetic oil. I would like to hear some feed back on this topic after you read the article. The test covered mobil 1, castrol gtx, castrol syntec, spectro 4, and Honda hp4 the spectro 4 was the poorest rated and the mobil 1 was the best

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/oiltest1.htm
From 1994 little obsolete

1. There is an exemption on ZDDP for 20W50 oils, most all I know of have 1200 PPM minimum, MA oils are about 1700 SN is about 400. 400 is not enough for a flat tappet cam. 1200 is enough for a cam, borderline for transmission gears.

So for a air, oil, hex or cam head, a good 20W50 will be fine. If you have any of the others a MA or SG oil is a good idea. Guess what, keep it simple, just use MA oils. For winter, Rotella Syn has a MA rating. Then when it warms, just change to 20W50. An Oil head will rattle when It is time to change.

Rod
 
Well, I'm on the road again. I'm in Stockton. I rode about 350 miles to get here.
Do you think I should check the oil?
I did an oil change a week or two ago, and put in I think 4 quarts. I think I counted 4 quarts. Or it may have been liters.
It was the official BMW stuff. I found some of the other stuff at the same price, so I figured ...
dc
 
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