Dumb Oil Question

S4L

Registered
Hey guys, sorry for the stupid question here, but a search didn't really answer this question. I went to the store today to get oil and the guy picked it out for me and he gave me 5w-40 due to the cold temps. Coming home and looking at the '08 Busa manual, I don't even see 5w oil on the graph on which oil to use. My question is, will synthetic 5w oil be okay, especially as we head towards summer? I don't expect to ride 5000 miles before the temps start to rise into the 80's or 90's. Can you run 5w oil into summer time temps?

Thanks in advance.
 
From memory and I'll go off and check the 5W-40 lowers the temp range but still goes pretty high. Probably not more than a few degrees in temp through the year between us. I don't think you really needed it.
 
5W-40 isn't mentioned in the manual for the Gen II period and 10W-40 takes you to -4 degrees F and up to 104 degrees F. I'd take it back and get 10W-40, but that's me.
 
It will be fine as long as you have a TRE and Shinkos on your bike:poke:
:D

:laugh: The shinko's that smoke or the regulars?

From memory and I'll go off and check the 5W-40 lowers the temp range but still goes pretty high. Probably not more than a few degrees in temp through the year between us. I don't think you really needed it.

I agree, especially with the mild winter we are having. Now I'm deciding if I should return it for 10w, save it for a colder winter, or just use it. He puzzled me when he asked me if I was going to be riding over the next couple months, then I seen he rang me up with 5w. Tempted to just run up to Wal-mart and get some Mobile 1, then save this stuff for this winter. I doubt we'll get two winters in a row of (so far) no snow in sight.
 
Don't worry there aren't any dumb questions when it comes to maintaining your baby. We would rather see this post instead of; "I screwed up my motor by ______"

That being said, I would go with the manufacture says After all I run my bike into the high 30's some times and I haven't had any issue with the 10-40 weight (freak cold snaps up here along with the July hail storms). . Also does that have any friction modifiers in it? Wet clutches can be compromised by the friction modifiers. Even in my Honda Night Hawk I would only run non energy conserving oils.

One other question, does this guy know anything about bikes or just oil weight?
 
I would stick with the 10/40

me too

Mobil_1_Racing_4T_10W40_Motor_Oil_detail.jpg
 
It should be a motorcycle oil, if not return and get a motorcycle specific oil. Mobil One is very good but it needs to be the one in the picture posted above.
 
I use a 5W40 always. A bit more expensive though.

It really does not matter though, she will run good on a 10W60 as well.
 
I use a 5W40 always. A bit more expensive though.

It really does not matter though, she will run good on a 10W60 as well.

Just curious, but why do you 5w40 instead of 10w40? Availability? Better cold start performance? The brief search that I did, I don't see a reason why it would really matter. Granted most of this stuff is hearsay, it sounded like it was from knowledgeable people. The difference between the two oils is simply the viscosity at a certain temperature, but the viscosity is the same once the engine is warm. Basically the 5w is slightly thinner than the 10w at start up. The only thing I seen being a negative is that this is caused by additives into the oil that break down sooner....?? So someone said. :dunno:
 
Just curious, but why do you 5w40 instead of 10w40? Availability? Better cold start performance? The brief search that I did, I don't see a reason why it would really matter. Granted most of this stuff is hearsay, it sounded like it was from knowledgeable people. The difference between the two oils is simply the viscosity at a certain temperature, but the viscosity is the same once the engine is warm. Basically the 5w is slightly thinner than the 10w at start up. The only thing I seen being a negative is that this is caused by additives into the oil that break down sooner....?? So someone said. :dunno:

Another oil thread huh.:banghead:
Through the life of your bike it really does not matter, most Busas will not see 100,000 miles or even close.
In a normal motor, wear only happens when the oil film breaks down. In a reasonably stock Busa, under normal operating conditions, the oil film only breaks down after the motor has not turned for a while and then for a short period after start-up while the oil pump moves oil to all the critical lubrication areas.

So, in short, most of your wear happens during cold start and a 5W40 is a bit thinner when cold, so the oil pump gets it where it needs to be a little faster.

Some tests done some time ago, you can google the data, shows that on a Honda Blackbird, there was 2-3hp gain using a 5W40 synthetic, compared to a 10W40.

A good 5W40 is more expensive to make, as the viscosity polymers have to stretch a little further and need better shear resistance to keep the oil in grade. The base needs to be a bit better as well.

In the end we are splitting hairs here, really not that important. I do an oil analysis with every change, just for fun and because I enjoy my bike. The main advantage with that is showing me how the oil holds up.

When we spend money on oil, we do it in good faith believing that it does everything the marketing dude said it would do and every marketeer says his product is the best. An analysis is a good reality check.
 
Definitely agree with you on the 100k mark. Not something I want to think about, but there is a good chance that I'll wad the bike before I hit that marker. Nevertheless, I'll stick with the 5w40 I just needed a little assurance. Thanks a lot Jelly.
 
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