XBR500 which engine oil

[steveD]

Recently on the Dragon run my 660 Tenere clutch started to slip. I knew that the clutch cable was correctly adjusted and the lever was free to move. The only thing that could be wrong was the oil as I had a mechanic change it. When I got back home I asked him what he had used, he told me that he used "something like 5/20 fully synthetic", I couldn't believe it. That was the problem as my previous Tenere had at least 30K on the clock and I had given it some stick trail riding and no problems. So it cost me clutch gasket, new set of fibre PLATES, and an oil filter and some proper 10/40 semi-synthetic Motul oil. All is good now. I have recently bought a Honda CB250RS, nearly 30 yrs old and the manual states 10/40 semi synthetic. QED

Cheers Steve

[welland99]

The XBR handbook says very little about choice of oil. 

Grade:  no specific grade is recommended.  the temperature chart shows that above 0C, the following are all suitable:  10W30, 10W40, 15W40, 15W50, 20W40, 20W50.

Service standard:  meet or exceed SE or SF.  I presume that SG exceeds SF, so is OK. 

No mention of semi synthetic or mineral:  so both are OK

No mention of absence of friction modifiers or bike specific oil:  Car oil seems to be OK. 

[timbo]

I have only ever used semi 10/40 bike oil in any jap bike. Using anything else will cause problems I think. The only thing I wasn't sure about was why I couldn't use car oil, but having read other posts on this thread, I will stick with bike oil and change every 1 to 1.5k on the XBR.

[002]

Dont use car oil !       Different additives in car oil dont agree with a wet clutch and will make it slip !

Honda used to recommend 10/40 but now use 10/30 for all their machines.

Jethro

[Propellor]

There's always Wikipedia (other sites are available  )

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

A nice bedtime read. Good luck!

I'm still intrigued with the smoky start. The idea of going higher viscosity on start up doesn't seem right to me. Manufacturers have spent decades trying to get the oil viscosity LOWER during start up.

If it is smoking on start up but definitely not using oil when warm I'd suspect another problem other than the oil.

[eightcans]

I`ve always used oil designed for motorcycle use mainly due to the wet clutch. Oils are designed for use in petrol and diesel engines/gearboxes/axles/2 strokes/cars/bikes/lawnmowers and the list goes on. Many variations but IMHO as I know much less than the manufacturers I`d go with what is says on the tin !!

As for the smokey engine thing my XBR did this on a few occasions but always when going down hill when first started. It did produce an alarming amount of smoke but once cleared ran as normal. Never got to the bottom of it !!

[Oldtimer]

NEVER NEVER use fully synthetic oil with a wet multi plate clutch, I will say no more [unless asked]
look here http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=42671

[Propellor]

......Never got to the bottom of it !!

Damn. I was so looking forward to a happy ending.

Your avatar name thingy. Is that per night or per week?

Just curious. 

[guest564]

Smoky starting after it has been stood for a while is often caused by leaking valve seals. On an XBR it could also be caused by oil syphoning into the sump.