It's been a while since i've dealt with bikes and i'm getting a 1981 Yamaha XS650 Special on the road.
Recommended oil is "Yamalube 4 cycle oil or SAE 20W/40 type 'SE' motor oil"

I bought Castrol 4 stroke motorcycle oil, 10W40 and figured that will work.
since this is a wet clutch, does it really need motorcycle oil? it did list the alternative above and i have plenty of Chevron 10W40 in the garage.

also, the manual doesn't indicate "leaded" fuel, but inside the air cleaner, it says to use leaded 91 octane.....i don't think this thing has ever seen leaded fuel, or at least not in years.....anyone have any good sites or recommendations regarding leaded vs unleaded? I'd hate to have to keep dosing it with lead substitute at the pump.

thoughts? TIA

 

Can't help you with the leaded fuel problem, buy you will be fine with that weight oil. I've been using 15w50 car oil in both of my motorcycles for years with no problems. You don't want oil with "energy conserving" logo on the back.

 

thanks...
i found a great XS650 site, they are fanatics, all they talk about are their bikes! can you believe someone would sit online and just talk about their favorite vehicles? wow....crazy!

 

being a 1981 unleaded fuel will be fine. i had an old 79 cbx 1000 and it called for unleaded. as far as oils, you can run regular car oil but i wouldnt go 3000 miles,bike engines put the oil through hell plus the gear box being lubed by the oil breaks down the oil quicker. Motocycle oils have higher shear additives for the abuse the tranny gives the oil. I ran castroll 20/50 and changed it every 1500 miles. darn bike took 5 courts.

 

thanks...i traded the 10W40 for 20W50 and will be looking at 1k OCI for the first one and 1.5k after that.....good insurance.

 

I have talked with guys that do motorcycles, from dealers, bike mechanics, guys that ride & do there own work. (I'm a retired mechanic myself)
ALL tell me the same thing about AUTOMOTIVE OIL vs MOTORCYCLE OIL. That is in recent years AUTOMOTIVE OIL has been reformulated to meet EMISSIONS STANDARDS. Using AUTOMOTIVE OIL in MOTORCYCLES will in time ruin clutches & even starters that run in oil. The new automotive oils are real slick.
I use to run automotive oil in my bikes for years with no problems, but I understand what I'm being told about the reformulation of oil, so I decided I would listen to the PROS the people repairing them & servicing them, along with others that ride & pay the extra for MOTORCYCLE OIL. I have two bikes a Kawasaki Ninja & a Suzuki SV.
As for the oil weight situation 10-40 should be fine. I run 10-40 Kawasaki oil in my NINJA, & Mobil One cycle oil in my Suzuki at $13/qt.
With the gas I would try 91 octane unleaded & see how that works. The other option is octane booster & lower octane unleaded. But I first would go with 91 octane unleaded & see what it runs like. If it called for 91 octane lead I don't think I would try regular unleaded.

 

Chevron 10W-40 is not "energy conserving", so it will work. It is the 5W-20, 5W-30 and 10W-30 grades that will cause your wet clutch to slip, due to friction modifiers.

My current favorite motorcycle oil is Shell Rotella Synthetic, 5W-40. Its available for under $20 a gallon at Autozone and Walmart. I used to use Chevron Delo 400, but the new formula contains Moly, which also caused wet clutch problems.

Jim

 

RTS 5-40, the CI-4+ version, anyway - don't know yet about the CJ-4 iteration, has achieved cult-status amongst certain groups.

Mobil 1 15-50 is another good one. My bikes (an air/oil cooled Suzuki 1200 Bandit, and water cooled 1000 V-Strom) seem to appreciate it. Definitely makes for smoother shifting than anything else I've tried. I'm still using up my stash of the old Red-Cap stuff. The Silver Cap is supposed to be an exact replacement, but I haven't tried any, so

I used Castrol ACTevo 10-40 for a good while in the 'Strom, my nephew's 650 'Strom and niece's 250 Honda Nighthawk. Held up pretty well in my 'Strom, according to a UOA done by Blackstone. It was pretty pricey when I bought it a number of years ago. If you can find it, it should certainly work well.

Actually, just about any SH or SL rated 20-40 or 50 should do great, at the OCI's you're talking about.

BTW - That's a classy classic - take care and ride safe!!

 

thanks gents. the first oil that's going in is Castrol 20W50 since it's the first one i grabbed from the XS650 list....a short OCI, almost like a flush and then the 10W40 will go in.

 

Jim,
I thought I read somewhere that Rotella was reformulated their oils this year. Maybe it was just there dino. I know I was reading about cam failures, & cam break-ins. Rotella was preferred because of its zinc. But I thought I read where Rotella was going through a reformulation. To meet 2008 emissions standards.

Craig

 

It was the dino, at least for now. Even after refomulation, CJ-4 still has more zinc than GF-4 passenger car oils. Delo 400 LE (CJ-4) has 1200ppm, but the moly seems to be a problem with wet clutches. BTW, Royal Purple seems to break down quickly, as far as transmission shift quality goes, dont know why.

Jim

 

Yes RTS was reformulated and is no CJ4 spec. Still contains 1250 ppms of zinc and no moly.