Regular or Synthetic?
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Regular or Synthetic?
Hey guys and gals, I apologize in advance if this is an old, beat to death subject.
I am considering switching to synthetic oil, my bike has 14K miles with regular oil and not one minute of problems at this point.
Some have told me it will run cooler, maybe a little more noise from the engine, maybe a little less clunk changing gears, maybe this, maybe that.
I would like some feedback from out there from those that have switched, good, bad, indifferent, and what kind of results are you experiencing?
Also..what kind of synthetic oil do you like best?
Thank you for your responses.
Ride Safe!
I am considering switching to synthetic oil, my bike has 14K miles with regular oil and not one minute of problems at this point.
Some have told me it will run cooler, maybe a little more noise from the engine, maybe a little less clunk changing gears, maybe this, maybe that.
I would like some feedback from out there from those that have switched, good, bad, indifferent, and what kind of results are you experiencing?
Also..what kind of synthetic oil do you like best?
Thank you for your responses.
Ride Safe!
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,728
Likes: 1
From: Olympia, Washington
RE: Regular or Synthetic?
Check the oil forums. Most will tell you you synthetic. Most popular are Amsoil and Mobil VTwin. I run the latter for oil, Shockproof heavy in trans and MTL for the primary. Enjoy reading.
RE: Regular or Synthetic?
[sm=icon_quiet.gif][sm=popcorn.gif][sm=popcorn.gif]always interesting
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Road Captain
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 711
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From: Bothell, WA
RE: Regular or Synthetic?
I use nothing but HD 360 and change engine oil every 2,500 miles. IMHO, synthetic is a waste of money and "may" cause more problems than good. Synthetic oils were developed to run in Gas Turbine Engines and latter adopted to Internal Combustion Engines. Yes, synthetic is a superior lubricant and has much higher heat properties, but this is exactly why they are not always the bestoilfor an Internal Combustion Engine, which require some friction between the pistons, piston rings, and cylinders to function properly. Every stroke of the piston deposits a small film of oil in the cumbustion chamber. Petrolium basedoil will burn off with combustion while synthetic oil (becuase of its high heat properties) will not burn off. Running synthetic can cause a build up of synthetic oil in the combustion chamber which hardens (crystalizes) on the cylinder wall forming a ridge in the combustion chamber. This ridge (over time) will decrease the area of the combustion chamber increasing compression (which is a good thing) until the compression pressure increases beyond the capacity of the compression rings, then air and combustion gases will begin to "blow by" the piston robbing the engine of power. In addition, synthetic oils are not always compatible with rubbers and plastics used in engine internals (rubbers and plastics are petrolium based products). Running synthetic oils has been suspect in the premature failure of the cam chain tensioners in TC 88 motors and have been attributed to breakdown and leaking of rubber gaskets.
P.S. - I'm a marine diesel mechanic who has learned the pro's and con's of running synthetic oil in high performance diesel engines first hand.
P.S. - I'm a marine diesel mechanic who has learned the pro's and con's of running synthetic oil in high performance diesel engines first hand.
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