I just read somewhere that a dude was running diesel oil in his hp bike??? I'm not familiar. Any comments?

 

Lots of people run diesel rated engine oils in their bikes, and everything else they have. Not a damn thing wrong with it, it is great engine oil.

My company had a fleet of service trucks with GM gas engines that had nothing but Delo 400 15w40 in them, and most of them were retired at over 300K miles without an engine replacement.

 

I always have some 15w40 around. I've used it in lawn equipment, a Toyota 22re, and small block Fords. Mystik has a 15w 50 that used to be less than 40 bucks for 2.5 gallons.

 

this thread has inspired me to try new things..I may just give diesel fuel a try in my M8 ! but honestly, read what HD OMs say about using diesel oil in their engines, it's their 1st choice if you need to add oil and their proprietary oil formulas are unavailable so that tells you right there they are an acceptable alternative, for the most part .. just not preferred or they would just brand their own to spec for sure

 

that is all that i use except for the honda dream engine which uses 0/20 NOT found in a diesel lube. they make more than just 15/40. you can also get straight weights, i used rotella 50 in my 74ch.
the theory is that diesel lubes still contain more anti-wear additives than auto oils, hummmm, maybe yes and maybe no. if you keep a well maintained schedule, most any will do but if you like to extend service, the diesel oil will keep the engine clean.

 

and the oil filter dirtier? which means maybe not extend service and just do it like they say to ?

 

I use 5W-40 Valvoline Premium Blue in all the gas engines in my driveway as well besides my wife's because hers spec 5W-20 or 0W-20. If it calls for 5W-30 I put diesel engine oil in it, that includes old school SBCs and LS engines.

I use Mobil 1 V-twin 20W50 in all the holes of my Harleys because it's available locally and does the job just fine.

 

 

I've read Shell Rotella T6 diesel engine oil is popular with Harley riders. The viscosity is ok 15W-40, but I prefer higher for my air-cooled engine.

Diesel oil just contains a bunch of extra additive you don't need in a gasoline engine......primarily detergent/dispersant additive to hold the soot blowby in diesels.

 

well mr. mj that is the sole purpose is it not
1. lube
2. cool
3.CLEAN
the diesel oil has a higher detergent package and will hold particulate in suspension.
back in the 60's, i got an amoco company car, they got rid of them at end of warranty so at 50k i got one. they maintained the cars by local amoco stations and was religiously done but using amoco oil for auto and was pretty much sludge up, could see flakes of it through the valve cover port. after a diet of EMD locomotive oil for 20k it looked like a new engine.
there is one more point hear is that i also added a frantz by-pass filter.
if oil did not change color, then it probably isn't working.