what kind of oil do you use

what kind of oil do you guys use? is full synthetic a option for these old motors?

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jamesjc1200 wrote: what kind of oil do you guys use? is full synthetic a option for these old motors?

Yes, full synthetic works fine but so do some other oils. Be sure not to use car "energy saving" oil as it can be destructive to the bike's wet clutch. To be safe look for oil that has "JASO-MA" marked on the container as that shows it is safe for wet clutches. There are plenty of quality oils from different makers with the JASO-MA designation. Ed

650ed wrote:

jamesjc1200 wrote: what kind of oil do you guys use? is full synthetic a option for these old motors?

Yes, full synthetic works fine but so do some other oils. Be sure not to use car "energy saving" oil as it can be destructive to the bike's wet clutch. To be safe look for oil that has "JASO-MA" marked on the container as that shows it is safe for wet clutches. There are plenty of quality oils from different makers with the JASO-MA designation. Ed

I cannot stress how much 650ed is right about this... JASO-MA oil only. Car oil has friction reducing modifiers and is for dry clutches. You have a wet clutch. The wet clutch is bathed in the oil. Needless to say given that the clutch only works because of friction, reducing the friction of the clutch will compromise performance. There are non-JASO-MA oils that could be used fine, but don't chance it, JASO-MA is the only way to be absolutely sure, and it's a pain in the butt to clean those friction modifiers out.

Full synthetic is definitely an option, but for most cases you simply won't see the benefits of a full synthetic oil.

The main benefit of full synthetic is that the grade doesn't change as rapidly when the oil gets older. For example, a mineral 10W40 might become a 10W30 after 5000kms of use. The synthetic won't break down like that, and so it's better for longer service intervals. Which is great for vehicles that have longer service intervals, but unless you're using the oil for twice as long (really not recommended) a mineral or semi-synthetic is fine.

I personally use Penrite GAS 10W50 in my bike, because it often comes up at a good sale price, and it has a good amount of zinc and detergents, and the extra 10 SAE points is probably a good thing for these older engines too.

1981 KZ650-CSR. Shell Rotella T 15W-40 regular in the white bottle. It has the JASO-MA rating. Or Chevron Delo 15W-40. Both are heavy duty engine oils marketed for diesel engine use & have the anti-wear components. Other heavy duty oils can be used, but these two usually go on sale at various places. I probably wouldn't use them in cold weather.

...

Yamalube 10w40 mineral.

I have been very partial to Spectro Oil products since I found out about them back around 1980 or so. Their oils were the first synthetic oils I found that when you looked inside you motor, it didn't have that dry looking film on like the cams, and shim buckets like most synthetic oils did back then. It had that wet look to it like the petroleum oils did. Both my GSXR and Kz1000 motors have run on their Platinum Full Synthetic 15w50 for many years now with nothing but positive results!!!! All my motors are broken in on good old dinosaur oil for the first few hours of running then I switch to full synthetic.

so if regular car oil is used how would you know? and how would i go about cleaning it out?, i just recently purchased this motor and I am unsure what was ran in it previous to when i had got it.

jamesjc1200 wrote: so if regular car oil is used how would you know? and how would i go about cleaning it out?, i just recently purchased this motor and I am unsure what was ran in it previous to when i had got it.

If you do not know what oil the previous owner put in the bike you should just change it to be safe. You don't need to clean out the old oil, just let it all drain out and put in fresh oil. Ed

And a new filter.

I am changing out the oil and filter as well as the clutch plates, fiber discs and metal discs i also got new springs and the roller bearing pusher kit from z1 enterprises.

thanks guys!