Engine Oils

[wingrider007]

Re: Engine Oils

hi i am using honda activa since almost 12 years and have clocked 25k kms , planning to change engine oil from honda engine oil for first time (yeah :P)
can you suggest good engine oil ? its 2005 model 102 cc engine. the scooter is still smooth, but pick up seems low than before .
Will there be any change or good effect to switch to say any other better oil than honda std engine oil so late in life cycle ?

my reason for sticking with honda engine oil was i was not much into bike stuff , plus use to change oil in 2.5k kms . so you can say only changed 12 to 14 times max .this oil never gave me any problem though.

so my question still stands any other better oil will boost or give better performance now ? if yes which ? suggest me some oils or i should stick to honda engine oil

thanks

[Arun Mahider]

Exact resolution needed on engine oil change effects

HI I have a 2009 pulsar 200 and am using 20w50 grade. I dont know if it is mineral or synthetic but i ask for 20w50 and usually I get the bajaj branded one and am happy with it. but a friend of mine asked me to use motul 3100 and i am hesitant cause i remember reading not to change engine oil brands and variety. kindly help . I would like to know if using high quality engine oil would disturb the engine which is habituated to a lesser quality oil . IF so I would be grateful for the expert bikers enthusiasts opinion.

[himu]

Re: Engine Oils

If I buy Castrol engine oil from a dealer listed in their website is their any chance of getting a counterfeit ?

[srikany]

Re: Engine Oils

hi i am using honda activa since almost 12 years and have clocked 25k kms , planning to change engine oil from honda engine oil for first time (yeah :P)
can you suggest good engine oil ? its 2005 model 102 cc engine. the scooter is still smooth, but pick up seems low than before .
Will there be any change or good effect to switch to say any other better oil than honda std engine oil so late in life cycle ?

my reason for sticking with honda engine oil was i was not much into bike stuff , plus use to change oil in 2.5k kms . so you can say only changed 12 to 14 times max .this oil never gave me any problem though.

so my question still stands any other better oil will boost or give better performance now ? if yes which ? suggest me some oils or i should stick to honda engine oil

thanks

Hello , Wingrider

25 k kms in 12 years indicates sparingly used vehicle. I am assuming you have very good access to public transport or live quite close to your place of work . The Older activa engines are bullet proof and last over 1 lakh kilometers usually. There is but only a marginal drop in performance even at that mark

Check your belt drive - and the rollers as well for any signs of undue wear and tear as this may be cause of drop in pickup when compared to before.


Please go for a 20W40 grade mineral or semisynthetic oil from Shell/veedol/elf/motul based on the brand that is easily available. Some of the owners use a xxW30 grade, but I personally prefere xxW40 grade given the temperatures in mumbai are not in single digits anytime.thicker oil will shave off a km or so from the average per liter, but I would be happy with a healthy engine with good compression even when close to one lakh kilometers.

Do remember to change the gear oil as well( please don't use the engine oil for this - use 90 grade gear oil)


You can go for an engine flush before the oil change to be sure there is no much built up over the years, I used Cyclo-flush brand and it was really good. follow the instructions on the bottle properly. Get the oil strainer on the left side of the engine near the main stand cleaned thoroughly .

Replace the engine oil and let us know your experience.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

HI I have a 2009 pulsar 200 and am using 20w50 grade. I dont know if it is mineral or synthetic but i ask for 20w50 and usually I get the bajaj branded one and am happy with it. but a friend of mine asked me to use motul 3100 and i am hesitant cause i remember reading not to change engine oil brands and variety. kindly help . I would like to know if using high quality engine oil would disturb the engine which is habituated to a lesser quality oil . IF so I would be grateful for the expert bikers enthusiasts opinion.

HI
There will be no harm in using the same 20W50 grade engine oil from any brand as long as it meets the same certification standards eg API SL. I am assuming you are referring to fully synthetic oil when mentioning "high quality engine oil", there should be no harm in going for them if you wish to, there is no such thing as engine being habituated to lesser quality oil unless you have a vintage bike that is never opened and has poor oil seal condition.

[wingrider007]

Re: Engine Oils

[QUOTE=srikany;1267689]Hello , Wingrider

25 k kms in 12 years indicates sparingly used vehicle. I am assuming you have very good access to public transport or live quite close to your place of work . The Older activa engines are bullet proof and last over 1 lakh kilometers usually. There is but only a marginal drop in performance even at that mark

Check your belt drive - and the rollers as well for any signs of undue wear and tear as this may be cause of drop in pickup when compared to before.


Please go for a 20W40 grade mineral or semisynthetic oil from Shell/veedol/elf/motul based on the brand that is easily available. Some of the owners use a xxW30 grade, but I personally prefere xxW40 grade given the temperatures in mumbai are not in single digits anytime.thicker oil will shave off a km or so from the average per liter, but I would be happy with a healthy engine with good compression even when close to one lakh kilometers.

Do remember to change the gear oil as well( please don't use the engine oil for this - use 90 grade gear oil)


You can go for an engine flush before the oil change to be sure there is no much built up over the years, I used Cyclo-flush brand and it was really good. follow the instructions on the bottle properly. Get the oil strainer on the left side of the engine near the main stand cleaned thoroughly .

Replace the engine oil and let us know your experience.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Thanks a lot bro , will check all the stuff you said and will report back my experience

[Funrider]

Re: Engine Oils

Hi Srikany,
I have a small query regarding engine oil, hope you could help me with it.

I have a Thunderbird and have done 21000 KM in a year. Now my bike is due for a servicing and i want to move to motul 5100 15w50.
What should be the ideal process for engine oil change. And few people suggest that oil chamber need to be opened and cleaned with cleansing solvent but Enfield says otherwise.
So please help me with this.
Thanks
Funrider

Hello , Wingrider

25 k kms in 12 years indicates sparingly used vehicle. I am assuming you have very good access to public transport or live quite close to your place of work . The Older activa engines are bullet proof and last over 1 lakh kilometers usually. There is but only a marginal drop in performance even at that mark

Check your belt drive - and the rollers as well for any signs of undue wear and tear as this may be cause of drop in pickup when compared to before.


Please go for a 20W40 grade mineral or semisynthetic oil from Shell/veedol/elf/motul based on the brand that is easily available. Some of the owners use a xxW30 grade, but I personally prefere xxW40 grade given the temperatures in mumbai are not in single digits anytime.thicker oil will shave off a km or so from the average per liter, but I would be happy with a healthy engine with good compression even when close to one lakh kilometers.

Do remember to change the gear oil as well( please don't use the engine oil for this - use 90 grade gear oil)


You can go for an engine flush before the oil change to be sure there is no much built up over the years, I used Cyclo-flush brand and it was really good. follow the instructions on the bottle properly. Get the oil strainer on the left side of the engine near the main stand cleaned thoroughly .

Replace the engine oil and let us know your experience.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----



HI
There will be no harm in using the same 20W50 grade engine oil from any brand as long as it meets the same certification standards eg API SL. I am assuming you are referring to fully synthetic oil when mentioning "high quality engine oil", there should be no harm in going for them if you wish to, there is no such thing as engine being habituated to lesser quality oil unless you have a vintage bike that is never opened and has poor oil seal condition.

[srikany]

Re: Engine Oils

Hi Srikany,
I have a small query regarding engine oil, hope you could help me with it.

I have a Thunderbird and have done 21000 KM in a year. Now my bike is due for a servicing and i want to move to motul 5100 15w50.
What should be the ideal process for engine oil change. And few people suggest that oil chamber need to be opened and cleaned with cleansing solvent but Enfield says otherwise.
So please help me with this.
Thanks
Funrider

HiFunrider,

If your bike has been serviced properly on time with oil+oil filter changes as recommended, there is no need to go for a "solvent" based cleaning. I would personally recommend a engine flush only for bikes that have been very badly maintained or in storage for years with gunky oil when drained out.

If you still insist on an engine flush, go ahead and use any of the many brands available out there ( Cyclo from Pidilite was the one I used in my enfield Cast iron 2009 and it was fine).
Please remember to check the condition of the air filter regularly as it may need replacement earlier than what the manual suggests if you live in very dusty environment. A clogged or old filter would let in very fine dust that would negate all the good benefits of a new oil change and carburetor cleaning tweaking.

[Funrider]

Re: Engine Oils

HiFunrider,

If your bike has been serviced properly on time with oil+oil filter changes as recommended, there is no need to go for a "solvent" based cleaning. I would personally recommend a engine flush only for bikes that have been very badly maintained or in storage for years with gunky oil when drained out.

If you still insist on an engine flush, go ahead and use any of the many brands available out there ( Cyclo from Pidilite was the one I used in my enfield Cast iron 2009 and it was fine).
Please remember to check the condition of the air filter regularly as it may need replacement earlier than what the manual suggests if you live in very dusty environment. A clogged or old filter would let in very fine dust that would negate all the good benefits of a new oil change and carburetor cleaning tweaking.

Hi Srikany,
Thanks for your inputs.
My Bike have been maintained well with timely servicing and oil change at every servicing. So it is just that i wanted to move to semi synthetic motul 5100. So should i follow the normal engine oil drain and oil filter change mechanism.

[karteek]

Re: Engine Oils

You can go for an engine flush before the oil change to be sure there is no much built up over the years, I used Cyclo-flush brand and it was really good. follow the instructions on the bottle properly. Get the oil strainer on the left side of the engine near the main stand cleaned thoroughly .

Hi, I own a 2008 model Honda Shine 125 CC bike. All these years I was going for regular service @ Honda service center. Now I wanted to change the engine oil to Motul synthetic. What do you suggest ? Bike clocked 42000 KM till date.

Thanks much for your time and support.

[srikany]

Re: Engine Oils

Hi Srikany,
Thanks for your inputs.
My Bike have been maintained well with timely servicing and oil change at every servicing. So it is just that i wanted to move to semi synthetic motul 5100. So should i follow the normal engine oil drain and oil filter change mechanism.

If you have a habit of redlining the bike, depending on the factors like city commuting and stop and go usage or highway rides, drain the oil anywhere between 2500 to 3500 kms or as per the User manual. One good indicator to oil loosing its punch is when you find the gear shifts to be problematic and engine sounding gruff and angry.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Hi, I own a 2008 model Honda Shine 125 CC bike. All these years I was going for regular service @ Honda service center. Now I wanted to change the engine oil to Motul synthetic. What do you suggest ? Bike clocked 42000 KM till date.

Thanks much for your time and support.

Hi
Hi Karteek,

Are you referring to semi synthetic oil in your query. For a majority of us Indian bikers who use lower powered commuter bikes for city rides even a semi synthetic oil holds good for the recommended interval. People have reported good benefits using fully synthetic oil, if you dont mind paying a significantly higher price for fully synthetic oil, go for it. Keeps us posted with your experience after the oil change.

Please read the threads posted before for more information.

Cheers

[karteek]

Re: Engine Oils

Are you referring to semi synthetic oil in your query.

My bad I was referring to semi-synthetic oil only. I want to move to Shell AX7 10W40 Semi Synthetic for my Honda Shine 2008 model. What is your suggestion ?

Also Do I have to do engine flush before moving from one type (mineral) to other type (semi-synthetic) ? Thanks.

[ashwanth.r]

Re: Engine Oils

Also Do I have to do engine flush before moving from one type (mineral) to other type (semi-synthetic) ? Thanks.

Shell AX-7 Semi-synthetic (SS) 10W-40 is a very good oil for Unicorn/Karizma and Shine. There is no need for an engine flush if you have changed the oil regularly every 3000-4000 kms till now. SS is ~70-75% mineral only.

Also, in future, if you want to change to a mineral like AX-5 from AX-7, even then, flushes are not needed.

[karteek]

Re: Engine Oils

Also, in future, if you want to change to a mineral like AX-5 from AX-7, even then, flushes are not needed.

Thanks ashwanth.r

[karteek]

Re: Engine Oils

Guys,

One more question. What do you do with the left over "new engine oil" ? Let us say you bought some engine oil of 1 Liter. You are supposed to use only 800 ml. Then what will you do with the left over fresh 200 ml engine oil ?

Also do you use some sort of measuring object for 800 ml accuracy ? Please enlighten.

Thanks.

[karteek]

Re: Engine Oils

Please read the threads posted before for more information.

Yesterday got the oil changed to Shell AX7 SS 10W40. Also got the chain slack corrected by the mechanic. Sparkplug checked.

Today while riding the bike I feel gear shifting is a bit hard. Why is this ? Is this because of new oil or chain adjustment ? Please confirm. Thanks.

Tagging [MENTION=33190]ashwanth.r[/MENTION] and [MENTION=25995]srikany[/MENTION]