10W 40 / 15W 40

[Method]

Hey, being an ex car mechanic i guess i should know this realy lol but at this time of night i realy cant think.

Basicaly my GS500E says it takes 10w 40 oil, i got some 15w 40 from my mums car boot, will it be ok to put in my gs?
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CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[Robby]

Will be fine if its bike oil. Car oil is not recommended, though many people use it with no problems.

Looks for a JASO MA spec somewhere on the bottle, they may have a JASO MB spec out by now too. Either mean its suitable for motorcycle use.

[Scotsman37]

Here's Chevron explanation of the differences between 10W/40 and 15W/40;

What is better a SAE 10W-40 or an SAE 15W-40?

Using the simple rules above it is clear to see that both of these oils have a similar high temperature viscosity as indicated by the '40'. However the 10W-40 is a thinner oil than the SAE 15W-40 at cold temperatures. Simply apply the rule that the lower the 'W'; number the thinner the oil. The SAE 10W is lower than the SAE 15W and hence is a thinner oil. Therefore in cold temperatures we can state that the SAE 10W-40 oil is better than the SAE 15W-40 oil. In winter the end user may experience a benefit by moving from an SAE 15W-40 oil to an SAE 10W-40 oil.


Mineral Oils Versus Synthetic Oils

There is much discussion about mineral oils versus synthetic oils and the relative performance of each type. It is clear that synthetic oils offer certain advantages over mineral oils in terms of low temperature performance, and high temperature oxidation stability but that is not the whole story. Synthetic oils are very expensive and properly formulated mineral oils are more than suitable for most engine applications. A synthetic oil can be considered for very cold temperatures, or for application that may need an outstanding level of oxidation protection but it should be remembered there is a significant cost. The question should always be asked: ‘Can I use a properly formulated mineral oil for this application?

The Society of Automotive Engineers Viscosity Classification

The terms SAE 10W-30 and SAE 15W-40 are widely used. How many people actually understand what these terms mean?

Firstly any viscosity grade should be proceeded by the initials SAE. This stands for the Society of Automotive Engineers and indicated that the following viscosity classification refers to their definitions. It should be noted that SAE is not a performance category it only refers to the viscosity of the oil. When comparing oils the reader should not only compare the SAE viscosity grades of two oils but also the engine performance classifications in order to be able to fully compare performance.

Let us consider the following: SAE 15W-40.

The fact that this classification has two parts; the 15W and the 40 indicates that the oil is a multigrade. The first number with the suffix 'W' indicates the oil's performance at low temperature. In fact the 'W' stands for winter. The lower the 'W' number the lower the viscosity of the oil. Therefore an SAE 5W oil is a lower viscosity oil than an SAE 10W oil.

The number after the W, in the above case '40'; gives a measure of the oil's viscosity at high temperature. Again the lower the number the thinner the oil is at high temperature. So an SAE 30 is a thinner, or less viscous, oil than an SAE 40.

Viscosity

This is simply the most important feature of any lubricating oil. It can be defined as a fluid's resistance to flow. As the temperature of an oil increases its viscosity decreases

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Here's a link explaining what the acronyms mean in regards to engine oil classifications;

https://www.chevron.com/prodserv/ehl/acronyms.htm

[Method]

wow, a big HUG for that man lol
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[bish777]

15/40 is fine in anything rated for 10/40 in UK's temp range.

Bikes will work with any SF/SG rated oil, car or bike despite what the great mass tells you. Its easy, use cheap oil change it more often.

SL rated can be hit and miss as it may have friciton modifiers and cause clutch slip. SJ defnitely will cause slip.

I ran SL rated Halvoline Extra in my FJ1200 and it didnt cause clutch slip.

[Scotsman37]

Do NOT use cheap oil like Halfords own brand name because it's crap as you'll definitely lose about 10mph off the top end. Go for the likes of Castrol/Silkolene and just about any other well branded name except Halfords!

Like what's stated by Chevron that you might get better performance with 10W/40 oil in winter rather than using 15W/40.

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Personally, with the UK's usually cold damp weather I stick with 10W/40 because we usually don't get good summers anyway. We don't get a chance push our bikes to the limit to make them become very hot for prolong periods of time when our roads are in such poor state of repair and speed cameras too.

The only ones that would need say for the likes of 5W/50 or 0W/50 for improved performance are the racers that need their engines kept protected as they reach full speed within a short period of time on a race day.

[Kickstart]

[Rory]

I was under the impression that some cheaper / own-brand oils were made from recycled oil, meaning there are fewer long chain molecules to lubricate and protect at higher temperatures (the long molecules having been chewed up during use in an engine).
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My Old CBR400RR | Bike Oil FAQ | Petrol FAQ

[Scotsman37]

I know because I remember back in the days when I had 125 and did an engine oil change and put in Halfords 10W/40 and within a short while of this happening I lost 10mph off the top end. When it came to another engine oil change and I was unhappy with performance drop caused when I had used Halford's own brand named oil, I then this time replaced it with Castrol GTX's 10W/40 and low & behold I regained within a short period of time of riding the 10mph came back at the top end!

Do NOT buy Halford's own brand named oil it's of inferior quality due to their supplier's refining process and that's probably why they can sell it cheaper!

[Claud 14.7 to 1]

I worked for Halfords, and was always told that the oils come from the same place. Watched/read the oil promotional videos etc and they showed they were just as good: made to the same standards as the big names.

I really can't see how Halford's oil will reduce top speed. Viscosities are the same as other brands and oil is oil (for the most part).

Halford's oil would be cheaper because they don’t spend as many millions on advertising, and putting their name everywhere.

[Kickstart]

Hi

I can see no reason at all why the oil should have affected your top speed, especially on a 2 stroke. All it is affecting is a bit of drag in the gearbox and clutch and that will be the same for any oil of the same viscosity. Should not really cause a problem even if you overfilled it a bit (although overfilling it a lot will cause more drag). Only potential issue would be if it caused clutch slip, so the engine was still revving but not actually reaching its speed.

The oil could allow damage to the gearbox, but in such a situation it would definatly not get better when you changed the oil.

Unsure about the reuse of oil (think most used engine oil just gets reused as heating oil). Some people claim that it is actually a better base for the oil anyway, with the weaker long chains already broken as discarded. Mind you this certainly did not apply to the used engine oil (not recycled, just out of his fathers car) that a friend used in his old clunker of a car .

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Scotsman37]

Any company can harp on about how great their products are, but the truth is in the pudding. The conclusion I came to as several other people that used their oil in the past with their vehicle is that they lost performance which they used to have before filling up with it. That's even the opinion of my Uncle how has 35 years experience as a Consultant Marine Engineer because he advises others NOT to buy Halfords but Castol GTX or something similar. So, I got the info confirmed by a Pro and by my own experience of using Halfords oil.

Basically, I will never buy Halfords' engine oil again !

P.S. it was filled correctly.

Have you ever seen a Halford's sticker on a side of SBK / MotoGP bikes or even racing cars/boats showing that we're using Halfords oil and so it makes you think doesn't it - why?

[Scotsman37]

[Claud 14.7 to 1]

[Robby]

An interesting bit on halfords oils.

On a mercedes forum I visit they are rather fond of synthetic oils. The questions of halfords oil comes up frequently, because the halfords fully synthetic is quite well priced to start with, and sometimes available as a buy one get one free.

Now, the rumour is that halfords fully synthetic is esso ultron rebranded. Esso is owned by ExxonMobil, the guys who make mobil 1, largely seen as the best oil to go get.

So is esson ultron the same as mobil 1, and is halfords fully synthetic mobil 1?


Not that it matters, I'll continue to put chevron 5W40 fully synthetic in my car, because it costs me £10 for 4 litres at costco.

[Git]

I too tend to shy away from halfords oil, although I can not speak for petrol engine oil, their diesel oil is shit, I filled a large site generator with 10liters of the stuff and within 50hours of use the rings had gummed up and the muck in the sump was like treacle.
Runs away from halfords and sticks with castrol.

[Kickstart]

[bish777]

Well halfords and supermarket oils are mostly made by the big producerss anyways, its all badge marketing.

To end the argument, i ran my GT550 for 75,000 miles on cheap carclub asda own brand oil, changing it every 3500 miles and the bike was sold on and is still running fine to this day.

I also ran my FJ1200 on Halvoline Extra for 20,000 miles, in which i had a shim change, inspecting the cams they showed no unusual wear. It ran fine.

Its easy-there is no diffrenence in OIL between car and bike oils. I have this on good authority from halvoline. Its the additive package that differs.

Avoid SL/SJ oil on wet clutch bikes.

Use cheap oil and change it often or use expensive oil and change as per schedule, easy as that.

Remember maazines like Bike are on the sponsorhip payroll of oil companies lol.

The manual for my GSXR 1100 specifies ANY SF/SG rated oil between 0-30 and 20/50, sleecting the weight according to the temprature and recommended 10/40 or 15/40 for the UK temp ranges. The GT550 and FJ1200 and in fact almost all of my bikes have been the same more or less.

The only time u need slippery fully synth is in the newest hyperbikes.

[Claud 14.7 to 1]

[Scotsman37]

You don't hear Halfords shouting in the press "Our oil is just as good as the competition", but in reality you don't hear anything coming from them even boast it's used racing vehicles which makes me think they don't want to be caught out by them.

Also, every bike dealer I've come across in/around Glasgow are proud to say that they only use Silkolene for as they feel they get good reliable performance from the bikes. Some of these bike dealers have race teams and so if Halfords oil was no different to any other then why, oh why, do they only use Silkolene?

[Kickstart]

[Fortuna]

TBH you will never push your bikes to the performance needed to make the oil that critical. One thing you will get if you use the wrong stuff is clutch slip.
My R1 drinks oil and although I agree that there is probably no difference between the oils, I'm dubious due to what I've been told, taught and marketing.