Wanted-the oil test link

spacemonkey · 25-04-2004, 06:45 PM

A long time ago, in a thread far, far away, someone (probably Dio?) provided a link that was a scientific test of the bollox associated with fully synth, bike vs car oil etc etc. I'm looking for something that compares fully synth with semi.

25-04-2004, 07:53 PM

Space

Tip some of each on a tiled floor and see how far you slide in rubber soled shoes. Thatll establish the coefficient of friction. If you dont break your neck, repeat several times.

Then take 2 pans of oil and put them on a hotplate. See which one boils dry or catches fire first, thatll teat its heat resistance.

Pour some through a sock and see how long it takes for each to filter through. Thatll test the viscosity.

Pour some in with the dish water and thatll check the detergent levels. High detergent = squeaky clean dishes and hands like a Fairy.

Think up fancy name for the tests. SMOC (Space monkey oil code) charge manufacturers a fortune to test and use your code system.

Alternatively, use an existing system such as the American Petroleum Institute (API) rating.
API Oil codes

Most bike oils however are not going to meet the higher codes. This is because many bikes have wet clutches and the friction reducers in an SL oil would cause clutch slip. Silkolene Race Synthetic is SG and Rock oil is SJ whilst lowly car oil Castrol Magnatec is SL!! There fore its a good bet to shop by SG ratings amongst the bike oils, Ducati recommend at least SF or SG rating.

In your manual is a chart listing viscosities against operating temperatures. Be careful on the viscosities, in 10w40 the 10 refers to winter and as the oil warms the molecule chains do clever things to thicken the oil, hence multigrade. If that last number is less than 40 then you could experience problems in high summer temperatures. On my 900, Ducati recommend a 20w50 but I have run as thin as 5w40 and its covered almost 39,000 miles with minimal wear.

Finally, if you intend keeping a bike for some time, cheap oil is a false economy. In 48,000 miles you would do 8 oil changes and a saving of Â£7-8 per oil change only equates to about Â£60 which is nothing compared to accelerated wear in your motor.

spacemonkey · 25-04-2004, 09:16 PM

Yessssss...... Mine's on 31000 and I use Castrol 10/40 GPS semi, but the reason I wanted this link (it was very interesting reading) was for someone else who wanted to know how fully and semi compare for cars, particularily Mobil 1 which was mentioned.

25-04-2004, 06:45 PM	#1
spacemonkey I see dead people. Join Date: May 2003 Location: Carving a slice thru the braindead masses..(pun intended) Bike: M900 Posts: 1,464	Wanted-the oil test link A long time ago, in a thread far, far away, someone (probably Dio?) provided a link that was a scientific test of the bollox associated with fully synth, bike vs car oil etc etc. I'm looking for something that compares fully synth with semi. __________________ http://www.jasperfforde.com/swindon/7wonders.html

25-04-2004, 09:16 PM	#3
spacemonkey I see dead people. Join Date: May 2003 Location: Carving a slice thru the braindead masses..(pun intended) Bike: M900 Posts: 1,464	Yessssss...... Mine's on 31000 and I use Castrol 10/40 GPS semi, but the reason I wanted this link (it was very interesting reading) was for someone else who wanted to know how fully and semi compare for cars, particularily Mobil 1 which was mentioned. __________________ http://www.jasperfforde.com/swindon/7wonders.html

25-04-2004, 07:53 PM	#2
Duncan Guest Posts: n/a	Space Tip some of each on a tiled floor and see how far you slide in rubber soled shoes. Thatll establish the coefficient of friction. If you dont break your neck, repeat several times. Then take 2 pans of oil and put them on a hotplate. See which one boils dry or catches fire first, thatll teat its heat resistance. Pour some through a sock and see how long it takes for each to filter through. Thatll test the viscosity. Pour some in with the dish water and thatll check the detergent levels. High detergent = squeaky clean dishes and hands like a Fairy. Think up fancy name for the tests. SMOC (Space monkey oil code) charge manufacturers a fortune to test and use your code system. Alternatively, use an existing system such as the American Petroleum Institute (API) rating. API Oil codes Most bike oils however are not going to meet the higher codes. This is because many bikes have wet clutches and the friction reducers in an SL oil would cause clutch slip. Silkolene Race Synthetic is SG and Rock oil is SJ whilst lowly car oil Castrol Magnatec is SL!! There fore its a good bet to shop by SG ratings amongst the bike oils, Ducati recommend at least SF or SG rating. In your manual is a chart listing viscosities against operating temperatures. Be careful on the viscosities, in 10w40 the 10 refers to winter and as the oil warms the molecule chains do clever things to thicken the oil, hence multigrade. If that last number is less than 40 then you could experience problems in high summer temperatures. On my 900, Ducati recommend a 20w50 but I have run as thin as 5w40 and its covered almost 39,000 miles with minimal wear. Finally, if you intend keeping a bike for some time, cheap oil is a false economy. In 48,000 miles you would do 8 oil changes and a saving of Â£7-8 per oil change only equates to about Â£60 which is nothing compared to accelerated wear in your motor.