- Joined
- Oct 19, 2005
- Messages
- 18,978
Just 'cause - there may be some newbies coming online that need catching up on our traditional seasonal over wintering oil charged issues. ho-ho-ho-bot
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Brit-Iron list members,
Ran into this one, about use of modern oils in air-cooled engines, specifically Porsche. Most of this applies to our engines too.
The most interesting thing I learned was that "Against conventional wisdom, engine wear decreases as oil ages to a certain extent, which means that changing your oil more frequently actually causes engine wear; these findings were substantiated by studies conducted by the auto manufacturers and petroleum companies, leading to standard drain intervals increased from 3,000mi/3 months to 5,000-7,500mi/6 months in most domestic vehicles, using mostly non-synthetic oils." One caveat to note is that this refers to a sump volume of 10 quarts (approx. 10 litres) where our bikes have an oil bag that contains 3 to 4 litres. Check out http://www.lnengineering.com/oil.html
Its a long discussion with a Q&A section including warnings about only using ZDDP additives for break-in periods. Many of the hyperlinks are interesting too; you could spend an entire day on this site. One interesting link is one titled "My Opinion About Oil" that is directly related to motorcycle oils with SE, SF or SG ratings.
The bottom line for us; always use motorcycle oils as they are the only ones that have the right balance of Zn and P for our bikes without excessive levels of detergents. Harley oils are recommended too.
Geoff Collins
http://www.offsetcrank.com/
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Brit-Iron list members,
Ran into this one, about use of modern oils in air-cooled engines, specifically Porsche. Most of this applies to our engines too.
The most interesting thing I learned was that "Against conventional wisdom, engine wear decreases as oil ages to a certain extent, which means that changing your oil more frequently actually causes engine wear; these findings were substantiated by studies conducted by the auto manufacturers and petroleum companies, leading to standard drain intervals increased from 3,000mi/3 months to 5,000-7,500mi/6 months in most domestic vehicles, using mostly non-synthetic oils." One caveat to note is that this refers to a sump volume of 10 quarts (approx. 10 litres) where our bikes have an oil bag that contains 3 to 4 litres. Check out http://www.lnengineering.com/oil.html
Its a long discussion with a Q&A section including warnings about only using ZDDP additives for break-in periods. Many of the hyperlinks are interesting too; you could spend an entire day on this site. One interesting link is one titled "My Opinion About Oil" that is directly related to motorcycle oils with SE, SF or SG ratings.
The bottom line for us; always use motorcycle oils as they are the only ones that have the right balance of Zn and P for our bikes without excessive levels of detergents. Harley oils are recommended too.
Geoff Collins
http://www.offsetcrank.com/
