Best oil?

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BBXS650

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Hey all, just picked up an 81 in what appears to be immaculate condition. Getting some clutch slippage so I've already got plates, springs, and cable ready to go in, just wondering what oil everyone feels is the best on a stock setup.

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Welcome! I'd do a search with the google search bar: top left. Lotsa threads already......might see some pretty sore opinions get thrown around though. Just sayin'........:wink2: Great site here, enjoy!
 
....and away we go.....


But in all seriousness, any quality name brand oil will do just fine. Anybody who recommends some off-label triple distilled old country lube that you can only buy from some alcoholic who lives in a warehouse with a pit bull is talking out their ass. In 20+ years of working on heavy industrial machinery, I have seen only one oil I would not use.

Most here would recommend 20W50. I think that's too thick, but it works for many, so who cares what I think. I have gone as light as 10W30 diesel oil in my bike without worrying one bit. In most of my bikes I have used the cheapest 15W40 diesel engine oil I can find, and I have not had any oil related problems in 20 years of riding. At my last oil change, I splurged on Castrol GTX 10W40, only because it was on sale at my local car parts store.

Don't over think oil. Change it regularly and it won't be a problem.
 
An old timer told me once that, "The difference between any oil and no oil can be measured in miles. The difference between any oil and the right oil is about half an inch." That being said, I run the stuff Yamaha sells. It's just a couple of quarts a year, after all.
 
Hi BBX and welcome.
15W40 Diesel rated or 20W50 motorcycle-specific. Beware car-rated oils, they have been EPA-castrated out of most of the good additives.
Change your choice of oil about twice as often as they recommend, the all roller and ball XS650 engine will wear the oil out a lot quicker than a plain bearing engine will.
 
I recently saw a chart somewhere that rated all the major oils for thermal breakdown temp and load capability. The best in both categories was something made by Redline. Me, I just use a 15-40 diesel, or a good 10-40 synthetic. Never a problem.
 
@MacMcMac You're in Canada. I've heard of some people putting something as thin as .....Just kidding. But, it does make a point. Someone in Florida may use different # oil than someone in Alaska. Etc
Another thing to remember. Whatever oil you decide and soak the plates in overnight before installation keep using. I'm a fan of not switching back and forth.
It's been my experience most oils are the same oil with different stickers on the drum. Truth. Mobil motorcycle oil with any name brand on it is a good choice IMO.
 
On the road, in a pinch, IMHO some oil is better than no oil, unless calling someone for a rescue is an option. I'm not saying a heinz 57 mix of oils is a regular practice, ASAP after incident it gets serviced.
 
Hey, guys, BBXS650 is in Phoenix, the capitol of sidewalk fried eggs. Y'all are all north of the Mason-Dixon line. Summertime down here, hot XS engine, our oil thins down to something like Jack Daniels.

weaselbeak said:
I recently saw a chart somewhere that rated all the major oils for thermal breakdown temp and load capability. The best in both categories was something made by Redline...
Click to expand...

I've been wanting to experiment with Redline 20w60, or something that has a 'greater-than-single-digit' kinematic viscosity at our high oil temps. Need to cook-up some instrumentation for this.

Weaselbeak, it would be great if you could find that article/chart!!!
 
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The only thing I would add is that automotive oils have friction modifiers that do not help with wet clutches like we have.
 
Look for an oil with a JASO rating. That means that it has been tested for use with wet clutches. The categories are MB, MA, MA1, and MA2. MB has the lowest holding power and MA2 has the greatest holding power.

An alternative is the ISO rating which has the same categories but with the prefix ISO-L-E*. So ISO-L-EMB is on the low end of the scale and ISO-L-EMA2 is the high end.

If the oil doesn't have the JASO or ISO rating then it hasn't been tested for use with wet clutches, or it didn't pass the tests. Even if you have to pay a few bucks more per quart, it's cheap insurance to know you will get something that works.
 
10W40 for cold weather like winter seasons and 20W50 for summer seasons. Yamaha's recommendation! I feel like those japanese engineeres who made the motor probably know whats best.
 
Yeah. I'd say for south summer Temps. 20w50. Up in the north....like above north Dakota. Our summers don't always get super hot. 18 to 25 pretty average. The odd day gets like deep south hot. So I always use 15w40.
 
I saw a lot of people suggesting 20w50 so I bought Havoline 20w50 because it was the least expensive name brand stuff at the local Theisen's. But I suppose that's how product preferences are born ;)
 
Thanks everyone for the insight. Prob going with a 20w50 conventional since, yeah the summers r pretty dam hot. I thought ide have the oil in by now but, while replacing the clutch cable, found out the clutch pushrod seal is toast.

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The current issue is that the "new" street bikes have cats so street bike oil has had the ZDDP (sulphur based wear/friction additive) taken out of it. IMHO the last "fleet store available" oil to run in old 4 strokes is ATV oil, label specific for wet clutches, mostly available in 10-40 which works for me in the north, in traffic in phoenix you might look into "racing oil" found at NAPA and the like in 20-50 weights but the wet clutch thing will be a question mark.
Yes the XS650 clutch is marginally strong enough so help/mods are a good idea.
 
gggGary said:
The current issue is that the "new" street bikes have cats so street bike oil has had the ZDDP (sulphur based wear/friction additive) taken out of it. IMHO the last "fleet store available" oil to run in old 4 strokes is ATV oil, label specific for wet clutches, mostly available in 10-40 which works for me in the north, in traffic in phoenix you might look into "racing oil" found at NAPA and the like in 20-50 weights but the wet clutch thing will be a question mark.
Yes the XS650 clutch is marginally strong enough so help/mods are a good idea.
Click to expand...

This. I use NAPA's ATV-rated 10W40.

I don't put a lot of miles on the bike in a season (1500 would be a good year) so I just change it every Fall when I store the bike for the Winter.
 

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