5W 30 engine oil

[dwalby]

I think we get all anal and OCD over oil. Actually, I think we get that way over our motorcycles in general.

Do we treat our cars the same way? Except for a few of us, we don't. We get in our car and drive away. When it comes time to change the oil, ...or if we manage to think about it...we change it with whatever the Jiffy Lube place has in stock. Checking the valves? Nah. We never think about it on our cars, but we obsess about it on our motorcycles.

Several of my cars had engines less sophisticated than the ST's engine...and smaller. Yet they moved a vehicle that weighed double or more without issue.

You guys need to go out and ride.

Chris

Are you saying you don't bother to over-maintain your motorcycle in the same way as you don't bother to over-maintain your car? Or does that just apply to your car?

If the former, then you may be the first one on this forum besides myself to publicly admit that, welcome to the club!!! If the latter, sorry for the confusion.

 

[Daboo]

Are you saying you don't bother to over-maintain your motorcycle in the same way as you don't bother to over-maintain your car? Or does that just apply to your car?

If the former, then you may be the first one on this forum besides myself to publicly admit that, welcome to the club!!! If the latter, sorry for the confusion.

When I was in HS and college, and for many years after getting married, I was obsessed with taking care of my cars. You couldn't eat in them. If there was dust on the car, I washed it. Then came kids. And a garage that stores a lot of things besides cars.

Having a Toyota Camry taught me a few things too. It was like the EverReady Bunny. It just kept going and going and going. About all I did to it was to change the oil and filter. And it didn't hurt it a bit to stay outside in the sun and rain.

I did about 130,000 miles of commuting up and down Seattle's I-5 corridor before retiring. As Seattle is known for, it would be raining often on that commute. I'd park it in the garage at work, where it dripped water till I came out at the end of the day and rode it home through the rain. When I got home, I'd take the laptop bag out of the bike, and leave it sitting in the garage dripping water till I went out the next morning and started the whole process again. In the wet nine months of the year, the motorcycles were washed rarely. It really doesn't make a lot of sense when in a few hours you'll be riding it again in the rain and it'll look the same as before you washed it.

All I cared about really, was making sure it ran reliably. Good tires. Good brakes. And change the oil and filter when due. I've been using Shell Rotella T6 now for the past ten years. I'm not going to chase after the latest fad for oil. And I'm not going to worry about little gears mashing the oil molecule strands inside the tranny. It's worked on four bikes so far and none burned any oil. The latest has over 60,000 miles on it and runs like new. So I'll keep using it.

And thank you for letting me join your club!

Chris

 

[Dale_I]

What I use... YMMV:

 

[red one]

I May be showing my age here a little but a long long time ago Havoline had a 1 million mile taxi cab test on their oil. And all parts were clean and in tolerance. And this was way before synthetic oil.

 

[ST Gui]

Come on guys, it is useful for confirming a good oil change interval. Once that is done, not so much. My tests on Honda GN showed it about to go out of viscosity range after 5000 miles.

Fair point. That might be enough to have a couple of samplings done. I don't put a lot/enough miles on my bike. My current methdology is 10K miles on T-6. It might be worthwhile to at least determine at what milage it goes out of range.

 

[etalors]

What I use... YMMV:

Is 15W-40 appropriate for the ST13. Honda says 10W-40.

 

[Kevcules]

There's no doubt the oil we use today is far superior to the oil we used 20 years ago. Most people change their oil too early. There is no benefit in doing so other than a waste of money, if you think that's a benefit.
The ST's engines seem to be tough. Some use regular oil vs synthetic with no issues. Change the oil at reasonable intervals and don't worry about it.

 

[Daboo]

My 66 VW Beetle had a 1300cc engine. There was no oil filter. Just an oil strainer, I assume to pick up the big parts that failed. That 50 hp, 1300 cc engine moved a 1700 lb car body (almost as much weight as a ST1300!), across the USA and was doing great at 100,000 miles.

We're really overthinking this.

Chris

 

[dwalby]

Is 15W-40 appropriate for the ST13. Honda says 10W-40.

there's usually an ambient temperature graph in the manual somewhere showing which grades are appropriate for which temperatures. 10w-40 covers just about any scenario, so its the universal choice, but not the only choice.

I ran 20W-50 for years because where I live the daytime temperature never drops much below 60F. Your climate may vary.

 

[dwalby]

We're really overthinking this.

But that's the whole point, overthinking something that needs very little thought to begin with, that's what the Internet is for. It helps us connect with like-minded people who overthink everything.

 

[dduelin]

I had several VWs

What I use... YMMV:

Too bad the last reformulation dropped API certifications for gas engine use.

 

[dduelin]

Is 15W-40 appropriate for the ST13. Honda says 10W-40.

Honda says different in different places over time. This is from the 2003 ST1300 Service Manual: