Oil change now, or wait till Spring?

[JohnP]

I was also told to change the oil before storing for winter because of the acid build up in the motor oil.

I found this on the web:

As the engine operates, combustion gasses acidic by-products from the sulfur in the fuel. The acids combine with moisture (every gallon of gasoline burnt produces ½ gallon of moisture) which dissolve bearing surfaces.
All modern motor oils contain sodium hydroxides (NaOH) to combat the acid build up in the oil. As the oil becomes contaminated and turns acid, the NaOH gets used up. Preventing acid buildup is one of the primary reasons for changing motor oil.

[sportrider]

Originally Posted by Scorphonic

O and I use car oil...its alot cheaper then motorcycle oil...they rip us off dont ya know!

FYI: beware of oils containing "energy conserving" friction reducers. those are the death of a clutch!!!

[interactive3]

Originally Posted by sportrider

FYI: beware of oils containing \"energy conserving\" friction reducers. those are the death of a clutch!!!

I've been following a few oil threads. I found a great web page. Generally oil is oil, but this really clarifies things. Synthetic oil is far better if you're not running the "correct" weight. I probably won't be using energy conserving oil and I'm now pretty sold on the Rotella T Synthetic.

Here it is :
All About Motor Oil

[abacall]

Originally Posted by sportrider

FYI: beware of oils containing \"energy conserving\" friction reducers. those are the death of a clutch!!!

Crap. I totally forgot about that! I just put in some Pentosynth 5W 40. The bike runs great and I haven't noticed any diverse effects on the clutch, but upon some further research I found that it does use friction modifiers. Looks like I have to do another oil change.

[cp04]

Last time I stored a bike I left the same oil in, and when I got it out of storage changed it immediately. I can see the advantage to changing before you put it away though.

[ant_mb]

Originally Posted by ry_1104

It really depends on who you ask, where you keep your bike (outside or garaged). Because of winter coming up . If you do I would make it a thicker oil to protect it through the cold months. I am Kinda in the same situation

Maybe I don't fully understand oil, but why on earth would you want a thicer oil for the winter. Won't it take longer for a cold thick oil to get around your engine than a cold thin oil?