Oldfeller--FSO
Serious Thumper ModSquad
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Hobby is now "concentrated neuropany"
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Fayetteville, NC
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Now oil weight is a good discussion point to hash over. Car makers are really going for CAFE mileage now days by saying you have to use very light super low friction dino 5w20 oil in the newest of the economy cars. Honda and Ford are saying this, so we are talking the biggies going this super light oil route for "the best gas mileage" to meet CAFE and compete in the sticker mpg wars.
Oil shear takes place in every new sump of oil, plus some gasoline gets into the chemistry over time too causing most sumps to drop nearly 10 weight points on the big number before you change it out at the end of life.
We know this sort of thinking applies to Hurley dino oil because they count on the hot running rear cylinder's natural action when they insist on 20w50 oil for a Hurley.
Our Savages don't really get all that hot in high summer heat and do just fine with 10w40 weight dino oils. We do know that 20w50 runs hotter in the head and in the sump by 2-3 degrees but this is a very small fractional change from a 5w40 weight oil and some simply say "so what?" about it as the small change in gas mileage is well within the wrist factor they currently live with.
Are we getting any extra wear out of the latest car standard 5w20 oil weights? I dunno. Honda and Ford are also putting "mathematical formula based" oil life sensors on the new light oil cars that monitor rpm, miles driven, injector flow, engine heat and all the other data these new cars collects in the computer to tell you "percent of oil additives used up" out on the dash in a light bar display. They are telling you to keep the oil in the sump longer, in other words as dumping the oil too early is extra pollution and is a bad thing.
People are commonly getting 200,000+ miles out of a car now days. Oil is getting better and better plus better engine mgf methods are getting cleaner and better. Nobody sand casts an engine any more, nobody. Heck, I remember seeing sand in the pan on an old V-8 engine, but you aren't going to see many of those any more as we roll forward into the future high mileage future.
The energy star mark on the jugs isn't all that obvious any more -- it isn't a sales point any more as it is EXPECTED and REQUIRED on most all car oils nowadays.
JASO MA/MA2 jug markings are about the only reliable way to avoid clutch slip causing additive packages. This rating marks the line cleanly between bike oils and car oils, clutches that slip early and those that don't.
Any vendor who sells to both cars and bikes will have the correct JASO markings on the bike jugs and all of them will have lots of car stuff sitting right next to it to cause you to goof up if you aren't paying attention.
Walmart now has a bike section where the bike oils are kept segregated from the car stuff. Lots of $8+ a quart oils in the bike stuff -- if you are nice and flush then knock yourself out on the pretty cans.
Old cagey people like me roll the cart on down to the diesel section and pay less than $4 a quart for dino oil or less than $6 a quart for synthetic by buying the JASO marked Rotella products from the diesel section.
Rotella has climbed in price the last 2-3 years because it has become that well known and popular -- it was a good bit cheaper before it became one of the most popular bike oils in the world.
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