I already have a bottle, and I already looked and noticed that it is JASO-MA (Delo isn't, though). In fact, I mentioned it to the same parts man who blamed those ATV engine failures on Rotella. The funny thing is that he seemed like he did not even know what JASO-MA was!
He recommended some sort of "Thumper" brand oil sitting on the shelf. Don't remember the manufacturer. I mentioned the ZDDP issue, and that is what he recommended. Unfortunately, he had no numbers on the zinc or phosphorus on that oil, so it was a guess at best, though it looked pretty good. I didn't buy it. He said something like "car oil for cars, motorcycle oil for motorcycles," that sort of simplistic philosophy. At another dealership, I was told that diesel oil was too thick
. Uh, yeah, right... 15w-40? naaaww, that stuff's thicker than refrigerated honey ya know, can't even pour the darn stuff till ya heat it with a torch.
.
He didn't say that, by the way. I do think he said it was too thick though. I tried too reason with him. I am not sure how far I got. Speaking of stealership, I don't really like them much anyway, car dealerships included. I'm too cheap to like them. However, I did have a nut missing from the front side of the head which was causing the leak which made me have to add oil in the first place. The parts man at the dealership gave me the nut, free of charge, and one of the mechanics let me borrow a wrench to do it myself, so I got my bike fixed free ya might say
Of course, I warned him beforehand that I might not let them do it if it cost too much
. Maybe he got the message...
Or maybe he should have done it himself for free
Slave driver ain't I?
Got in an argument with the owner about bike technology. I valued older,simpler, more primitive technology. He seemed to like more high tech. He did teach me the practical function of dangerously powerful brakes, ya know, the kind that locks up if you give them just a little too much pressure. (I was the only one in my MSF class to pull a stoppie during the emergency stops. I had their only TU250X. That little thing sure had some strong brakes
) I worry about the trend of mandated ABS in some places, and, on cars, electronic stability control. Yeah, I sound a little crazy
, but I like to have the choice to be primitive and dangerous. This sounds a little extreme and hard for me to imagine, but, if we don't watch the nanny state of this world, even motorcycles themselves could be outlawed because "they're too dangerous." Yeah, its a pretty long stretch, but that is where the "safety first" kind of thinking can end up-- self-driving cars and sitting in ones house surrounded by airbags
, not to mention taking away all our guns
.
I can certainly say the Savage has anti-lock brakes
They can't lock
. (The front anyway, I locked the rear yesterday on hardtop-- nasty too-- veered to the side, jerked about when I let it catch, and had to set my foot down too
The kind of things that highsiders are made of).
I can say that the one that didn't know about the oil ratings did give me a fairly good deal on turn signals
(something like $5 a piece used mismatched, $35 for the K&S OE style rear, but he only had one)
The funny thing is that I have actually been going around the shops and dealerships trying to find someone who will train me OJT as a mechanic or something. Just call me Mikey
. Of course, winter tends to be a bad time for a motorcycle job. The fancy-shmancy Harley dealership was pretty depressing as they got their "Harley Certified" mechanics out of a certain school in Florida
. This was a dealership in northeastern Tennessee, by the way
. I've already been to college and used my gov't benefits. I work part-time minimum wage.
I am a little sick of the idea of blowing my money, my parents money, and the government's money on years of schooling all for a degree--a stupid little piece of paper, which may not even guarantee expertise--that may never even get used in the first place, just so I can
qualify to have a certain job.
Just think, the American Dream has come to this -- what a shame!
By the way, I hope those "Harley Certified" mechanics have more sense than those engineers who designed a certain twin cam engine that blows up
Of course, this has nothing to do with oil. I may repost this later to another thread.
Anyway... Does replacing the clutch throwout rod eliminate slippage? I already made sure there was plenty of play in the levers along time ago. Don't remember checking the marks, though.