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Yamaha Tech Originally the Yamaha XT600 Tech Forum, due to demand it now includes all Yamaha's technical / mechanical / repair / preparation questions.
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  #1  
Old 22 Aug 2008
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minral or semi sinthetic
hi there my xt is a 1985 43f 20,000 miles . which oil are you guys useing . minral or semi sinthetic in the early xt,s . i have had it 9 months and done 3,000 miles on castral gp 10,40 minral the same as i use in my early zed . it seems to run fine i change it every 2,000 kms . i am thinking of changing to semi and changing it every 3,000 kms . so which brand are you guys useing and which is to be avoided for any reason . the xt uses virtualy zero oil between changes and no overheating problems , so i am open to your many wise comments many thanks zigzag
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Old 22 Aug 2008
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I've been using Semi in my '02 xt6e as a compromise between cost and lubing performance, in Southern Europe recently the temps the bike's had to cope with low 40'sC temps and up to 40kg load so a synthetic element to the oil was useful. But then again the daily mileage was high so the oil got up to temp properly. Short trips knock out the oil's properties pronto but reducing the oilchange intervals is a good idea, as you are doing. I'll stick with Halford's-own Semi but if you're on a tight budget and happy with reduced intervals then Mineral's fine IMHO
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Old 22 Aug 2008
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Shell helix 15/40 SG rated is a good mineral oil, and not expensive.

The best oil is clean fresh oil...... of the correct viscosity.. So your regime of 2000M is sensible.. On my 1985 BMW R 80RT I used sg rated 20/50. It has done 180K Km on it and does not use oil between 3k mile oil changes. Sadly these days my preferred SG oil also meets sl and sf spec so it might not be as good as it ought to be.
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Old 22 Aug 2008
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Synthetic Oils
Synthetic oils are mineral oils - they are just more highly refined petro oils.
Technically they are better at the extremes, i.e. extreme hot or cold. Practically, you will not see any difference - what is most important is that you use a quality product and the right viscosity.

Synthetics get dirty just as fast as regular oil - dirty oil is the primary reason for changing your oil on a regular basis. The oil does not change - but it gets dirty and the anti foaming and cleaning agents do breakdown.
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Old 22 Aug 2008
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I got recommended Miller CRF.

It's supposed to be THE best for XT's.
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Old 23 Aug 2008
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minral or synthetic
hi there thanks for your views ,tenere tom you seid millers crf . ive been on there site but carnt seem to see it , have you used this in your early xt ,is it semi or minral ,also is it a car or bike oil. i know this is a old topic , but there are a lot of old xt,s still running out there, so what is there favarate oil . also you guys in hot countrys are you on 10/40 15/40 15/50 20/50 etc . like i seid before an old topic , but like the old wise man seid oil is not JUST oil, more views please . many thanks zigzag
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Old 23 Aug 2008
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So where are you planning on going to? Just get the grade that's suitable for the environment - and it's one thing wanting a particular oil, but actually getting it may be a smidge more difficult.

Quote:
like the old wise man seid oil is not JUST oil, more views please
- are you sure you want to open this particular Pandora's Box, it'll fry a few brain cells...
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Old 24 Aug 2008
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minral or synthetic
hi guys , the only minral oil in ready supply localy is castral gp 10/40 , and thats £20.00 for 4 liters . for that money, in fact less i can get semi synthetic putoline ,so cost is not realy the issue. although semi could be changed at longer intivivals as seid earlyer this is a pandorers box as i dont intend selling my xt or doing any rtwt,s on the thing what i am after is long term earler xt owners views , as a long term zed owner (20 years ) mineral is the only oil i put in it, so what gos in long term xt owners bikes. so let me fry a few brains, and open the box .many thanks,take care zig zag
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Old 24 Aug 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zigzag View Post
hi guys , the only minral oil in ready supply localy is castral gp 10/40 , and thats £20.00 for 4 liters . for that money, in fact less i can get semi synthetic putoline ,so cost is not realy the issue. although semi could be changed at longer intivivals as seid earlyer this is a pandorers box as i dont intend selling my xt or doing any rtwt,s on the thing what i am after is long term earler xt owners views , as a long term zed owner (20 years ) mineral is the only oil i put in it, so what gos in long term xt owners bikes. so let me fry a few brains, and open the box .many thanks,take care zig zag
Can you not get BMW SG rated 20/50 oil, or Harley V twin oil ?? Both exceed the specification by a large amount.. Your cams and followers will last forever with it.
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Old 24 Aug 2008
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Quote:
Can you not get BMW SG rated 20/50 oil, or Harley V twin oil ?? Both exceed the specification by a large amount.. Your cams and followers will last forever with it.
Whoa there Oldbmw! Harley Oil is formulated specifically for HD engines, and don't forget they have a separate gearbox so the engine oil isn't formulated for gearbox EP(Extreme Pressure)-use. It's really good value, mind...
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Old 25 Aug 2008
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Oil is far from being all the same in my experience. I ran my 34L on Castrol mineral oil for a while, and in common with other posts, it didn't use a drop between changes, which surprised me no end.

Then, prior to The Big Trip, I changed to some fully synthetic oil (sorry, too long ago, don't remember make, but grade would have been similar to what I used previously 10/40) ... to find the bike drank it like it was going out of fashion!

I don't understand why (but I'd love to learn), but needless to say I switched rapidly back to mineral oil and haven't had a problem in the many years since.
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Old 26 Aug 2008
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Getgeared Is Good!
Hello Guys,

I have been putting this stuff in my 1999 XT600E -

PROCYCLE Semi-Synthetic Mineral Engine Oil 4 Stroke SAE 10W-40

It's super quality stuff (ticks all the boxes re standards etc) and only costs £16 for a large tub. Oh and it's GERMAN so should be A OKAY for all bikes.

GETGEARED deliver next day without fail.

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Old 26 Aug 2008
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Well that's odd. This morning there was a reply with a nice explanation to my post (basically, air cooled thumpers have wide tolerances and are better suited to mineral oil) ... and now its disappeared. :confused1:
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Old 26 Aug 2008
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Just for the sake of correctness:

Quote:
Synthetic oils are mineral oils - they are just more highly refined petro oils.
Strictly speaking this is not true, see;
Synthetic oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Synthetic oils were originally developed specifically for jet aero engines because the single bearing at the centre of these engines gets very hot and traditional mineral oils used to carbonise (burn) causing the period between engine rebuilds (and failures) to be very short.

There is a hell of a lot of good information about oils both on this forum and many other locations on the web, a quick google will pull up a cornucopia of information.

I think that pretty much any oil of the correct specification is fine tbh and changing it regularly is the best love a man can give his engine

Just for the record, I use a 10/40 semi (and I'm probably wasting my money)
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Old 26 Aug 2008
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In view of the posts above and the fact it's almost a 50-50 either way (for and against), I'd recommend you use SEMI-SINTHETIC oil which meets both lines of thought halfway.
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