Hi im fixing to do my first oil change to the 919 and wanted to see what brand of oil and weight everyone uses.thanks in advance....charles
Be sure to use 10W40.
It should be a bonafide MC oil.
Past that, get ready to hear "be sure to use" and "never use" re the very same oils as a function of the poster's hpye, hysteria, facts, or good experience.
Personally, I'm now using Mobil 1 MX4T 10W-40 in the 919. I started with Suzuki's packaged mineral based "MOTORCYCLE Engine Oil", as it was priced well. The gearbox is smoother with the Mobil 1.
I run Shell Rotella T from walmart 11.50 a gallon. its Diesel Motor oil but it is perfect for motorcycles. 15w-40 the stuff is awesome, been using it in my 04 crf250x for YEARS, and im still on the stock piston, rings, and top end even after 10 rear tires.... very very few other people can say the same thing. just did my first oil change on my 919 after 2000 mi with the stuff, and i had no problems.
really you just want to run an oil without energy conserving additives, as an oil with energy conserving additives will make the wet sump clutch slip.
I've heard so many good things about Rotella T, that's what I put in the last time.
A lot of the local farmers swear by the stuff. Altho different, the stresses put on oil by a 919 has to pale in comparison to that of farm equipment.
ud be surprised... the stuipid high comp of a diesel motor stresses oil quite a bit.
I cant remember where it was but a guy had like 65k miles on his bike of which he did drag racing with it, all he used was rotella T and he had to tear apart the motor to replace a seal that was common to fail on said bike. The insides looked spotless!
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Factory Honda or Purolator PureONE.
People are using the Puro, and considering the number of ball bearings inside the engine/transmission unit, the higher level of filtration is of real advantage long term. The PureONE is listed as a car engine filter but don't get thrown off by that.
I have not switched over yet myself, but am going to. They are not imported into Canada so I'm going to have to do a bulk purchase off the web.
There's been a fair bit on these filters in W T. You should be able to search for the info fairly easily.
Yes, most interesting reading.
Been around for while but still a good read.
But watch out on the Shell Rotella T.
See how many variants of T here are today ???
T1, T3, T Triple Protection, T5, T6.
Just to make it easier for anyone so inclined to choose from.
Yes, most interesting reading.
Been around for while but still a good read.
But watch out on the Shell Rotella T.
See how many variants of T here are today ???
T1, T3, T Triple Protection, T5, T6.
Just to make it easier for anyone so inclined to choose from.
ah yes... I always use standard Rotella T 15w40 in my bikes.
As far as oil filters, HiFloFiltro ... been usin em in my dirbikes for years... and on the 919 ill go every other oil change (2-2.5k mi invervals between oil changes) on a filter. 12.95 for a filter shipped
I had been running Castrol semi-synthetic MC oil. Recently changed to Motul 5100 semi-synthetic 10w40 which has made a huge improvement in the gear box shifting.
Castrol sucks - never again!
I have read quite a bit about the 919 transmission being affected by different brands of oil.
Personally I only ever run dedicated motorcycle oils in my bikes.
I had been running Castrol semi-synthetic MC oil. Recently changed to Motul 5100 semi-synthetic 10w40 which has made a huge improvement in the gear box shifting.
Castrol sucks - never again!
I have read quite a bit about the 919 transmission being affected by different brands of oil.
Personally I only ever run dedicated motorcycle oils in my bikes.
I have only used Honda filters on the 919.
Amsol appears to be very popular in the states.
I have been using Amsoil for years. It is expensive but worth it IMHO.
I had been using Genuine Honda oil but this year I switched to Repsol and it may be all in my mind but it seems like the bike shifts much smoother. I heard a lot of good things about it here so I decided to try it. Happy so far.
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I will be using Amsoil. I bought a case but haven't got around to doing an oil change yet. Main reason is test results for oils of recommended weight (10W40).
I have no doubt the Rotella is good shit but if Honda doesn't list 15W40 as an acceptable viscosity, I'm not comfortable second guessing Honda's engineers. I'm sure somebody will chime in with some conspiracy theories about why Honda specs what they spec and who knows they might be right.
For me, I only use oil that meets manufacturer specs and the Amsoil seems to test pretty well among 10W40 oils that are not energy conserving . And at wholesale prices, it's not that expensive IMO.
I haven't seen any test results on some of the others and they may be just as good or better.
Normally i use book specs on viscosity on oil. BUT The fact that my CRF250X is a MUCH MUCH more demanding motor ( all of 7/10ths of a quart, 13k rpms... it gets chewed up quick) yet in the manual it has a range of usable oils.
Check the attached pic. Its right out of the manual for the CRF250X and it calls for 10w40 honda HP4 or GN4. On the next column it says you can run up to 20w50, and that if you look at the graph 15w40 would roughly work down to 30ish deg F, which is far above the low temps around here. NEEDLESS to say i started using rotella T standard 15w40 in my 250 a while back, never had any probs, running the original 6 year old rings, piston and top end... only had to shim my exhaust valves once and havnt needed to shim in the 3 years i have had my MUCH hotter 06 CRF250R cam in. So when i looked in the book to do the oil on my 919 and saw it called for the same exact oil as my 250 i grabbed a gallon of my good ole Rotella T
Rotella T has worked for me its worked for others, but like the link above pointed out, oil is oil. In a motorcycle environment as long as you change it often your good IMO.
I'm thinking massage oil would be the go - smooth those internal engine parts as you ride and it would improve any exhaust stink you may be experiencing.
Heck you may even get a 'happy ending' after a ride .........
Seriously as I stated before the Hornet 900 gear box shifting does differ between brands. I dumped out $65 (oil is expensive in NZ) worth of Castrol oil after only 400 kms after riding another running Motul 5100, then spend another $65 on a 4l pack of Motul.
I do not regret that at all, other wasting my $ on that first batch of Castrol.
I wonder how good that Motul full synthetic is now .......
I've also found a supplier of motorcycle Amsoil - I may give this a crack next time. I'll blame you lot if it is not the best oil ever in my Honda!
I run a Purolator PureONE filter and factory Honda HP4 oil.
Are you using the short or long pureONE version, and what P/N is it for the one you are using?
The info I found says the short is PL14612 and the long is PL14610.
The short one is supposed to be the same length as the factory filter.
I was under the impression the long one is a tight fit if you have the factory exhaust on.
Are you using the short or long pureONE version, and what P/N is it for the one you are using?
The info I found says the short is PL14612 and the long is PL14610.
The short one is supposed to be the same length as the factory filter.
I was under the impression the long one is a tight fit if you have the factory exhaust on.
I'm about 99% positive I'm using the short one. I paint mine black so I can't read the numbers on it and my maintenance spreadsheet with the part number is on my home PC. I can check it later if you want.
Elf 10w/50 synt. oil & Honda filter
run something like 3000 - 4500 miles between oil change
If you can buy Elf in USA, just do'it - work's fine and here in DK it's okay cheap
Are you using the short or long pureONE version, and what P/N is it for the one you are using?
The info I found says the short is PL14612 and the long is PL14610.
The short one is supposed to be the same length as the factory filter.
I was under the impression the long one is a tight fit if you have the factory exhaust on.
I've used the long Pure-ones before, if you have a regular filter tool, it's a PITA to get between the headers and filter. The longer filters allows you to put a bit more oil too.
Normally i use book specs on viscosity on oil. BUT The fact that my CRF250X is a MUCH MUCH more demanding motor ( all of 7/10ths of a quart, 13k rpms... it gets chewed up quick) yet in the manual it has a range of usable oils.
Check the attached pic. Its right out of the manual for the CRF250X and it calls for 10w40 honda HP4 or GN4. On the next column it says you can run up to 20w50, and that if you look at the graph 15w40 would roughly work down to 30ish deg F, which is far above the low temps around here. NEEDLESS to say i started using rotella T standard 15w40 in my 250 a while back, never had any probs, running the original 6 year old rings, piston and top end... only had to shim my exhaust valves once and havnt needed to shim in the 3 years i have had my MUCH hotter 06 CRF250R cam in. So when i looked in the book to do the oil on my 919 and saw it called for the same exact oil as my 250 i grabbed a gallon of my good ole Rotella T
Rotella T has worked for me its worked for others, but like the link above pointed out, oil is oil. In a motorcycle environment as long as you change it often your good IMO.
Your Honda manual says you can use 15W40 in a 919? I'll have to check again but I could swear 10W30 and 10W40 were the only viscosities listed in my manual.
Your Honda manual says you can use 15W40 in a 919? I'll have to check again but I could swear 10W30 and 10W40 were the only viscosities listed in my manual.
Reread the first 3 sentences of the second paragraph of the post you quoted.
The pic is out of my CRF250X manual... The 250manual calls for the same oil as the 919, the 250 is a much more demanding motor on oil than the 919 will ever be, but still allows for higher viscosity's, and thus 15w40 IMO can be safely used without probs. the 15w will be a lil thicker when cold but will become the same viscosity when heated up down the road 2 min vs any 10w40.
I'm about 99% positive I'm using the short one. I paint mine black so I can't read the numbers on it and my maintenance spreadsheet with the part number is on my home PC. I can check it later if you want.
Please do if you don't mind, it would be greatly appreciated.
Reread the first 3 sentences of the second paragraph of the post you quoted.
The pic is out of my CRF250X manual... The 250manual calls for the same oil as the 919, the 250 is a much more demanding motor on oil than the 919 will ever be, but still allows for higher viscosity's, and thus 15w40 IMO can be safely used without probs. the 15w will be a lil thicker when cold but will become the same viscosity when heated up down the road 2 min vs any 10w40.
Yeah, you said you "looked in the book to do the oil on my 919 and saw it called for the same exact oil as my 250". Except your 250 lists 15W40 and the 919 does not. Not exactly the same, right? Not trying to bust your balls but you sort of implied I'm an idiot
I figure the engineers telling me what oil to use know more about my 919 and oil than I do. Maybe some here know more than the Honda engineers.
Using 15W40 is probably perfectly safe and I don't pretend to know why it would be or wouldn't be. I'm just satisfied to use what the Honda engineers say I should use and don't feel the need to save a few bucks by second guessing them. Saving a few bucks seems to be the primary motivation for using 15W40 diesel oil. I don't doubt it's good shit but it's definitely not designed for a motorcycle. I'm sure diesel truck engines and my 919 have a lot of similarities but obvioulsy some differences as well.
I am curious though. A lot of people say something like "I've used XYZ oil and haven't noticed any problems". What kind of problems would you expect to notice, catastrophic failure, slipping clutch (common with energy conserving oils), microscopically measured increased wear on internal engine or tranny components, slightly increased oxidation on internal engine or tranny components? Point is most "problems" would require engine tear down and close examination with microscopes and/or micrometers to detect.
I am curious though. A lot of people say something like "I've used XYZ oil and haven't noticed any problems". What kind of problems would you expect to notice, catastrophic failure, slipping clutch (common with energy conserving oils), microscopically measured increased wear on internal engine or tranny components, slightly increased oxidation on internal engine or tranny components? Point is most "problems" would require engine tear down and close examination with microscopes and/or micrometers to detect.
Carry on, just stirring the pot.
On my first couple bikes, I used Pennzoil cause that is what my dad used in his bike. It was cheap and I was a broke teenager. Once I started college I switched to HP4 and notice that I never missed gears anymore and the tranny sounded great. Shifts were precise and really seemed to lock in better. Used HP4 for years but then got the synthetic bug. Started using Mobil1 a few years back because it was rated very high on a few independent testing sites I looked at, is less than $10/qt and can be had at pretty much any autoparts store.
So for me, problems were missed gears, slipping out of gear and basically just sounding like crap when shifting.
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