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Kawasaki MX & Off-Road Dirt Bikes
Do I need to use JASO certified "motorcycle" engine oil in my bike?
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[QUOTE="Jaybird, post: 1154917, member: 22283"] Continued…. The thing is…there just aren’t many oils on the shelf that would cause a problem with the wet clutch assembly to begin with. Sure, back in the early 90’s when the “Energy Conserving” standards came to be that mandated a lowering of ZDDP levels, there were some formulators who immediately started substituting molybdenum disulfide for ZDDP. This immediately started to show some clutch slipping in a certain model of Honda Goldwing bikes. And right away it was recognized that the molybdenum disulfide was causing a problem. So, molybdenum disulfide hasn’t been used in engine oils for years. Yes, there is still moly in most of the engine oils of today, including JASO MA rated and certified oils, but the moly used today is a soluble form of moly that causes virtually no clutch variance. Most of the EC oils that have reduced levels of ZDDP (zinc and phosphorus); will be formulated with proprietary components that the mfg. keeps a secret. Many of these secret ingredients will not show up on an analysis. The myth that using other than motorcycle specific oil, or using an EC rated oil will cause your clutch to slip is pretty much unfounded. Sure, you may find some oil that may well show a different feeling to the shifting and clutch action, but there are just not many oils that would cause a mechanically sound clutch to slip. More often than not, when a rider’s clutch slips it has nothing at all to do with the oil. It will have more to do with the mechanical condition of the assembly itself. Another myth is that the lowering of phosphorus (ZDDP) levels in recent years has caused oil to be worse than it used to be. This is completely unfounded and false! ZDDP is a great additive and does a great job of protecting the metal surfaces when the base oil fails to protect. And the reason it was, and is, so widely used is the price of the additive itself. ZDDP is an easily obtainable and cheap component. But there are many other additives available that will do every bit of good a job as ZDDP, but cost the formulator more money. But to pass the stringent standards to call the oil SM or GF-4, the formulator must use the alternative higher priced additives, or provide one of their secret ingredients to take up the slack of the lowered ZDDP. In may cases the alternative additives perform much better than the ZDDP did. It was also found that even when lowering the levels of ZDDP, the additional component added would actually interact with the low level of ZDDP and the result was better performing oil than it was previously with the high ZDDP level. In fact, we can praise the EC certification that came about in the early 90’s because it led to advancements in oil formulations that were previously not known. Or at least not provided to the public because of cost issues. But there will still be those who state that JASO rated “Motorcycle specific” oils are much better than common shelf oil and heavy duty engine oils. So, let’s look at the standards. The following is the requirements of engine oil to gain the JASO MA, MA1, MA2, and MB certifications: [IMG]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c268/Jaybirdmx/JASOMA.jpg[/IMG] Just because engine oil has not gone through the JASO certification does not mean that it cannot pass the criteria for JASO certification. It simply means that the oil is not being marketed towards the motor sports crowd. In fact, ANY oil on the shelf that is marketed towards cars or diesels, and has a recent certification such as SM or GF-4, will easily pass the meager requirements of JASO T904. Sure, all oils have slightly varying frictional characteristics, and some may not fall into the JASO MA range if they were tested. And for this fact alone, the JASO standard has some worth, as it lets the consumer know that the oil has been tested and falls into a specific frictional category. With other non-JASO certified oils we must depend on our own testing or the words of other riders who have tested them. But you will be hard pressed to find ANY oil on the shelf that will cause a problem with your wet clutch assembly. That is if the assembly is mechanically sound. Continued…. [/QUOTE]
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Do I need to use JASO certified "motorcycle" engine oil in my bike?
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