v65 Magna

[Flange]

Originally Posted by Uechi Kid

I sure hope you change your wifes oil more often than 7500 miles. Even synthetic oil should be changed more often than that.

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

Sigh. Somehow I just knew this thread wasn't going to end well.
Just exactly what leads you to believe that?
It's not what the car maker says.
It's not what the oil maker says.
It's not the conclusion that Consumer Reports arrived at.
So, besides you, just exactly who says that the standard recommended intervals are NOT OK. ????

Easy rider, I share your sigh. There are so many myths about oil, usually perpetuated by armchair experts, that it's often best to leave them to their silly ideas, but I bite every now and then and have to comment.

People are stuck with changing oil at ridiculously regular intervals because it's what their grandfather used to have to do, so they leaned that from him and their father and keep doing it now. With modern oils and engines, it's just not necessary.

The tolerances engines are built to, and the materials used, mean less debris and wear products to clog oil and filters. The fuels are cleaner too, so less carbon muck gets into the oil. The detergent/dispersant and anti-wear additives in the oils are far more effective, and the oil base stock is more stable. End result is that, even for a reasonable quality mineral oil, the manufacturer’s recommended oil change intervals (often 12000 miles) are absolutely fine.

With synthetics, you can double them – easily! With particle filtration, some truck fleets are now running synthetic oils for 100,000 miles with no detrimental effects on the engines. Full synthetics are so resistant to thermal breakdown that you can keep them in the sump for a long, long time and they still out-perform a standard mineral oil even when you’re draining them out to put fresh in.

What do I know? I’m a chartered engineer who spent a few years working in industrial and automotive lubrication for one of the oil majors, so I guess as well as actually knowing what I’m talking about I had the opportunity to have samples of oils taken from my own cars and bikes spectrographic tested and I know that you can run full synthetics for 20000 miles in a family car and still get 100% protection.

I expect the armchair experts will still say they know better from one or two examples some buddy told them about over a beer, and especially what oil sales reps will say (why would they want people to use less oil?), so they’ll keep changing their oil every 3000 miles even if its synthetic.

Me, I’ll change my synthetic oil at somewhere between manufacturer’s interval or double that figure, and know that it’s a happy, well-protected engine. My car’s covered 180,000 miles and runs sweet as new, still delivering the same miles per gallon as when it was new, and I’ve never had an engine failure or problem on any of the 80 or so bikes I’ve owned. Only problem I have it wasting my time taking the valve covers off to check clearances because they hardly ever need adjusting when running on synthetic.

[pastorgumby]

GReat info, thanks... "the truth will set you free"

[omegajim]

I only have to add at this point to consider replacing the rear shocks and keep in mind the fork seals will probably need replacement.