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Difference between revisions of "What Motor Oil Should You Use?"
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→SAE Weight
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===SAE Weight=== | ===SAE Weight=== | ||
The API donut also tells you the SAE weight of the motor oil. | The API donut also tells you the SAE weight of the motor oil. The "weight" of a motor oil is essentially its viscosity, or how "thick" it is. 30-weight oil is less viscous than 40-weight oil. | ||
In multi-weight oils, such as 10W-40, the first number is the oil's "weight" at low temperatures, and the second number is the oil's "weight" at high temperatures. Multi-weight oils have mostly displaced single-weight oils in the market place because they give better lubrication at start-up, especially in cold weather, than single-weights, and yet give the same protection at higher, operating temperatures. | |||
The details, of course, are a lot more complicated than that. Mark Lawrence's [http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Oils1.html All About Oil] webpage goes into those complicated details (among other things), and yet manages to be comprehesible. | |||
Referencing back to your owner's manual, you'll find a recommend weight of motor oil, or perhaps a selection of weights depending on the operating conditions. For a street rider, in general there's no good reason to deviate from those recommended weights. | |||
===Synthetic v. Conventional=== | ===Synthetic v. Conventional=== | ||