Engine oil?

My manual suggests 20w/40 for summer running and 10w/30 for winter running (which I can understand), however, 20w/40 is not a multigrade oil I am familiar with, and I am having a problem finding such an oil through the autostore pages online. Is this what other xj550 ppl use in their motorcycles? Where do you find such a grade?

 

I found 20w/40 hard to find also so I use Castrol 20w/50. Never had a problem with it.

 

20w40 used to be fairly common. I always used it in my high mileage vehicles when I was younger.

I think the petroleum companies have come up with formulations that give larger viscosity ranges than they could do in the early 80s.

Oil pretty much had a 20 weight spread back then. 10w30 and 20w40 were common.

Readily available oils today seem to be 5w30, 10w30 (still common), 10w40 and 20w50.

I'm running a 10w40 SF that I got at Walmart.

 

I use to use Valvoline 20/50 Racing Oil, but have switched to Vaalvoline 20/50 4 stroke cycle oil..... no noticable change!

 

so it's ok to run 20/50?
I bought some, but haven't changed my oil yet.

 

Im using the 10w/30 on mine. Its recommended for colder weather, so I am sure it will work fine now... We will see.

 

I'm running 20/50 this year - so far I'm liking it. Especially for the hotter weather.

 

Kish:

You probably want to switch to the heavier grades (5w-50, 15w-50, 20w-50) for summer riding. The 10w-30 is recommended for winter to flow when it's cold, but you need higher viscosity in the heat to keep it from thinning out too much.

I'm running one of the new Mobil1 "specialty" synthetics in 15w-50 weight. Their "performance" and "high mileage" synthetics don't use the friction modifiers that can (supposedly) cause issues with wet clutches like our bikes have.

It's about $6 a quart, compared to $8 for their motorcycle version.

Synthetic or dino is your choice, but I would definitely want something heavier than 10w-30 when the temp gets above 80 degrees. I ride everyday in temperatures up to 100 degrees, sometimes stuck in traffic with extended idling times, and don't want to have to worry about my oil breaking down.

Herb

 

Well, I already got the 10w30 in my engine as of now, so we will see. Its not like it will break me to replace it, but let's get hte bike running first, then we can determine oil weights... Thanks though...