Noob needs oil advice today

'81 seca 750 bone stock runs great 14K total miles so far. Doing my first oil change on this bike after 1000 miles.

A friend who works on older bikes recommended Castrol GTX 20/50 from walmart about $12.00 per 5.5 liter jug. I went and bought it, but after reading some posts I realized I might be making a mistake. I want to know what the difference is between "motorcycle" oil and the oil you get at autozone or walmart for cars. What are the pros and cons. What damage, if any, can occur especially to our older rides?

Also I see some posts saying change oil at 1000 miles some say 1500 etc. What do you guys say?

Also how often to change the o-ring?

 

I run Lucas 10w 40 semi-synthetic.

http://www.lucasoil.com/products/displa ... 2&loc=show

I usually change the o ring with the new filter because the filter comes with the o ring.

And I change every 3000km (1800miles)

I know that certain car oils have additives that can be bad for our wet clutch, so just make sure the oil can be used with our wet clutch design.

 

Nothing wrong with your choice, its all down to personal preference, car or bike oil does not matter as long as you stay away from energy conserving oil because you have a wet clutch and it will cause it to slip and could require a new clutch.
I am using 10/40 synthetic motor cycle oil designed for a wet clutch, mostly because i got a very good deal on it and thought i would try it, had no problems with it and the engine seems quite happy with it. Main draw back is cost, over here its about £28 for 4ltr, i could pick up a decent 20/50 for half that. I have used 20/50 also with no problem.

I will settle on 2000 mile oil changes.
Oring as above, if it comes with oring i change it, if not the old one will normaly be ok.

 

Some have experienced clutch slippage using energy conserving oils. You can find if the oil in the bottle has energy conserving additives by looking at the API Servie Rating donut on the back of the oil bottle:



This one lists it as "Energy Conserving". If your clutch is slipping, you'll want to look for an oil that does not contain this marking in the lower half of the donut.

 

Re: Noob needs oil advice today: Finished!

Excellent! Thanks guys. Oil job is done and things are nice and smooth.

 

I was gonna add that I've never used anything but Castrol GTX 20W50 (usually from the auto parts store or discount chain) in my Norton for the last 34 years and it runs fine. I use Spectro 20W40 in the Seca because that's what Yam recommends, (it's old-school conventional oil too) but would have no qualms about using 20W50 especially in the dead of summer. I run the Nort to 2000-2500 miles between oil changes but ONLY if in the same season. Don't know where you're located, but if you're a "seasonal" rider, the oil and filter MUST be changed right when you put it away for the winter, regardless of mileage. Oh, and I hear Fram filters for the Yamahas come with o-rings (no personal experience, yet...)

 

As do the Wix brand filters:



Part Number: 24934
UPC Number: 765809249349
Principal Application: Yamaha Motorcycles
Style: Cartridge Lube Metal Canister Filter
Service: Lube
Type: Full Flow
Media: Paper
Height: 1.441
Outer Diameter: 2.996
Inner Diameter: 0.768

Gasket Diameters
Number O.D. I.D. Thk.
Packed (2)

They can be found at your local CARQUEST or NAPA stores.