conventional vs syn.

[jc94]

I`ve got a 94` heritage flstn.I`ve always ran amsoil 20/50 w/35,000 miles and my local bike shop talked me into changing to castrol conventional 20/50 they swear by it. It`s really been bugging me what to do? concerned about the heat and oil brake down and being to thick for colder wheather riding mainly at start up!Can anybody point me in the right direction?

[Majicbringer]

Go back to Amsoil. It's the best there is, period. After seeing and feeling the difference in a syth lubed motor there's no way I'd ever go back to conventional oil. Heat issues, sludge, having to pay $$$ every so often for all new oil and filter.. Nope, not for me.

[rjrivero]

All you need to do is check your running temperatures on conventional oil, and then at your next oil change, check our running temperatures on synthetic oils. You'll notice it runs cooler on synthetics. So either the combustion is cooler, or there is less friction in the motor.

Simple choice for me.

[Ed. Hugo]

Petroleum based oil is obsolete. PERIOD! Amsoil & Mobil #1 are the two best oils on the market. Mobil #1 will stay stable up to & beyond 450 degrees. Conventional oil is trash at temps above 250 degrees.

Said it before, so here goes again, Red Line in all three holes. One made for each. I have had very good results. Lots of miles in Southwest Florida heat, as well as, miles across the country.

[Motorman7]

I will start using syn after my bike is broken in. According to Donny in his recent article on oils, he says to use fossil oil in engine untill it has 2500 miles. Claims it takes this long for the top end and bottom end to be completely broken-in. Fossil oil helps scrub and mate the new parts better than syn oil.

[frisco-rigid]

Boy,, I've heard it all now----seeing and feeling the diff in a syn lubed motor (ah, how many motors have you worn out and torn down??) and checking the running temps.. Have you really measured running temps in a standardized manner or just read that it'll run cooler..
Before I re-built the 93" shovel motor in '04 it had about 200,000 hard miles on the bottom end.. Most of those miles were on Castrol (auto) 20/50 and a fram car filter..
After I moved to the Phoenix Valley where we ride in every 116* day on either the 93", the 120" or the 80" the oil temp gets no higher than 185* cuz of good tuning and oil coolers (yes I do measure in a standardized way)..
I use HD filter and dino 20/50 because it's easy to find..
I don't mean to offend but I submit that no-one here can say with a knowedgeable certainty that their motor will last longer with XXX oil or will dump because they don't use XXX oil,, including me..
I'm just going on my Hands-on experience not hear-say, kats 'n jammers..

Well Frisco,

Its about time you lend some of that Knowledge you been holding on to.

Welcome back!

I have one of those Oil temp Dip stick things. I dont know how accurate it is but I did notice on average a good 8 degree drop in the bag when I started to use the plastic oil.

I went up on the low speed jet and she did run even more cooler around town.

A few weeks ago I finally found the sweet spot on the carb. It took some cold weather but I got it. No more Carb farts or backfire on decel.

[rjrivero]

Hey Frisco,

Have you run any synthetic in any of those 200,000 miles? Use your "standardized method" for measuring your oil temp on a crankcase full of conventional oil, and then do the same with a crankcase full of synthetic oil. You tell me what you find with your "standardized method" of engine temperature measurements.

RJ

Engines were run on dino oil long before there were synthetics. The key is changing often to get rid of the contaminates and to keep from building up sludge and you can expect a long life out of engines.

That said there are many reasons to use synthetic oil. Even the highest grade dino oils contain contaminates like sulfur, wax, and asphaltic material that can promote detonation as well as varnish and sludge buildup. Synthetic does not have these. Because the synthetic has uniform sized molecules it is better able to take the heat with superior lubrication and less vaporization and oxidation in high heat. There is much information out there on synthetics showing how superior it is to dino. That doesn't mean that dino doesn't do a fair job. But for a few dollars more, there is absolutely no comparison to it's excellence. I won't go into it any farther and I just touched on the basics. I'll just say that no matter how well your dino oil performs, synthetic performs better in every way and I'll leave it at that. Now if I owned stock in synthetic oil, I'd talk all day.

PS: No, I'm not a rocket scientist...I've learned what the experts say through reading. That's what education is no matter what school you attend...learning from what other's have discovered. I know there are radio waves all around me, because I learned that from what I have read. Can I see them? No. Can I feel them? No. Did I discover them? No. But I know they are there from learning from the experts who educated me through reading about them. So, I don't have to prove everything in this world for myself..there are some things way above my head and with synthetics, I haven't found an expert to disagree that synthetic is far superior so I am going with it. I can afford the cost so I want to give my baby the best. My honest opinion.