is it OK to use 10w-30 mobil 1 syn. in a 2010 ROAD GLIDE

[War Horse]

Motorcycle Oil?  I have a picture in my head of the guys at the oil bottling plant laughing thier azzes off when they are filling the motorcyle oil bottles(knowing those guys will pay double the price for the same oil)       What if I put my motorcycle motor in a boat, do I need to run boat oil in it?  Im sure if i put my motorcycle motor in a car i can run regular automotive oil, right?

BUT, if I put my boat or car engine in my Harley frame , can quit running water (coolant) through it ?   

[GaryD]

I'll bet you $100 that the oil going into a bottle of auto oil  IS NOT  the same as oil going into a bottle of motorcycle oil. They both may be just fine, but the MC oil is going to have a different additive package formulated for bikes. I'm sure if it was the exact same oil, somebody would be exposing that in a minute. One additive I can think off right away that's better in MC oil is anti corrosion additive since most bikes are stored in the winter and cars are not.

It would be nice if we had an petroleum expert that can address this issue, but since we don't, all our opinions are just that - opinions no facts.

I suppose all those that think all oil is the same are the same people that think you have to use premium fuel in your Harleys - one of the biggest myths of all time.

[mp]

No oil with a starburst symbol on the container should be used in a Harley.  That includes all 10w30 oil.  I wouldn't use it in the primary either, since they contain friction modifiers that could cause the clutch to slip.

[EGNBLUE]

This winter I found some Moblil One 15-50 on sale at AZ, never again...

OK, I'll ask...why never again on the 15-50?

Mind you this is my exprience with my bike and doesnt reflect to an over-all picture, not trying to start a war here 

My bike also has 93K on the clock and always had 20-50 in the engine, plus I live in Florida=heat and a heavy bike.

The reasons are 1, the engine got loud as heck once it got hot ( valve noise) 2, oil presure was 5-7 Lbs lower when hot.

And its not even summer yet when even the 20-50 struggles to maintain during 100* temps.

That's interesting as the viscosity between the two oils are nearly identical especially at the higher temps.

But thanks for responding...

[War Horse]

This winter I found some Moblil One 15-50 on sale at AZ, never again...

OK, I'll ask...why never again on the 15-50?

Mind you this is my exprience with my bike and doesnt reflect to an over-all picture, not trying to start a war here 

My bike also has 93K on the clock and always had 20-50 in the engine, plus I live in Florida=heat and a heavy bike.

The reasons are 1, the engine got loud as heck once it got hot ( valve noise) 2, oil presure was 5-7 Lbs lower when hot.

And its not even summer yet when even the 20-50 struggles to maintain during 100* temps.

That's interesting as the viscosity between the two oils are nearly identical especially at the higher temps.

But thanks for responding...

Thats what my thinking was also to begin with, but my engine seems to disagree.

[HogMike]

Ah.....another "oil thread"!

I still use the same full synthetic in my bikes (except the Pan)
My evo went 100k and I pulled it apart just to do some upgrades, still had the cross hatch in the cylinders.
My '06SE had 90k when I got rid of it.
My '09 had 35k when I got rid of it. I changed oil every 10k miles on that one, just to see how the oil held up. No problems.
My '10 has 35k on it now.
I change my oil every 5k miles now.
JME, and never found a reason to do otherwise.

[pddredduece]

Advanced Auto Stores has Mobile One full syn 20w50 motorcycle oil on sale now till March 31,2012 $7.99 quart. Regular price is $9.95 a quart

[Old Crow]

Oh boy.  My FLT is not a newer model.  It's a Shovel with a 4 3/4" stroker kit in it. 
All I've ever used in it is Castrol 20-50, regular dino oil from Wally World.
The bike was pulled down with 60k on the stroker kit with valve stem seal issues.  I figured that I may as well do the complete top end while I had it apart(yeah, it's a sickness).

Machine shop only had to take .010" off to clean the cylinders. 
That's less than .010" wear on old technology cylinders, with little short stroker pistons(that I regularly spin to 7k rpm(yes, Virginia, I do beat the crap out of it))in 60,000 miles with automotive conventional oil that I pay less than $5 a quart for just about anywhere. (come get me, grammer police  )

You guys just go right on buying your $9 and $10-a-quart oil. 

As for the zinc.
I restore old cars for a living.  I was just at a trade show in Indiana yesterday, talking to a rep from American Refining Group.  He stated that the lack of zinc in the modern oils mostly affects cam break-in on flat tappet motors and recomended a bottle of zinc additive(ZDDP)in a new motor.  He said roller tappet motors did not need the extra zinc during break-in.
He also stated that you did not really need to keep adding the zinc during successive oil changes.

Last I looked, even my shovel had roller tappets, and some of you guys with twinkies are even running Chevy roller tappets in your bike.
In other words, I wouldn't sweat the zinc in a Harley motor with roller bearing cranks and roller tappets.

If you really, really gotta have zinc, go with Brad Penn, Penn Grade 1 .  That's the new name that Kendall GT-1 is being marketed under and it's got the highest ZDDP concentration of any oil on the market.  It's also still that familiar green color that GT-1 users know and love.
They even have a V2 4 stroke motor oil version if you buy into that hype.


Me?  I'm gonna ride in to town and pick up another 5 quart jug of Castrol...my shovel needs her spring oil change.   See ya.

[tdkkart]

As for the zinc.
I restore old cars for a living.  I was just at a trade show in Indiana yesterday, talking to a rep from American Refining Group.  He stated that the lack of zinc in the modern oils mostly affects cam break-in on flat tappet motors and recomended a bottle of zinc additive(ZDDP)in a new motor.  He said roller tappet motors did not need the extra zinc during break-in.
He also stated that you did not really need to keep adding the zinc during successive oil changes.

Last I looked, even my shovel had roller tappets, and some of you guys with twinkies are even running Chevy roller tappets in your bike.
In other words, I wouldn't sweat the zinc in a Harley motor with roller bearing cranks and roller tappets.

There you go using facts, expert testimony, and common sense again........
But you're right, the toughest lubrication challenge in most automotive and industrial engines, the flat tappet cam/lifter interface, doesn't even exist in a Harley engine, never has afaik.
As far as heat goes, any "50" rated oil, dino or synthetic, is more than capable of handling the heat produced in a Harley engine.

300 degrees?? Yea right, my bikes take 20+ miles at highway speeds to get fully up to temperature. Around here the bars are no more than 10 miles apart, most of the bikes never get fully up to temp. I've been on a bagger running 2-up for hours across New Mexico in 100*+ temps, the oil temp never went over 250*, we thought we were gonna die. I'd love to see someone stay on that bike with the oil temps at 300*.

I'd like someone to show me engine parts that died due to heat and lack of lubrication using any conventionally available 15-50 or 20-50 oil.   

[chopper]

It would be nice if we had an petroleum expert that can address this issue, but since we don't, all our opinions are just that - opinions no facts.

What are you talking bout? No "petroleum expert"?

Hell man, we got 10,000 of em!   

[Old Crow]

It would be nice if we had an petroleum expert that can address this issue, but since we don't, all our opinions are just that - opinions no facts.

What are you talking bout? No "petroleum expert"?

Hell man, we got 10,000 of em!   

  closer to 12530 as of this posting

[War Horse]

If they're reading this , they're to busy laughing to type a response...... 

[Flat Dog]

Why has no one posted the Earl photo yet?

[hd06myway]

Why has no one posted the Earl photo yet?

We're having too much fun... the informed educated crowd vs the paranoid "it has to be a motorcycle oil" crowd... less filling... tastes great!  Independant scientific analysis has proven time after time that so called "motorcycle oil", yes for "air cooled" motors... is nothing more than a Marketing tactic to generate sales.  God this is fun!  

[Ultrashovel]

Why has no one posted the Earl photo yet?

It's no use. They keep on talking about oil. Sheesh. Oil is oil as far as I can see. If you got some, you're good to go. If you don't have any, just stay home. All this stuff about zinc makes my damn head hurt. 

[Dennis The Menace]

Okay, this one has outlived its usefulness....and another example that oil threads attract the wannabe comics.