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1477
Joined
8/2/2006
Location
Wheaton, MD, USA
Edited Date/Time
8/17/2012 6:18pm
Just wondering if anyone has ever had an engine failure due to using low quality lubricant. I mean, I know we all have our own favorite brands for various reasons, but at the end of the day, oil is oil, right? And the idea of obtaining any performance advantage by switching brands of oil is kind of remote I would think.
Just trying to figure out why mechanics would choose one brand over another. I remember when I bought my first two-stroke ('74 125 Elsinore), the previous owner insisted on using Blendzall pre-mix. I used it for a while, but later switched to Bel-Ray solely because I was a huge Roger Decoster fan, and The Man used Bel-Ray. Could't tell any difference in performance or reliability.
I know the oil ads make all sorts of claims, but that's just marketing right?
Just trying to figure out why mechanics would choose one brand over another. I remember when I bought my first two-stroke ('74 125 Elsinore), the previous owner insisted on using Blendzall pre-mix. I used it for a while, but later switched to Bel-Ray solely because I was a huge Roger Decoster fan, and The Man used Bel-Ray. Could't tell any difference in performance or reliability.
I know the oil ads make all sorts of claims, but that's just marketing right?
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I've used everything from bean oil, to Bel-Ray, to Yamalube over the years and have never seen anything that runs that clean.
Nothing smells as good as bean oil, though.
If i was premixing it, probably that motul 800 at about 50:1
What I'm trying to figure out is why a professional race team mechanic would choose one name brand over another... aren't they all good enough for the short expected lives of racebike engines?
Seriously????
Different oils do have measurable differences, but we're talking about brand X exceeding the minimum requirements by 200% when brand Y only exceeds them by 190%. Not much to worry about with modern oils. By the way, race teams often run thinner viscosity oils for less fluid drag. This results in increased horsepower at the expense of more wear.
In a nutshell: change your oil often and don't skimp on the filter changes either. You shouldn't have any troubles.
He never knew the differance.
I mean, I get that there's personal preference and then there's the issue of sponsorships, and a guy might end up using a brand he doesn't personally prefer, but since they pay the bills... I guess my point is, outside of sponsorship realities, one name brand oil is just as good as the other for engines that get rebuilt after every event anyway. Am I right?
Pit Row
Engine failures are almost never a result of the oil brand you use.
That sounds highly unlikely. Something else was probably the culprit.
The only thing you really have to avoid is "energy conserving" oils in the tranny. They'll make your clutch slip. Anything else will work fine as long as you run the proper viscosity and change it on sane intervals. If you need to run "special" oil to keep an engine alive, something is wrong with the engine.
oil companier lobbied for it "secretly" of course.
I was totally wrong though and it wasn't until the 3rd post down where I saw it.
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