So as the topic says I think it is about the time to change my oil. So far I always took my bike to garage and they done it for me. Now I have this urge to learn to do things by myself. Obviously I can read what the owners manual says but could you guys tell me what is the best oil to use for my Gixer 600 K1? ALso anything else I should think of when changing the oil?

Thanks for your help already

Change the filter as well.

Put bike on paddock stand, remove lower fairing, warm bike up for 5 mins, have an old oil can or sommit to collect the old oil in to hand plus news paper, loosen filler cap, undo drain plug (careful it's hot that oil you know), drain oil for a few mins, move can under the filter take filter off (might need an oil filter wrench to loosen it ), replace oil filter with a smear of oil on the seal, replace drain bolt with new washer if you have got one, top bike up with oil (a funnel will help), run bike for a min or two, check oil again top up if necassary

Job done

Wear a pair of those thin latex-free gloves that you can get from Boots, used motor oil is not good for your skin!

Or your hair
Trinoo, it's an easy job - must be, I can do it

and me!

its simple, just take your time, be careful and do one thing at a time

and do not forget to put new oil in before starting bike!!!

It's a nice easy thing to do. Just make sure the container you put under the bike is big enough to hold all the oil that will come out!

As for the best oil - make sure you get bike oil, as some of the additives they put in car oil can destroy wet clutch plates.

There are three main types of oil:

Normal cheapo oil - Don't use it, it probably won't be the correct rating for your bike. Usually found in 15W40 or 20W40

Semi-synthetic oil - much better, will give more protection to you engine components and is usually what the garages put in. Normally 10W40.

Fully-synthetic oil - The best stuff, more expensive, (4 or 5 litres will set you back between £20 - £25 normally) but will offer the best protection for your engine and allow you to use it in colder temperatures. Usually between 10W40 and 0W40.

The numbers for the oils (10W40 etc) refer to the temperature range you can use them in. The first number refers to the cold end and the second refers to the hot end. In this country we're more bothered about the cold end. The lower the number, the colder temperatures you can start the bike in without causing as much wear.

If the manufacturer recommends 10W40, don't put 15W40 in, but 5W40 is no problem.

Hope that helps and isn't too confusing. Enjoy it, once you've discovered how easy it is, you'll soon be tinkering with other bits and bobs as well. Get yourself a Haynes manual for your bike too if you intend to do anything else - it's way more useful than a big hammer and a flat blade screwdriver.

Check with the manufacturer, fully synthetic oil is not suitable for all bikes, it can cause clutch slip if used in a bike that it's not suited to. Most manufacturers will recommend a 10W40 oil so best stick to that for normal road use, track bikes will have special racing oils which should not really be used in a road bike as it's very expensive and its main benefits are higher protection and very high temperature and engine speeds.

Hasn't been mentioned yet so...(goes into green mode)...make sure you get rid of the old oil in a suitable place.

This concludes todays sermon

That reminds me I have three old oil containers outside full of old oil and waiting for the car owner in the house to take it to the recycling centre and tip it into their tank

All been pretty well covered, as to which oil to use, any bike specific semi or fully synthetic oil from a well known manufacturer will be fine. Personally I'd use semi synthetic oil for a road bike, fully synthetic if you do trackdays etc. I like Rock Oil, but Shell, Castrol, Silkolene etc are just as good, if a tiny bit more expensive!

Sorry but i cant agree on the ......Bike specific oil part.....as long as you have the right grade of oil, as specified by the bike manufacturer, then you'll be ok....

IMO the best oils out there are probably silkoline, fuchs or putoline.

I use silkoline and its great!

Some Suzukis suffer terrible clutch slip on fully synth oil.

If you're really using the performance - go on, be honest - then I'd go for semi synth. Not being a speed merchant I've run the RF on 'car' 10/40 from new, changed regularly. 45000 miles with no problems, still on the original clutch plates etc.

Well I do ride a little hard and because I live in the city of london my engine is running hot all the time, as in 105c. What I mean by driving hard is accelarating fast and keeping the revs high for best control of the bike. so semi syn 10-40 should do the job then, or should I go for the full syn as its running hot all the time?

I've used semi synth because its what I was advised and knew no different but changing regularly is the main thing (and filter too) - every 2-3K with the Vtwin - - seems ok so far 55K plus a bit

And even more important; put the drain plug back in first! Believe me, it happens

Also, the drain plug should be torque-tightened and use a new gasket (sealing washer)!

There's been a lot of debate about this. The argument is that some car oils can have additives that can cause wet clutches to slip. I have friends who clam this has happened to them.


al.

i.e. use a torque wrench. Overtightening the drain plug can strip the thread in the sump/crankcase lower. This can be repaired, but it means the sump has to come off.

I just bought a "dirty oil can" which although a bit of a gimmik has helped me a little.

It is large enough to accomodate all the dirty oil, and some. When standing up, it is similar to a gerry can, and has a spout for easy emptying. When on its side, it has a small plug you remove to allow the oil to drain in, and is shaped like a tray to prevent the oil from running over the edges - and compensate for my less than accurate placement. It helps by stopping the filler plug from falling in the oil (which mine always did) and is ready to transport the oil to the tip on completion.

All for £2.50 at the boot sale. Bargain!!!

Very useful bit of kit

I spoke to rc30 today at work and went ot buy my oil. ended up buying castrol gps semi syn. they said in the shop that it is best for the gixxer you can buy in "normal" bike shops so i guess that will do then now all I need are the tools that I can change the oil as well

did you get a new filter too? don't forget that!

Quite possibly, but the makeup of bike specific oils is slightly different to car oils, in particular the use of additives in car oils that may potentially affect a wet clutch, and in the oil's ability to withstand the very high shear forces encountered in a motorcycle transmission, something car oil doesn't have to deal with. In practice most people could probably use car oil for years in their bikes and suffer no problems, but when bike specific oil is much the same price, why not use it and get an oil engineered to withstand transmission shear forces and 16,000 rpm redlines, and work properly with wet clutches?

yeah i did

My Vectra was combined engine and gearbox (dry clutch though) and did 20,000 miles between changes, and was used a lot harder than I use the bike ('cos I wasn't paying for it)




£8.99 for 5 litres against £24 for 4 litres?

I found the following article to be quite an interesting (and fairly scientific) take on the "bike-specific oil" versus "car engine oil" debate: http://www.xs11.com/stories/mcnoil94.htm

FF I started with bike specific semi synth Putoline oil so I've always used it - in your opinion would it hurt the engine to change to car-type oil at this stage? (the bikes done just short of 56K)

IMO,,spending more money on expensive 'bike' oil is an unneccessary expenditure,
i've never worried about replacing my bikes oil with 'normal' motor oil ( although i would always use a quality oil opposed to the cheapo bargain stuff you can pick up for £3 - £4 for a gallon).
I have never had any problems using normal oil,,never had any trouble with it affecting the clutch plates.
When working on friends/relations/ and mates of mates bikes,,,i always use what they want,,but if they want to save a few quid most have gone for normal motor oil

Ah, but that will have used fully synthetic oil, and I bet Vauxhall charged around eight to ten quid a litre for the oil when it did get serviced!




Ah now, that's not comparing like for like. £8.99 buys you a basic mineral oil, Halfords will do you bike specific mineral oil at around a tenner for five litres. I use semi synthetic in mine, £16 for four litres, most branded car semi synthetic oils will work out about the same. Not gonna argue too much, cos you've a lot more experience with bike mechanicals than I have, but if bike oil and car oil costs about the same like for like, why not use it???

The way I see it they are probably ripping us off with bike specific oils but compared to the price of fuel so what...

That's my view..it seems to me (and it was my choice) but running a 600+ cc bike ain't always a cheap thing to do so I just bite the bullet buy silkolene comp 4, replace it at about half the recommend time and that costs a tidy sum but gives me peace of mind, ie. it does cost....but also "will" perform

Did a similar idea with me old GSX1100 and that ran smooth as silk for 60K and still wasn't smoking like a beagle when most would be ready for a top end rebuild

Strange but when it comes to me bike I'll buy the best I can afford of most stuff but with the cars I've owned I'm happy with the bottom shelf products

I intend to keep the Trumpet for a while so will be interested to see how many miles I will get with this one