It got me thinking, the oil recommended for my 2003 strada is semi but on my last service, fully was put in. I thought fully was used as it coped better with higher temperature. Now it's winter would fully be a waste? I wonder also does fully and semi have a higher water content and is that the reason why so many ducati oil level sight glasses mist up in the winter? Would it therefore be okay to use dinosaur oil in the winter and semi in the summer? I'm not a chemist but would value others inputs?
Just put 'which oil should I use?' in to the search box, click and then be prepared to spend the next few weeks reading argument and counter-arguement. The only thing for sure is that oil does not have water in it (they wouldn't mix even if you tried!). The misting is from condensation inside the cooling engine cases from moisture in the atmosphere of the crankcase. The oil and water don't mix, so a sort of mayonnese forms quite often on the oil window. They all do that sir, leave the filler cap off for a couple of hours after a good long run to avoid this.
Are you certain semi is recommended in the handbook?? Fully was recommended in the handbook for my air cooled as SS and also my water cooled 999, so I'd be amazed if your bike had semi as the recommended lubricant. There is only one advantage to semi synthetic oil over fully synthetic and that is price.
Yeah, on my book the 2003 says 10/40 semi. I do use the cap off method after a ride and this allows the misting to stay within the oil showing and the rest of the glass remains clear
I was so surprised I looked up the owners manual for an 03 Multistrada 1000 DS. This is the oil recommendation: Lubrication circuit SHELL Advance Ultra 4 3.9 litres Shell Advance Ultra 4 is a fully synthetic oil... Description: Shell Advance Ultra 4T 10w-40 Performance Synthetic Bike Engine Oil Ultimate performance fully synthetic motorcycle oil for all high demanding 4 stroke engines including racing engines. Offers ultimate lubrication at peak performance levels. Outstanding shear stability and ageing resistance, low evaporation tendency. Top quality synthetic base oils in conjunction ith highly effective additives provide superior engine cleanliness and protection against wear and the depostion of carbon on hot engine parts. Excellent lubrication in gearboxes whihc run in motor oil. Superior performance in wet clutches, prevents clutch slipping and minimises clutch sticking. Advance Ultra 4 is used and recommended worldwide by Ducati and KTM.
Just get a fully synt oil that's non bike specific,it's far cheaper and as long as the spec codes are the same,my ss has ran perfectly on it for miles since 1995,
Yes it is cheaper but what changed my mind on this is that the bike-specific stuff is tailored to bikes in that it has extra corrosion inhibitors as bikes tend to be laid up over winter and get used less generally.
If the oil has the same specification codes up to the manufacture specs then it's the same oil,dry clutches keep the oil contamination free, I wouldn't use modern fully synt in a older classic as it eats the yellow metal(bronze) bushes in the g/box,
Oil specs tend to move on with time, so restricting yourself to the specs recommended for a 2003 bike in 2003 may not be ideal in 2017. Fully synthetic oil eats bronze?? Evidence please, bronze is not exactly delicate...
There was a write up in practical superbikes all about oils (I'll try and dig out the mag no)and that was the info the oil technicians gave,it was of interest to me as I have a 40yr old jap stroker and want ed to put the best oil in it,it seems the BEST oil is not the best for for that era of bike as they were designed to run on mineral oils which is reportly kinder/less damaging to yellow metals(bronze) but the best advice the artical gave was regular oil and filter changes to prolong the life of ANY engine, It seems the gl5 additives in fully synth oils eats yellow metals?
http://www.widman.biz/uploads/Transaxle_oil.pdf GL4 and GL5 refer to gear oils and the material that can be subjected to increased wear is brass, not bronze. Brass is soft, bronze is not. Modern(ish) Ducatis do not have separate gearboxes with their own oil, they use the same oil for both engine and gearbox.
This is the reason you should only use bike specific engine oil. The gears so much 'shear' on the oil molecules and give a punishing time, something that car oils are not formulated to take for any length of time.
That's why I stick with the manufactures recommendations with regards to the oil specs eg the numbers codes ect,if it's the same that's what I use! My 851 says use agip! I can't get it here,so I use a different oil,am I wrong that there's no motorcycle on the packaging and it's cheaper? After 60thousand kms with no problems I'm quite confident in my choices,money is not really a issue,I just don't like being fooled by the marketing hype!
Moto World UK: Eni and Agip Oil UK importers ?? My SS manual said to use any good quality fully synthetic oil of the recommended viscosity. Oils change though and modern oils have more friction modifiers in them - this caused the wet clutch to slip. I'm with you on not being taken in by too much hype but I have been convinced in recent years that leading manufacturers really do tailor their oil to motorcycles, so I do now use bike-specific fully synth Motul but not the racing stuff - that is for racing. My bike sits in a cold garage for the worst of the Winter and I want the extra corrosion inhibitors that road-bike specific Motul includes,
Yeah! BUT I got confused when the Ducati factories started to stick SHELL stickers on the bikes? I mean is agip not ok any more? Is it old technology? Do I need to buy vintage stock to keep it running as the manual says? This debate can go on forever with no clear definitive answer,so I'll stick to my chosen/proven method
Shell and Agip are both fine, Ducati recommend whichever will give them a better deal for doing so. I say go with newer technology unless there's a good reason not to, such as friction modifiers making wet clutches slip or GL5 gear oil wearing brass bushes. Modern oil is loads better than the old stuff was but there may sometimes be reasons for not using particular oils for particular applications.
