SAE 20W-40?

[Fox]

Howdy Gents,

Wanting to change the oil on my XJ550 and having trouble finding the "Recommended Lubrication" (SAE20W-40) in my manual. A guy I was talking to said I could put 20W-50 in and I wouldn't hurt it. Can I get a few people to weigh in on this? Should I keep looking for the manual's recommendation? Thanks in advance.

 

[session101]

either i think would be fine

generally, for air-cooled twins you run 20-50, that's why i run in my airhead BMW
but for a inline 4, 20-40 would be less friction but also could increase the heat a little, if it states in your manual to use it, then its fine, if you want to run a little more weight that's cool too, just means more friction but better lubrication with higher heat.

 

[DesmoBro]

Yes 20-50 will work just fine....It will probably work better if you drive longer distances during the summer months because it lubricates better when warm....I used it in my first bike 20w50 and it worked mint because i did a lot of highway travel during the summer

 

[Fox]

Cool. Gonna pick up 5 quarts when I head out to the gym. Thanks gents.

 

[crazypj]

5 quarts?
I thought it took about 2.5?
20w/50 is fine although I would probably use 15w/40 synthetic oil

 

[Fox]

Yeah, It's 3 quarts to fill her up. But I figured I'd pick up 5 to have a few to top her off. Got a gasket leak. Nothing bad, just prefer to have some in reserve.

Anyways, I picked up 20W-50 Full synthetic because I learned that it will work for a few different oil types including SAE 10W-30, 10W-40, 20W-40, and 20W-50 grades. Pretty versatile oil i'd say.

Dropped in a quart, but I can't for the life of me tell if it's full or not. The oil level window is so cruddy thatI can't see in. Pretty annoying. Any serious consequences of overfilling? Dont have my drain pain at the house I'm at...

 

[crazypj]

It's probably way overfilled.
Lean it to left until you can see the back of sight glass, you may end up with bike laying down
If I remember right, the XJ doesn't have a pressure switch, it has a low oil warning light

 

[rock2d2]

Sorry for the minor hijack. Given the heat here in Vegas what would be the best weight to run in my CL350? Don't want her locking up. Synthetic, normal?

thanks,

hijack over.

 

[Fox]

Yeah, it's way overfilled. Drove it over to a friend of mine's house. Midway through it felt like the left exhaust stopped getting anything through it. Was really sluggish and didn't respond to throttle control. I'm guessing flooded plugs from excess oil. We were gonna drain it at his house, but we didn't have a socket in the right size. I tried to start it up just to see how it would run, but nothing happen. Starter would turn over and the engine fluttered a few times, but overall just dead. Starter fired for 30 seconds with no response so I gave up.

He let me drive his GS500 home and damn that thing is fun.

I'll post up a conclusion (hopefully) to this hair-brained adventure. Hopefully it's real easy and I just take out a quart and it works great. All in a perfect world of course.

 

[Fox]

Sorry for the minor hijack. Given the heat here in Vegas what would be the best weight to run in my CL350? Don't want her locking up. Synthetic, normal?

thanks,

hijack over.

No worries on the hijack. I'd check your manual if you have one. It will tell you there. I have a CL360 manual, but it's not at the house I'm at. All my moto stuff is spread out between three different houses. I hate moving home for the summer.

 

[crazypj]

Use Rotella 15w/40, it's JASO rated for wet clutch.
I'm adding about 1.5 oz of ZDDP per gal of oil, but, I've got a 360 which has known issues with head/cam bearings

 

[rock2d2]

Ok. I checked my manual and it does reccomend 20/w40 and refers to this as "all season." Just thought I would see if there were any reccomendations for the 115 + temps we get around here during the summer. Thanks for the help fox.