engine oil

[Tumbleweed]

hello everyone ,  after a long struggle getting my engine running on my 59 a10 ,  would modern day semisynthetic oil 10/40 ,  be better than the old stuff recommended by the manual ,   or even fully synthetic for that matter ,  I have loads of both its a shame not to use it ,     thanks  tw

[morris]

There’s loads of threads on this wonderful forum about this subject. Do a search and thou will find your questions answered
I learnt from them that , when it says “engine oil” on the can, it can be used as engine oil. Only drawback is that “modern” oils contain detergents to keep particles floating to get them properly filtered out.
So, if your bike doesn’t have an oil filter fitted, best use a non or low detergent oil.
Having said that, I run the Morris for donkeys years now with a modern 10/40 oil and the original filter converted to a modern spin-on type with no problems whatsoever.

[t20racerman]

Not wanting to get yet another long oil thread going, but Halfords do a nice 'Classic vehicle' 20/50 engine oil for a very good price if you want to go that way.
But yes do read some of the excellent threads on this topic. (Quick summary: all engine oils work brilliantly, but do fit a filter and/or change the oil regularly) 

[edboy]

hi,
i have been using fully synthetic 20/50 and engine runs quieter . i have the norton commando cartridge oil filter fitted and plan 4,000 mile oil change rather than 2,000.

[Triton Thrasher]

10W/40 may be a bit thin.

20W/50 seems about right under most conditions.

[Tumbleweed]

thanks chaps    tw

[BSA_54A10]

Provided you have run the engine in either oil will be fine.
Synthetics tend to make it hard for the rings to bed in so best to run in with supermarket oil then dump it for the synthetic.
If you have it then use it.
What you put in your engine is no where as important as how long it has been in there and there is no such thing as changing it too often.
Big problem with synthetics is the owners seem to think that because they put synthetic oil in then they should only change it at 20,000 mile intervals cause it is so good .

[Black Sheep]

London buses (and the RAF) certainly used to use sample oil analysis for detecting wear and deciding when to change engine oil. In the case of the buses, they were running about 20 hrs a day and never got cold. Oil changes were at up to 100,000 mile intervals.
With our bikes, they get cold in between outings and suffer condensation. Short journeys where condensate isn't boiled off are particularly bad. So oil changes depend on your pattern of use as much as anything else. Have you noticed that in cool climates (UK) the bike turns sewing machine smooth about 100 miles into the trip? That's when everything is up to operating temp and the oil has done its boiling off condensation.     

[Tumbleweed]

 I am learning all the time tw

[a101960]

Provided you have run the engine in either oil will be fine.

Before using you should check that the oil has the correct formulation for protecting the camshaft and followers. Many semi and fully synthetics do not, so always check that out. I run my A10 on Fuchs Comp 4 synthetic and it is great stuff it has the right additives for our camshafts and followers. Oil designed for modern car engines will not be suitable. So what ever you do, do research the properties of the oil that you are thinking about using.

[RogerSB]

London buses (and the RAF) certainly used to use sample oil analysis for detecting wear and deciding when to change engine oil. In the case of the buses, they were running about 20 hrs a day and never got cold. Oil changes were at up to 100,000 mile intervals.
With our bikes, they get cold in between outings and suffer condensation. Short journeys where condensate isn't boiled off are particularly bad. So oil changes depend on your pattern of use as much as anything else. Have you noticed that in cool climates (UK) the bike turns sewing machine smooth about 100 miles into the trip? That's when everything is up to operating temp and the oil has done its boiling off condensation.   

I can back this up. When I was a young, super-fit Royal Marine in the mid 60s I rode my Golden Flash 180 miles from Portsmouth to Plymouth and then back again to Portsmouth over night on Sunday just about every weekend for over a year. I've always said that my bike purred along after a couple of hours of riding. I never knew why in those days and just put it down to the BSA A10 being a great touring bike (it was the one in my picture).


Another time (different GF) on the way to Southampton from Plymouth (160 miles) for a holiday, with my girlfriend (now wife) as pillion, we got as far as Exeter (50 miles) and came up to bumper to bumper traffic. While stopped in the traffic queue we were enveloped in clouds of grey smoke. Looking behind, thinking it was a car behind us, to my horror I saw it was coming out of my silencers. Then the traffic started moving and I had to carry on. The bike seemed to be running ok and after a few miles the smoke stopped and we carried on all the way to Southampton. It never reoccurred and we rode many miles sight-seeing for a week and then back to Plymouth again. Never did see any grey smoke again. My assessment of this was that the cylinder head and exhaust system was badly coked up and it caught fire burning off all the carbon deposits. Golden Flash ran beautifully afterwards.

[Colsbeeza]

Transferred from the current Oil Pump Thread,

I read but cannot find the reference to oils on the Forum, where Richard "Orabanda" mentioned that he used Penrite 25W-70 oil. It sounded perfect to me, so I have filled my bike with it, assuming that it's 25W rating was less viscous that a straight 30 monograde - but just read it's Data Sheet that it's viscosity is 290 CSt at 40 DegC whereas other oils generally are only about 100 CSt. That now seems way too high, although it pumps OK - plenty coming back via the Return. Something isn't hanging together there, and I don't want to run it until I can sort it out. Maybe something to do with SAE vs API standards.??? I knew I should have done more research.!! Can any one tell me where that reference is? or can Richard comment.? I am sure he would have done the research.!! I have 10 litres spare at A$50 per 5 litres, so don't want to waste it.
Cheers
Col

[BSA_54A10]

Col,
You are over thinking and being confused by all the facts out there which while they are quite true are insignificant.
Unless you are thinking of doing the grand tour around the island on your big valve super rocket with 11.5:1 pistons vale bouncing all the way and dragging off every other vehicle at every set of traffic lights. Riding day and night, every day of week, rain hail or shine and intend to do this continually for the rest of your life. you are overthinking things to the nth degree.

Back when we were young & stupid, we thrashed our bike ( well I did anyway ) gave them minimal servicing, ran chains till the sprockets had no teeth left , tossed in whatever was the cheapest oil we could get our hands on, if in fact we did put any in till the engine was starting to bind.
The bikes got ridden every day & 1/2 the nights, got ridden when we were ***** as a newt so either rode all the way home in top , or first, etc etc etc.
Mine would have done at least 100,000 miles a year, if not more.

They did not all blow up & kill us, the proof is on the other end of this keyboard.

When I got a bit older & had some more money in my pocket, the bike got "better oil" but in reality it made little difference.
There are not and never were high performance machines designed to the limits of each part.

Now days the BIGGEST DANGER to your engine is acid corrosion from sitting in your shed doing nothing week in week out.
The oil pump will pump anything from SAE 0 to SAE 200 and probably beyond without a problem and your engine will run on anything  from SAE 5 through to SAE 150 without problems.
However anything less than 20 will leak out faster than you can put it in .

I could not count the number of BSA riders I have associated with over my 41 years in the saddle who ran their bikes on whatever they could pinch from work and this ranged from LPG oil used in forklifts through to marine deisel.
When Wollies & Franklins started to sell recycled engine oil 20W 40 around 1/2 the people I rode with used that oil exclusively.
Then slowly we got to the age of OIL SNOBS and much like COFFEE SNOBS was lots of people with a firm belief they are better than their associate without any knowledge about it other than the bull dust they saw on tellie.

There is one and one only thing to worry about when it comes to BSA's and oil and that is..............................
HOW LONG HAS THE BLOODY STUFF BEEN IN THERE

Thin oil will rattle like all hell & heavy oil will rob power.
You will not do enough miles to worry about cam & follower wear from anything other than rust pitting from lack of use.

[stev60]

  you could say use it or lose it

[orabanda]

A chemist who worked for a major oil company told me that the shelf life of mineral oils is 2 years; after that the properties that they had when produced, begin to degrade.