OIL CHANGE TYPE/ADVICE/CAPACITY

Going to change the oil in my 82 xj550, it has been awhile sense the filter has been changed because I bought the bike with a totally round filter housing bolt! I bought a used housing spring and bolt all together on ebay for 10 bucks. I had a hell of a time getting the old bolt out, but I did and now I am looking for advice. I live in a busy city with anywere from 85 to 100 degree summer days and my quick ride to work has a lot of stop signs. Last time I used yamalube 10-40, what do you guys think? Also my level glass is very worn and tough to see through does anyone have the exact capacity of my bike I WILL be changing the filter. I work at a yamaha dealership and would like to stay yamalube, but any tips on the type would be great Thanks for the help!

 

I live on the Great Plains, where summer days often reach 100ºF before 10 am. I use Rotella T year round, but have used motorcycle specific 20W-50 when the Rotella wasn't available locally. The best thing that you an do when chosing an oli is to ignore the name on the bottle. Instead look closely at the certification label, and if you are really interested in the specific chemistry of a particular oil check out:http://www.bobistheoilguy.com

If you get an employee discount for the Yamalube, by all means continue to use it. If not, then shop around. There are equally good oils that cost less. There is a link in my signature line that you might be interested in clicking.

 

About the sight glass, it cleans up nicely if you pull off the clutch cover and clean the inside and outside with engine cleaner and q-tips. But that might entail a new clutch cover gasket... but you could do a clutch job while you're at it.

 

Thanks pilot, not sure about that though lol. I think if I ever need to do the clutch I will clean the glasss haha but not vice versa. clutch is very smooth as is.

 

Thanx again K-moe, I can get yamalube performance all purpose sae 20w-50 for 4.25 a quart at work, I have never used a 20w-50 but the bike def runs real hot in the summer. Online is giving me all kinds of results as far as the capacity goes. Would love to hear any other recomendations anyone else might have on this topic

 

Hi Rusty,

I have and continue to use Castrol 4T on my older bikes. K-Moe is the authority, though! He has great info!!

I believe that your bike holds 3 US quarts.

 

Thanks skip, ps That FJR you got is a sweet ride! Speed and comfort all in one!

 

1 US quart is equal to .946 (IIRC) liters
Fitz can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the capacity of the 550 is 2300cm3, or 2.3 liters.
So 3 US quarts is way too much. Luckily for you the capacity on the side of the oil bottle will be listed in ounces and ml so you just need to multiply 3x946 (or whatever the bottle says) to get the total ml, then subtract the 2300 from that. That will tell you how many ml to have left over in the third bottle.

However it is better to have a clean sight glass so that you can fill it just shy of the top of the glass, which is about 150-200 ml more than the stated capacity of the motor, which by the way is listed on top of the clutch.

As for what type of oil, a lot of members have luck with the Rotella T, but I like to stick to motorcycle specific oil. Valvoline or Castrol is readily available from Advance Auto, and they also carry the Fram CH6003 filter which comes with both o-rings you will need.

 

The "official" capacity of the 550 is 2200CM3 (2200 cc's.) Add an additional 200cc to keep the oil level sensor happy, and you're looking at around 2500cc or around 2.5 ~2.6QT.

You can run 20W50 in the 550 just fine; although Yamaha recommends 20W40. You don't want a "10W" basis-weight oil except in cold weather.

 

Great thats exactly the information I was looking for. Due to P&A I will stick with the 20-50$$. Simple topic but all input helps and I am glad I asked, as I would have refilled with 10-40 all summer!