81 XJ650 & Synthetic Oil

I'm new here so be gentle.

I bought this bike new in 81 it now has 19000 miles. and no trouble except for last year, it had sat for about 12 years and the carbs needed rebuilt. Other than that it was always maintained well and still runs like a new one.

However I belive in synthetic oils & gear lube. I use them in all my engines except the bike.

What I would like to know is has anyone been using them in theirs and what are the results???

I would really like to try it but I am a small person, and had to do a lot of mods to be able to ride this size bike. And I want to do everything possible
to make it last another 20 years. I'm now 59.

Any help out there??

 

JBIII:

Welcome to the tribe! You'll find this site invaluable for advice and how-to's. There are lots of very gracious and knowledgable folks willing to help keep your XJ running strong.

All I run in my Seca 400 is synthetic, either Mobil 1 High Performance or Rotella T Synthetic, neither of which have the friction modifiers which can sometimes cause problems with wet clutches.

I started out using Mobil 1 Synthetic Motorcycle oil, but commuting 80 miles a day meant fairly frequent oil changes, and the $8-$9/qt. just got to be more than I was willing to pay.

I've now put 20,000 miles on my Seca using synthetic with no problems.

Stay safe-
Herb

 

You have to do some intelligent shopping, but you will find several brands of Synthetic Oil formulated for use in motorcycles with wet clutches.

Not all Synthetic Oils fill the bill. If the Synth has friction reducers added, you might start having some trouble with your clutch slipping.

Nice to have another soon-to-be senior citizen among us.
I just turned 60 in June!

 

I have been using Shell Advance VSX 4T motorcycle oil 10-40w(Fully Synthetic) for the past 1000 miles with no problems.

Benifits i have found have been:

Easier starting
Seems to rev that bit easier
Holds idle much better when warming up

Disadvantages

That would be cost

 

I've reached my first 3000 miles this season all on synthetic oil. I've had no problems and noticed an immediate improvement. It starts easier, runs smoother and gained about 5 mpg. Now the kicker, I took a chance and bought the Wal-Mart brand synthetic. I think it was $15 for the 5-qt jug. Tomorrow I'm changing filter and refilling with more cheap synthetic. A friend of mine runs Royal Purple in his HD and loves it. I just can't bring myself to pay 12 bucks a quart.

 

I use Mobil 1 Racing 4T 10w-40 in both my R6 and XJ550R. The stuff works great for me.

 

You may do fine but my XJ650 did not fair well on amsoil. I got starter chatter and clutch slippage issues fo I flushed it in favor of Castrol GTX 20W50. No more starter or clutch issues.

 

I changed to Mobil1 frome penzoil 20w50. I did notice a few things.

On long rides i noticed the enginge was getting hotter that normal. Probably about 15-25 degrees hotter. The pro side is that cold starts got much easier. But now my starter is going out so im just going to switch to penzoil. Its not really worth it to me to pay 4 dollars mor a quart. I just passed 19k miles on mine
Josh

 

I'd go with the Shell Rotella diesel synthetic. Walmart has it for under $5 a quart too.