One thing I can say with a lot of conviction is that not many mechanics nor riders know much about engine oils in India. I learnt it the hard way when I went to get my bike serviced for the first time.The best way to learn is to learn from ones mistakes and this is an attempt to help you guys not make the mistake I made.
The engine oil is the blood that flows though the engine. The role it plays in an engines life is very very important. To explain how an engine oil works I'll have to first explain some simple facts about the engine.
All engines contains hundreds of moving parts and these engines are designed to rotate at 10K plus rotations per minute.This means every second your engine is rotating close to 200 times. This is an incredibly high number. As with all moving parts, we know from our physics teachers that a force is working to stop the movement. this force is called friction and this is the number one enemy of the engines.
The most common way to reduce friction is to lubricate the moving parts and this is why fundamentally oils were created for. A few things one should know about oils is that there is something called viscosity. This is a measure of how thick an oil can be. Ill have to give you a simple example to explain this. On a winter day in Delhi if you ever tried to fry an egg, you ll realise that the oil feels very thick when you pour it into the pan. However once the pan heats up the oil begins to flow very freely. the same happens to engine oil. when cold the oil is very thick and when hot its very loose. this is the most important rule that applies. heat makes the oil lose its viscosity and the less viscous the oil is the less lubricating it will be.
Since all engines work on high temperatures the oil needs to retain its viscosity while at those temperatures without losing its lubricating qualities. Hence they invented multi grade oils. An additive is used in the oil that make the oil remain thick even at high temperature. now this is where I explain what the grading on the oil means
a 10 W 40 oil means that when cold the oil has a viscosity of 10 and when very hot an oil will have the viscosity of an oil which would be 40. this does not mean that the oil gets thicker when its hot. it means that if the additives were not used then the oil will have a viscosity of 10 when cold and say 2 or 3 when hot. but since the additives make the oil more viscous when its hot the oil now behaves like an oil that will have an viscosity of 40 when cold and 10 to 15 when hot.
Other benefits of oils
Keeping the engine well lubed is not the the only job that's expected out of the oil. It also does three other important tasks
1. keeping the engine cool by circulating oil throughout the engine
2. remove dirt/metal components that chip off from the engine
3. keep harmful acids at bay that get formed due to chemicals in the fuel.
Whats the difference between wet clutch and dry clutch
There are basically two types of bike engines, one where the clutch is wet, that means engine oil flows through the clutch plates. you will find this in almost all bikes today. the advantage is that the clutch remains cooler and its less noisier.
bikes that comes with dry clutches don't have any oils going through it. you will find a few Ducatis with this set up. the clutch would be noisier but they perform with far greater urgency that wet clutches.
The big question now is do both wet clutch engines and dry clutch engines use the same oil. This is where I made my mistake. The entire net is filled with articles On the same and most are divided on the actual truth. I for one would like to believe that both wet and dry require two different oils. most oils today come with something called moly which are friction busters that offer very high lubricating properties. These oils don't work for wet clutches as they make the clutch slip. as far as dry clutches go, you can go and use them without any worry.
On every oil container there would be statement called " energy conserving" in case they contain friction buster. look out for them. I for one believe in using Motul as they make oils only for bikes and there is no confusion
Synthetic Vs Mineral
Synthetic oils are designed for engines that have large amounts of stresses and the additive used to make the viscosity of oils increase dont break down in synthetic unlike mineral. hence synthetic oils have a longer life. In India many superbikes change their oil every 2k to 3K kms and for them it would not really matter what type of oil you use. However Id like to change my oil every 4000+ km and hence I use only synthetic oils
Whats the best oil for India
people are extremely divided on this one. however pls dont go by 10W 40 as temperature grades. they are not. hence I would say its best to use what your manual says.
Hope this would help...
The engine oil is the blood that flows though the engine. The role it plays in an engines life is very very important. To explain how an engine oil works I'll have to first explain some simple facts about the engine.
All engines contains hundreds of moving parts and these engines are designed to rotate at 10K plus rotations per minute.This means every second your engine is rotating close to 200 times. This is an incredibly high number. As with all moving parts, we know from our physics teachers that a force is working to stop the movement. this force is called friction and this is the number one enemy of the engines.
The most common way to reduce friction is to lubricate the moving parts and this is why fundamentally oils were created for. A few things one should know about oils is that there is something called viscosity. This is a measure of how thick an oil can be. Ill have to give you a simple example to explain this. On a winter day in Delhi if you ever tried to fry an egg, you ll realise that the oil feels very thick when you pour it into the pan. However once the pan heats up the oil begins to flow very freely. the same happens to engine oil. when cold the oil is very thick and when hot its very loose. this is the most important rule that applies. heat makes the oil lose its viscosity and the less viscous the oil is the less lubricating it will be.
Since all engines work on high temperatures the oil needs to retain its viscosity while at those temperatures without losing its lubricating qualities. Hence they invented multi grade oils. An additive is used in the oil that make the oil remain thick even at high temperature. now this is where I explain what the grading on the oil means
a 10 W 40 oil means that when cold the oil has a viscosity of 10 and when very hot an oil will have the viscosity of an oil which would be 40. this does not mean that the oil gets thicker when its hot. it means that if the additives were not used then the oil will have a viscosity of 10 when cold and say 2 or 3 when hot. but since the additives make the oil more viscous when its hot the oil now behaves like an oil that will have an viscosity of 40 when cold and 10 to 15 when hot.
Other benefits of oils
Keeping the engine well lubed is not the the only job that's expected out of the oil. It also does three other important tasks
1. keeping the engine cool by circulating oil throughout the engine
2. remove dirt/metal components that chip off from the engine
3. keep harmful acids at bay that get formed due to chemicals in the fuel.
Whats the difference between wet clutch and dry clutch
There are basically two types of bike engines, one where the clutch is wet, that means engine oil flows through the clutch plates. you will find this in almost all bikes today. the advantage is that the clutch remains cooler and its less noisier.
bikes that comes with dry clutches don't have any oils going through it. you will find a few Ducatis with this set up. the clutch would be noisier but they perform with far greater urgency that wet clutches.
The big question now is do both wet clutch engines and dry clutch engines use the same oil. This is where I made my mistake. The entire net is filled with articles On the same and most are divided on the actual truth. I for one would like to believe that both wet and dry require two different oils. most oils today come with something called moly which are friction busters that offer very high lubricating properties. These oils don't work for wet clutches as they make the clutch slip. as far as dry clutches go, you can go and use them without any worry.
On every oil container there would be statement called " energy conserving" in case they contain friction buster. look out for them. I for one believe in using Motul as they make oils only for bikes and there is no confusion
Synthetic Vs Mineral
Synthetic oils are designed for engines that have large amounts of stresses and the additive used to make the viscosity of oils increase dont break down in synthetic unlike mineral. hence synthetic oils have a longer life. In India many superbikes change their oil every 2k to 3K kms and for them it would not really matter what type of oil you use. However Id like to change my oil every 4000+ km and hence I use only synthetic oils
Whats the best oil for India
people are extremely divided on this one. however pls dont go by 10W 40 as temperature grades. they are not. hence I would say its best to use what your manual says.
Hope this would help...
cn i go fr motul 15w50 factry line fr KTM DUKE. in manual it says 20w50. wats ur sujjestion sri.
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