Moto Guzzi Club of Queensland Forum

Posted originally in the wrong section... but here goes

Gday all,
Next week I will be picking up a 1000 Le mans MKV.
What oils do you recommend for the engine gearbox & diff? I live in the Blue Mountains in NSW.
Thanks

Hi Warren,
It was suggested to me that Mobil 1, was the best oil for my old Cali, I had heard stories that unless you use it from new then the advantages are negligible, but to clarify that, I have heard about a motor (of the cheap Italian type, starting with D & usually red in colour) that was raced for a whole season on 1 & showed very little signs of wear & tear, the bores looked as if the bike hadn't been started they were that clean.
With the box, I use quality brand name gearbox oil, with a quality gearbox additive (Morleys, slick50, there is a few on the market, there is one American brand that I have been told is really good), a trip to your local auto parts shop, use a specialist, the bigger ones (i.e superthanchepa, barnauto, places like that employ kids that are more interested in whooshy things you put on the engine of your doof-doof jappy thingy) so try the little bloke on the corner who knows cause he's got years of experience or the place with the big R (known in the trade as Rip Every Poor C*nt Off).
End of the day you probably get exactly what you pay for in lubricants, buy cheap get cheap, pay premium get premium, it depends on how much you value your bike.
Hope this has been of some help,

By the way I deleted the other post for you, so you only need to look here for replies.
Just for the information of everyone, if you oops & post somewhere you think you shouldn't have or you want you post deleted or adjusted for some reason, then you can always contact one of the Administrators or Moderators, we are more than happy to fix little oopsies (I know personally I read & re-read my posts & edit them quite often)

Hi Wal
Thanks for the reply. What weight Mobil 1 should I use? Mobil say 4T but there are a few different weights.
SAme goes for the gearbox & diff they specify 2 different weights. Do you add anything to the diff oil?
Sorry about all the questions.

Rgds
Warren

Yeah sorry Warren, my oops.
The top of the tree Mobil 1 Full synthetic oil, not sure what grade they give it but it's the stuff that's around $60 for 4 litres (dear I know, but as said earlier, it's supposed to be the duck's guts).
The gearbox oil I use the grade the handbook specifies, from memory 90W, then I the stuff I use comes in a white tube (looks a bit like a tube of toothpaste), can't remember the exact name & I recently put the last of what I had in the Guzzi van (Tarago) but as I said, if you go to the local knowledgeable spare parts place & ask for the good stuff additive for manual gearboxes, I am sure he will put you in the right direction.
If I get some spare moments I will call past my local bloke & get a name to the stuff(additive) that I use.
Be Safe,

G'day Warren.
I agree with Wal, Mobil 1 is the ducks. I used it in some of my past rice burners however, the Guzzi (pre hydraulic lifter) is a pretty simple and understressed engine. I use either Valvoline XLD 20w/50 or Penrite HPR30 and Valvoline or Penrite 80/90 gear oil for the G'box and Diff with 20ml of Molycote (don't like the others) in the diff. Regular oil changes (5000k's for the engine and 10,000k for the g'box/diff) is the key IMHO.

Waz

(The other Warren)

Waz,
I don't want to cast dispersions, I used to run P/rite in my bikes & was warned by a very high profile m/c racer in Sydney that that particular brand was an engine builders best friend, I have never used it since.
Am interested in how long you've been running it & if you've had any probs.
I used to be sponsored by Fuchs (silkoline) & ran it in all my jappas, but have found that the Motul seems to not burn off as badly as the silko, I am talking full synthetic oils, in race spec, multi cyl engines, also severely thrashed on regular occasions, as you do with them jappas.
This is only my thoughts & opinions & must state am no longer sponsored by any oil company.
I guess it's horses for courses,
Any one else got a preference on oils,

Thanks guys. The place I work for is a Mobil distributor & so price doesn't worry me . Aside from that oil is cheap insurance compared to a rebuild. Mobil recommend 4T (I can get it in 20W50) however Mobil 1 20W50 is easy to get

Wal,
I agree re synthetic oils for highly stressed/revving multi's, especially racing machines. As I mentioned in my previous post, I used M1 in mine. Oils (and Tyres) are/seem to be an emotive subject to us motorcyclists. I have experienced some heated debate over the years/beers and at the end of the day conclusions still differ.
I use to use Penrite HPR30 in my old R100 BM....150,000km's with no issues. The main reason for this was my sence of patriotism for anything Oz. I use XLD now as it was what the previous owner of the Jackal used and have had no issues to date (only 45,000 km's though)

Warren,
If price isn't an issue, M1 20w50 will definately make you sleep better at night

I think as long as you use a quality oil, and most importantly change it regularly, you should not have too many problems. Like Waz, I change engine oil every 5,000km and consider this cheap insurance.

I agree. The MK III has a service interval of 3,000km but I stretch them out to 3,333.3. Much easier to keep track of and major changes every 10,000. Most modern oils are better than the oils that were recommended when the bike was produced. I'm not into the really expensive oils. I prefer to change them often.

I tend to buy what is on special. I recently bought some Valvoline XLD at $9.50 for 5 litres. That works out to less than $6 for an oil change. Better still I got 3 containers so that's enough for 5 oil changes. At that price I can change it without hassle. At $60 per 4 litres that's about $45 per oil change, a $39 difference. If my engine has an expected life before major rebuild of around 300,000km (Quite within possibility if not more.) then that would be 100 oil changes or $3900. There is no guarantee that the bike would last much longer on the more expensive oil. If I average 20,000km a year, which I don't then it would take me over 15 years to rack up those km's. If I really wanted to be pedantic I could add on bank interest to the money saved, cumulatively at about $235 saved per year adding 7-8% annually. This adds up to around another $2100 or a total of $6000. That will go a long way to an engine rebuild as far as I'm concerned. So is expensive oil cheap insurance? You decide.

I recently did a compression test and fuel consumption test on the 27 year old MK III. Compression was in top shape with both sides equal and the bike was able to get better than 5.7 l/100km that was claimed on the sales brochure when new. The paint work leaves a bit to be desired though. Maybe I should have used Mobil fully synthetic polish?

Just another way of looking at it.

Cheers

Rod

Rod
What can I say. Not only thought of from a longevity perspective but also a financial one as well