PLEASE - No oil thread complaints. Just wondering what grade you are using

[Flathead]

You run 30W90?  Boy, do you know how to spice up a thread

Half of each... Wouldn't that be 15W45 

[Joncon11]

10/40 synthetic, year round' for me. No issues at all, shifting gets a bit notchy around 7k and that's when I change it. For reference I live in North Carolina and see temps from 9 to 105.

[ZedHed]

Maxima Extra 15w-50 -- Only the best !!  5000 mile OCI

[katata1100]

I think the book says to use 20-50 if the outside temp is over 103. I use 10-40, bike will probably see outside temps of over 103 maybe a couple of times this summer. If I lived where it actually got hot (like Las Vegas where it often is over 110) definately  20-50. It all depends where you live.

[Cuda]

Section 2-54  Kawasaki service manual
over 32 degrees 20w-40 or 20w -50
 

[strester]

Texas, I run 5w-40. I change oil 3k miles. Ride almost every day.

[alexx45]

20-50 all year long here in Houston, Tx. Change it between 3500 & 4500 miles. Been working great for the first 24k.

[valkmc]

Mobil Delvac 1300 15-40, The ZDDP is above 1300 ppm which is pretty high for standard oil. Mobil recommends it for all diesel but also for high performance gas engines. Shift very smooth and is all I have used in this bike for 16k, my last bike for 50k (only 50k because I tried Rotella Syn for about 35k) and the bike before that for 100k. Ride in 90-100 degree temps often w/o a problem

[freebird6]

Glad the search function found this thread.

I bought this bike a year ago with 6K. It now has 24K on it .  Always ran 10W40 dino. After a major service in April I put over 3 K on the bike following the NCAA tourney with a couple of very high speed runs on the highway to Nashville and St Louis from Indy. With that in mind I decided to change out the oil. Visiting with the guys over in Lancaster OH I ended up buying a Kawi filter and Amsoil 20W50....not that I doubted ....but I pulled the owners manual out to make sure the higher numbers were on the chart before purchasing.

Oil change went well exactly 4.7 L plus the filter and I left Lancaster for Indy in the rain at 67 degrees. Engine felt good and continued to run flawlessly with better MPG average than I have seen as I ran out of rain and into 84 degrees hi pressure front and sun from Springfeild OH to Indy at 75 to 95 across I 70.

After attending a college graduation I went home that evening with no change in the performance.

Here comes the rub....and the question that worries me. On MOnday I pulled the clutch and backed down the ramp with a great deal more effort than usually...that morining and every morning this week the bike pulls out in first gear but willnot shift without a really hefty pull to get into second. At that point it will start to shift but feels hard to shift and clicks with great difficulty into the next gear until I am several miles down the road. Temps have been in the high 50s and low 60s each morning.

Reading several threads I come across the word "notchy" several times. That sounds right to me. Is this going to go away or is it something I am going to live with and with the AMSOIL will it leave enough oil on the parts that I am not harming parts at start up till things get going and warmed up? Bike ran great and got better MPG on the 3 tanks of gas with the new oil but I hate the feel on start up after sitting more than an hour or so.

[Necron99]

Mobile 1 4T 10w40 and I never had any issue at all at 118 degrees in the Texas summer last year, heat never spiked.

[Pokey]

Dump out that Scamsoil, that crap is so overrated and not all it is cracked up to be. My C14 shifted like total crap with it by the way, and I am not alone with my experience.

[VirginiaJim]

I went back to 10w40 Kwak dino oil from Mobil 1.  Shifting is a bit stiff starting out.  I would think 20w a bit heavy and would cause stiff shifting until it warmed a bit.

[Jack Daniels]

Mobil 1 4T 10W-40.  I change it once a year typically.  I personally wouldn't run 20-50 in my bike unless I lived in an extremely warm climate.  That stuff is heavy on cold starts. 

[Cuda]

Mobile 1 4T 10w40 and I never had any issue at all at 118 degrees in the Texas

Man oh man 118 
And I bitch about 92 -94 I guess I'm lucky I could not ride the bike in that heat.

[chap]

I haven't changed oil yet in my new Connie, but I will be using AMSOIL 10-40 Motorcycle Oil. It is what I used in my C10 wih no problems. I think it is important to mention not to use regular car oils. Make sure it is designed to work with the Wet Clutch System. I am sure your shifting will suffer with regular oil. In Saskatchewan we can only ride April - October temps 0 - 40 deg C.

[Necron99]

I was an Amsoil fanatic with my VTX, and it was easily the best oil I ever had in my VTX.  But it did NOT run will in the Concours.  The bike did shift poorly, as Pokey mentions above - while I don't agree with the invective nature of his post.

[VirginiaJim]

Oh yeah, he's one invective cuss all right...

[chap]

I was an Amsoil fanatic with my VTX, and it was easily the best oil I ever had in my VTX.  But it did NOT run will in the Concours.  The bike did shift poorly, as Pokey mentions above - while I don't agree with the invective nature of his post.

Just wondering (I hate to labor the point), but were you running the Wet Clutch specific AMSOIL. If so I wonder why it works so good on my C10 (silk smooth shifting) but you say it is poor on the C14. I am just about to place an order to AMSOIL. Should I change to something else??

[Pokey]

I was an Amsoil fanatic with my VTX, and it was easily the best oil I ever had in my VTX.  But it did NOT run will in the Concours.  The bike did shift poorly, as Pokey mentions above - while I don't agree with the invective nature of his post.

Not invective, just brutally honest.

[Pokey]

Just wondering (I hate to labor the point), but were you running the Wet Clutch specific AMSOIL. If so I wonder why it works so good on my C10 (silk smooth shifting) but you say it is poor on the C14. I am just about to place an order to AMSOIL. Should I change to something else??

Yes use something else, Amsoil is only the best in their mind. I am a big fan of the Castrol RS4.........who cares if it isn't a 100% true synthetic, the stuff works great!


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