- Joined
- May 28, 2022
- Messages
- 3,110
- Location
- USA
Also don’t use oil that’s been sitting around. It’ll degrade over time especially once it’s been hammered. Even new oil that’s not been opened will oxidize over time.Everything said here is the bible to oils . I live by EXACTLY what he is saying. Thats why i went through my testing to find out which oil can withstand the torture the Desmosedici Stradale motor puts it through.
Forget what manufactures recommend for ANY ENGINE. I've always said if its EPA rated , its not to protect your engine its to protect the "earth", and i could give a F*ck less about my engines emissions on the planet honestly. There's way bigger polluting factors to this world then a 1.1L motorcycle engine , my $ is in this machine. I want to last therefore i do not stick with their BS. ALL my fluids get changed. Transmission , differential , transfer cases even coolant to a 70/30 custom mix as ill never see below 7F temps. All this makes my engines last and run cooler and wear way less.
I also aim to up the oil weight as many times its for fuel economy, example my 21' escalade calls for water thin 0/20 oil.... when its an LS based engine and historically they always called for 5/30 or even 5/40... why did they use 0/20 ? because it gave them 2mpg on their vehicle stickers which the EPA loves & the engine hates. Look how many L87 have faulty lifters . Yes the lifter is .... but did anyone stop to think maybe thin oil heating up the parts with little to no protection had a factor in it as well?
always look for the following
- High HTHS ---this will gauge how strong the oil reacts under EXTREME HIGH TEMP & PRESSURE which is your main bearings / Piston rings
- High ZDDP ---This is your anti wear armor line of defense for metal on metal contact
- ESTER & mPAO base oils --- This is base quality of the oils , exactly as @VYRUS mentioned , coldstart protection and ease of flow.
- CST 40c ---this is how the oil viscosity reacts on a cold motor, lower # is better
- CST 100c --- this is how the oil viscosity reacts on a warmed up motor . Higher is better... most importantly how long does the oil remain at its virgin CST100 value after its had many heat cycles & used up after 1k miles , example 300v sheers this number down very very fast within 500 miles its done being a 50w.
- Calcium & Magnesium - this is what cleans your motor , your detergents. Need these in the motor to maintain cleanliness. These also battle AGAINST ZDDP which is a bad thing but also good thing because you don't want it to build up multiple layers on its own over time with nothing to battle against it IMO . Think of it as a fresh layer of ZDDP every time you change your oil since calcium and magnesium naturally degrades the ZDDP over time.
Great write up @VYRUS . More people should be aware of all of this.
I think this is where most Ducati’s run into problems particularly when it comes to 300V, which in all fairness is a great track day oil but just needs to be changed very frequently. At least for me before reading this thread and doing a deep dive on oil? the every year or 7500 mi oil change is complete nonsense when you switch to 300V. It just degrades too quickly. And I bet most people are running 3+ trackdays on it like I and a lot of others on this forum was. 300V is probably a single trackday oil and more of a race oil because of this. Most people are thrashing their bikes on too thin oil after this first trackday.
Will send a 300V sample with a single track day on it along with a VOA to see the results (if the bike stays with me). Bike should be a good candidate as it has 5k miles and 4-5 oil changes with 300V in it so all the original Shell is gone.