Im going to give my bike a service next week when the filters arrive- it is very low on oil would it be ok to top it up with 10-40 semi synthetic car oil? Or is this not recommended?

no dont do it, car oil is designed for car ENGINES, where as bike oil lubricates, engine, gearbox, and clutch.

rickyb_dj wrote:no dont do it, car oil is designed for car ENGINES, where as bike oil lubricates, engine, gearbox, and clutch.

get some bike oil - it is cheap enough.

car oil is a bd bad idea

The synthetic elements in car oil are of a shorter chain than those in motorcycle oil.

Car oil is not designed to be chewed up through a gearbox, by putting it in a motorcycle it breaks down much more quickly and will loose its viscosity rather quickly..

Bad idea.

Just get some Silkolene 10/40.. it's only around £18 for 4 litres.

When topping up oil do I have the bike on the side stand or hold it straight up, ie vertical? Can't remember which....

Cheers for the replies! Yes i'll just buy a 4litre jar of Silkolene 10/40 and top it up for now to use over the weekend.. it will all have to come out again for the service in a week

spooky wrote:When topping up oil do I have the bike on the side stand or hold it straight up, ie vertical? Can't remember which....

Hold it level.

Allow 30 seconds for the oil to level out..

Don't screw the dipstick in, remove it, wipe it and let it rest on the hole

i think it would be ok to top the bike up with a bit of car oil if you needed to to get you along to your next service ,its still oil like at the end of the day ,in the past i used to run my old nc30 and other bikes on cage oil the whole time and never had any trouble from using it either before i heard of bike specific oil lol

kevin wilson wrote:i think it would be ok to top the bike up with a bit of car oil if you needed to to get you along to your next service ,its still oil like at the end of the day ,in the past i used to run my old nc30 and other bikes on cage oil the whole time and never had any trouble from using it either before i heard of bike specific oil lol

Don't do it! The additive packages in car oil can mess up your clutch. Don't ask me how I know.

the older bikes like the older oil from my experience,,, ,,,theres no harm to the bike in topping up the oil level with cage oil till the next service