Heavier Weight Oils in VF500

I recently found a guy in my area (ish) that rebuilds VF's and VFR's.

I visited his little setup and was looking at all the photographs on his shop wall of all the bikes he's rebuilt and sold. I got some spare parts off him and he really seemed to know his shit.

Anyways....we got to talking and he said that he recommends 20w50 and that's what he put's in his old VF's...saying that it helps keep the rear cam(s) properly lubricated during idle. I'm assuming to keep the oil pressure up when the oil is hot

Is his recommendation to put the heavier weight oil in my bike sound? Maybe not for the rear cam issue since the 500's don't have the upper oiling issue.

I was gonna meet him half way and pick up 15w50 instead.

 

First off, all the 1st Gen Viffers had the oiling issues....maybe not the 500 so much, but it definitely had that problem.

Putting a heavier weight oil is fine, as long as you let the bike warm up longer when she's cold.

Cause a lot of wear will occur at start up with a heavier oil.

And if you look on the internet, you'll find ways to increase your PSI of oil to the cylinders with little effort.

I'm working on one soon. Increasing my diameter of my oil lines and banjo bolts ; )

 

I was under the impression that the 86 500's did NOT have the oiling issues.

 

Everyone knows that Shell Rotella-T 15w40 is the best oil to use in Viffers :biggrin:

Regards,
Rollin

 

Not if they have over 50,000kms on them and have never seen Synthetic oil before.

 

Shell Rotella-T 15w40 is NOT synthetic

Regards,
Rollin

 

rotella is fleet rated. allmost all aftermarket cam manufactures recommend using it to brake in there cams..There is ash in it. and it also can be ran hotter without it vaporizing. its probably better on you motor especially since its got so many miles.. The older your motor gets the more loose it gets decreasing oil pressure..Increasing the weight of the oil will bring up oil pressure. You should let your engine warm up longer the more miles you put on it regardless...Tolorances become loose and material takes longer to expand to the right tolorances... Rings become loose and take longer to expand making a proper seal.

 

I have been running Motul 10w40 Semi-Synth since I got my bike 2 years ago.

Before my 5000kms road trip a Tech put in a Shell Rotella T Synthetic into my bike and it started leaking from the oil pan.


It's a beaten to death topic in the Motorsports community whether it's a good idea to put Synthetic oil in older/higher mileage engines.

I'm back to Motul now.

 

^ Rotella 5w-40 is synthetic the 15w-40 is non synthetic.

 

make sure he adjusts the oil temperature idle valve after the oil change...:thumbsup:heavier oil is better except in winter...........

 

Ahhhhhh....I didn't know that.

 

After doing some searching, I was also under the impression that the 86 500's didn't have the oiling issue..

 

86 = gen 2 everything older had the problems

 

86 VFR = gen 2
86 VF = gen 1


right?

 

i stand corrected. i didnt know shell made a synth oil.

 

I'd like to know the answer to this 86 oiling thing.

Does it have the problem or not?