With all the talk about 20w 40 or 20w 50 I called Yamaha Corp to see what they would say since the dealers now have 20w 50 Yamalube on the shelves. First she asked me a couple of questions.
What state I ride in and what summer temps(Alabama upper 90s into low 100s). She put me on hold and came back and told me I should use 20w 50. I said the manual only specifies 20w 40 and she said their new 20w 50 replaced their 20w 40 weight. I asked about winter riding in the 40s and she said might want to use lighter weight. I explained that my bike is parked overnite in basement and she said 20w 50 should be okay then.
I also asked about our two Yamaha ATV that recommend 20w 40 and she said 20w 50 in them also.
I wonder if the 2008s will suggest 20w 50??


I ride a 2007 Silverado Roadstar and family have an 07 Big Bear and 07 Grizzly ATVs.

Isnt it funny how Yami waits till' we all figure stuff out for them. I think we have spys in here. Anybody by the name...IMnotAyamiSPY1700... on the site???

For temps approaching freezing, I have found that 20W50 is a bit too thick. I found the engine hard to start and very noisy on startup.

I used to use 5W50. It was great for cold temps but noisy if I ran it at temps around 70 - 80 F.

I use 15W50 and am quite pleased with for all round temps but it does get hard to start when the temps are around 20 F.

Doc

Hey Doc, my bike won't crank when its 20F !!! I have rode in the 40s starting out in the morning hours and am good with that. Rode a few weeks ago 80 miles one way to pick up my BAK kit. It was suppose to get to 58F but it never got above 37F. I said never again in those temps!

star102cu wrote:
Hey Doc, my bike won't crank when its 20F !!! I have rode in the 40s starting out in the morning hours and am good with that. Rode a few weeks ago 80 miles one way to pick up my BAK kit. It was suppose to get to 58F but it never got above 37F. I said never again in those temps!

I rode one day this winter when it was 7 degrees out. Started fine.

Here in high desert country our temps run from 0 degrees to 110.I run Amsoil 10/40 and she purrs like a kitten.Never had trouble startin.Run 4qts only,change it and the filter every 4,000 miles or so and your Roadie will be so happy.Have a buddy with a 01 1600 and it just turned 120,000 miles with no problems.

Yes, I too think that 20/50 is a bit too heavy for those 32*F/0*C morning startups. I'm kinda scared of twisting the oil pump drive off! It almost sounds like the oil pump is "cavitating" as it tries to suck the cold thick oil up and push it through the oil filter. At below-freezing mornings.

The old chevy smallblock V-8's would sometimes strip the teeth off of the oilpump/distributor driveshaft if you had real heavy oil in them when starting in the cold winter mornings. It took a lot of force to try and pump that thick old oil. But on the chevy you were pretty safe from seizing the engine due the the oilpump stopping because the distributor would not turn either, and it would not run.
Might really wreck a Roadie engine though if the oil pump stopped turning, if you don't shut her down immediately when you hear the hydraulic valve lifters start to clatter.
If this summeris another one with lotsa cooler mornings, I think I will switch to a 15w50 or 5w50 synthetic, instead of the 20w50 synthetic.

edgeman55 wrote:
Here in high desert country our temps run from 0 degrees to 110.I run Amsoil 10/40 and she purrs like a kitten.Never had trouble startin.Run 4qts only,change it and the filter every 4,000 miles or so and your Roadie will be so happy.Have a buddy with a 01 1600 and it just turned 120,000 miles with no problems.
Hey edgeman55,
Did your buddy ALWAYS run Amsoil 10w40 in the bike for it's whole life?
If 120,000 miles is on the original rings and cylinders, that is incredible for that air-cooled motor.
I'm willing to bet that that high-mileage Roadie doesn't even use a drop of oil either?

StarMyram wrote:
edgeman55 wrote:
Here in high desert country our temps run from 0 degrees to 110.I run Amsoil 10/40 and she purrs like a kitten.Never had trouble startin.Run 4qts only,change it and the filter every 4,000 miles or so and your Roadie will be so happy.Have a buddy with a 01 1600 and it just turned 120,000 miles with no problems.
Hey edgeman55,
Did your buddy ALWAYS run Amsoil 10w40 in the bike for it's whole life?
If 120,000 miles is on the original rings and cylinders, that is incredible for that air-cooled motor.
I'm willing to bet that that high-mileage Roadie doesn't even use a drop of oil either?

No he has never run Amsoil.The first 70,000 miles he ran Golden Spectro,now he runs Mobil 1 synthetic.He is in Northern California and his temps are much milder then here.The only thing he has done to the motor is put in a new gen/alt at 78,000 mile mark and your right it does not burn any oil yet.There was a guy on the RSG site that had over 150,000 on his Roadstar.But then my buddy next door to me has 88,000 miles on his Harley with no problems and it's 11 years old.He does get a little bent though when I outrun him on my METRIC Harley We ride together a lot and like to rib each other about our rides but he says his next bike will be a Roadstar!See even the old Harley guys get smart with time.

StarMyram wrote:
If this summeris another one with lotsa cooler mornings, I think I will switch to a 15w50 or 5w50 synthetic, instead of the 20w50 synthetic.

The only 5W50 I've been able to find here was Quakerstate and I quit running it after one summer. I found the engine was noisier than the Mobile 1 15W50 that I routinely use.

Doc