First Oil Change

BrokeCafe79

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I have an '81 xs400 and have been rider it a bit more and want to do my first oil change. Under the it says to use 20w40. All I can find at my local auto part stores is 20w50. Would it make any kind of difference if it is synthetic motor oil or nor? This is my first motorcycle and just not wanting to accidentally cause any damage. Will use oil stabilizer if it'll help with the non synthetic.
 
20W50 should be OK.

The important thing is that it has a JASO-MA or JASO-MA2 certification. This is probably in finer print on the bottle. Most automotive oils today don't have this.

However, diesel oils often do. I use Shell Rotella.
 
Mosly have found Valvoline 20w50 SAE or 10w40 SAE motorcycle oils at my local auto stores that didn't close early. Also have seen others mention the Shell Rotella diesel oils in other threads. I'll keep an eye put for that next time. Thank you
 
I used rotella quite a bit also on my R6 and my old Bandit- its good stuff- will be using it on my new GSXS.

My old suzuki cruiser didn't much like the 20w oil used by its prev owner, the engine was fine but it made the trans sluggish to shift. The doctrine developed on an old Bandit forum years ago was on the older style of air/oil cooled bikes (eg the Bandit) was 15w Rotella was the business, it wouldn't thin as much as 10w given the higher oil and engine temps. Samples of used oil were sent for analysis, the 15w Rotella lasted as well as any of the others and engine wear products were not noticable.
 
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