Oil....

[callyboy]

was thinking today about what John was saying about oil the other day. I have both half moons on the cam ends leaking on my 550 kat and if I remember correctly they never leaked before. Do you think its because I used semi synthetic oil in it ?

Pete

[Katgeezer]

Nah, it's probably because you put them in upside-down.......

[callyboy]

Thats quite good Chris. Will see if anyone can beat it before I start awarding 1st prize.

Pete

[johnr]

take em out clean em up, smear em with welseal, only a smear mind, you arent painting a boat, and refit em. theyre hard rubber but can shrink in time and disturbing them isnt the best thing for them either. fwiw when im running a roller crank motor like the gs, gsx etc i always use mineral oil, semi synth for shell crank engines, but roller cranks like nice old low tech lube.

[callyboy]

Thanks John

Pete

[AndySwad]

I put fully Synth and moly in mine once, mistake, changed back to cheap oil and much better.

Cheap Asda oil works for me with regular changes.

[Sergio]

Following your question... Just wonder if 300-400 ml of oil waste is OK for every 5000 km? Use my Kat400 in hard city traffic mode (stop/start). Thanks in advance!

[Katgeezer]

Pete,I've been using Tesco mineral 10/40 in my bikes for ages, no probs (Can't seem to get it now tho ).
Only bike I use semi-synth in is my Triumph Tiger 955. The 1325 had fully synth in it but I'm not sure it likes it that much, but that's a different beast as the big block runs very hot.

Sergio...doesn't sound too bad to me. 5000km is what....3000 miles? Nah, nothing much. Fossie will probably know better as that's more miles than I've done on my 400!!!

[Sergio]

Thanks, Katgeezer! Yeh, 5000 km is about 3000 miles. I also think it's nothing (300 ml), just wanted to see other opinion:)

[johnr]

but remember the 400 is a very hi tech beast by comparison to the 1100s, shell crank watercooled and high revving, it achieves its performance due to the tight engineering tolerances allowed by watercooling.. semi synth oil is what they were designed to run on, thats what i put in my 400, and for that matter, my dr big engine.