can I use 10W-40 instead of 10W-30?

[Guest tommybrock]

I've just been to 4 garages looking for the 10W-30 that the manual suggests and can't find any.  I'm sure I can find it further afield but can anyone tell me whether the 10W-40 that seems to be everywhere is okay and whether there is even the slightest chance that it will invalidate the warranty?  Also (and this demonstrates my technical ignorance), assuming that 10W-40 is okay, do I then need to keep on using it forever?

[chris 357]

The workshop manual says 10W40 is also ok between -10C and +45C, just make sure it fulfils the other specs in the owners' manual (SG, not energy saving, JASO MA).

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[Guest duk2n]

Castrol 10w40 is what most of the Spanish dealers use. Now, we have different weather here, as some Salou turists know :-)

Edited September 14, 2013 by duk2n

[wozza 967]

You'll be fine with 10-40.....

[Guest grrrr]

You can get 10w30 at Amazon if it helps.

[Guest tommybrock]

Thank you guys, v grateful

[Guest Whiteyez]

Can anyone suggest other companies that make 10w30 oil and fulfils the specs for our bike? I'm currently using honda 10w30 but im looking for something cheaper.

 

Thanks.

[Guest GBH]

As others have said you can use both grades in any Honda bike however if you run 10-30 you may see better mpg since 10-40 is a slightly heaver oil which allows it to cope with higher temperatures (40) so you pays your money and makes your choice.

[ste7ios 469]

Chris, a viscosity of 10w-40 is the most proper for our territory because of the higher environmental temperatures.

[Guest GBH]

Sorry I was wrong....just checked the manual for the NC700 and Honda state only 10-30, My VFR and Fury state 10-30 & 10-40 depending on ambient temperature.

[ste7ios 469]

Yep, it says that, but it's not limited to. On the Service Manual says that you must choose an oil with the proper viscosity according to the environmental temperature.

 

A 10w-30 SAE  oil at southern europe will not work because it will not be able to handle the 40C of summer. It will have the viscosity of... water, and it will not protect efficiently the engine.

 

Using a 10w-40 oil at UK it will be ok (because of the 10w) but probably a waste of money (you'll never have 40C!)...

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

[beep 1,225]

Using a 10w-40 oil at UK it will be ok (because of the 10w) but probably a waste of money (you'll never have 40C!)...

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

 

Don't rub it in   Where I live we're lucky to see 20 degC!

 

I looked into this when my dealer under filled the last oil change. I topped up the 10w30 they used with some 10w40 I had in the garage (both Castrol GPS). I believe this is okay provided both oils are the same type (ie. don't mix synthetic with mineral etc.).

 

10w40 shouldn't be a problem.

Edited September 17, 2013 by beep

[ste7ios 469]

The oils must be the same type and have the same specs (JASO, etc.)

 

You must have now stg like 10w30.5

[Guest Whiteyez]

Does Castrol 10w40 meet JAMO-MA specs? 

[Guest motorboy]

Does Castrol 10w40 meet JAMO-MA specs? 

The bike oil does the car oil does not..

[ste7ios 469]

All Castrol oils meet the JASO MA-2 standard: http://www.castrolmoto.com/en/our_oils/4t_oils_table.php

[Guest GBH]

 

All Castrol oils meet the JASO MA-2 standard: http://www.castrolmoto.com/en/our_oils/4t_oils_table.php

They are all bike oils, Castrol car oil will not meet this spec due to the friction modifiers which cars use due to the fact they don't have a wet clutch.

[ste7ios 469]

(In general JASO MA2 is a high friction oil like JASO MA - for wet clutches - but for use with a catalytic converter. )      

[Guest GBH]

 

Yep, it says that, but it's not limited to. On the Service Manual says that you must choose an oil with the proper viscosity according to the environmental temperature.

 

A 10w-30 SAE  oil at southern europe will not work because it will not be able to handle the 40C of summer. It will have the viscosity of... water, and it will not protect efficiently the engine.

 

Using a 10w-40 oil at UK it will be ok (because of the 10w) but probably a waste of money (you'll never have 40C!)...

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

Actaully over here 10-40 is cheeper but the extra fuel used pumping it around will easy offset the extra cost of 10-30. We have had a few days this year with temps in the mid 30's which I think is too hot when you have all the gear on and FYI my Fury manual states both 10-30 & 10-40 protect the engine at over 40 degrees ambient temp but at these figures I would rather be in a car with the AC on wearing shorts and a T-shirt!

[Guest PhilC]

Honda UK recommend Castrol Power1 10W-30, the motorcycle fully synthetic, do not use car oil, as already stated, it does not like m/c clutches. Stick to what the Man says and you are Always warranted, if the UK importer says it, they back it..........

 

[Guest motorboy]

 

All Castrol oils meet the JASO MA-2 standard: http://www.castrolmoto.com/en/our_oils/4t_oils_table.php

 

those are all bike oils so good to go..

[Guest Todd L.]

My official Honda service manual shows both 10w30 and 10w40 in the same temp range, no difference. They are both acceptable and my dealer uses bulk 10w40 for all the bikes. He says most all dealers use bulk 10w40 directly from Honda and you have to ask specifically for 10w30. I'm told Honda is only recommending 10w30 for a possible increase in fuel economy. If you are planning on going the full 8k for oil change intervals, 10w40 would be a much better choice. The viscosity of any oil will take a beating in a shared wet sump. I personally use Shell Rotella 5w40 full synthetic with JASO MA approval which is much cheaper than the official Honda dino oils from the dealership. 10w30 can be very hard to find with JASO MA approval for wet clutch use. 10w40 oils typically don't have friction modifiers that will harm a wet clutch, but always keep an eye out for the "energy conserving" label. 

[usabikes 440]

I've just been to 4 garages looking for the 10W-30 that the manual suggests and can't find any.  I'm sure I can find it further afield but can anyone tell me whether the 10W-40 that seems to be everywhere is okay and whether there is even the slightest chance that it will invalidate the warranty?  Also (and this demonstrates my technical ignorance), assuming that 10W-40 is okay, do I then need to keep on using it forever?

 

Below is the reply I got from Honda New Zealand regarding which oil to use. It should be helpful (or at least of interest).

 

I had gone into my local Honda dealer for a mineral 10-30 (the kind of junk I would only ever use for break-in and change every 2,000 kms or so) and was met with a price of $82 for 4 litres! That's 4 hours pay for yours truly. The chief mechanic though recommended that I use mineral Castrol Activ 4T 15-50 "we use it in everything" he said. It is JASO MA and SG and I had a container already at home so I chucked it in with a new Honda factory filter ($30!!). Naturally after having done the oil & filter I had second thoughts and emailed the national distributors for confirmation. The response:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Hi Graeme, you can safely use the 15w50 Castrol Activ 4t oil, Castrol have assured us it still meets Honda’s requirements. I would let that engine run out to 20,000 on the mineral before switching to the full synthetics

 

Part of the reason for the sudden widespread use of 10W30 is the improved emissions that this oil grade brings.

 

HONDA RECOMMENDS

General engines Mineral based

 

Honda "4-stroke motorcycle oil"/ Pro Honda GN4 4-stroke oil  or an equivalent

API classification: SG or higher (except oils labelled as energy conserving on the circular API service label)

Viscosity: SAE I0W-30

JASO T903  Standard: MA

 

General engines Synthetic based

 

Honda "4-stroke motorcycle oil"/ Pro Honda HP4 4-stroke oil  or an equivalent

API classification: SG or higher (except oils labelled as energy conserving on the circular API service label)

Viscosity: SAE I0W-30

JASO T903  Standard: MA

 

Other viscosities as shown in this chart will be okay too. Sorry for the quality of the figure, it runs from top to bottom as;

20W50

20W40

10W40

10W30

 

 

Regards

Richard Bryant

National Service Manager

Blue Wing Honda Ltd

 

 

The chart he sent me won't reproduce here but it's basically the same chart as Mercedes put in my owners handbook for my 20 year old car. You can use any viscosity, just remember: when it's cold outside use a lower start number (10, 5 or 0) when it's hotter outside use a higher second number (50). If you're going to follow the nice man's advice use a mineral for the first 20,000 kms or 12,000 miles. I intend using a very expensive real full synthetic such as an AMSOIL 0-40 or Penrite 0-50 (Australian, you might not get it in the UK) after that. Both are JASO MA and both are genuine synthetics containing Group 4 PAOs and Group 5 Esters (very few oils advertised as synthetics are genuine synthetics these days as manufacturers have found a loophole and have Group 3 parrafin oil bases making up most of their so-called synthetics).

 

Both these oils have great numbers: Viscosity Indexes of 183 & 192 (anything over 150 is desireable and means the oil will last for extended oil change intervals without the viscosity degrading very much - by contrast the worse case scenario: a mineral 20-50 can degrade to 20-37 in 600 miles in one study I've read). These 2 oils also have Total Base Numbers of around 10 which again is excellent. TBN refers to the ability of oil to manage acidity increases which occur naturally as the engine runs and some water is mixed with the oil. Some otherwise good oils like the most expensive Repsol or Motul synthetics have poor TBNs of around 6 which don't look good for the long change intervals Mr Honda specify for our beloved NCs.

 

You can safely swap between mineral, semi, "full" and real synthectics regardless of viscosities. You can even mix them as long as the additive package is the same, ie. they are both SG or both SN etc. I tend to think that Honda use the long change interval as a marketting ploy and the 10-30 as a MPG aid. But just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done. Oil is cheap insurance, even the most expensive oil, so better to change more frequently anyway. I always change the filter wih the oil as the dipsersants & detergents otherwise tend to pick up the deposits of crud they so carefully left in the filter and recycle them again if you put in fresh oil and leave the old filter.

 

The chief mechanic at my Honda dealer parrotted the same line as every other mechanic I've discussed oils with : "you don't need full synthetic as you're not racing" etc. Sheesh! $82 for 4L of their junk mineral 10-30 vs. $95 for 5L of real 0-50 synthetic - why wouldn't you use the good stuff? I've come to appreciate the 0-xx oils lately. 90% of engine wear takes place on start-up and the 0 oils will flow fastest to were it needs to be thus saving wear when it is most likely. I don't see any 0-xx mineral oils on the market, so that's that.

 

As regards filters I have discovered that a Purolator PL14610 PureONE Oil Filter seems to be the best. I bought 4 off Amazon which, including freight from the US, are the price of 2 factory filters from my dealer. They are 3/4" or so longer than the factory item but according to blokes on the US forum they fit fine. Purolator recommend changing them every 3,000 miles but then they are trying to sell stuff and this distance also applies to diesel car engines that the filters also fit and which stress oil & filter a lot more than our wee units do. In any case I found it easy enough to replace the filter with only minimal oil loss should one decide to go this way. You don't want the filter to do a brilliant job, clog up and then flow unfiltered oil through its bypass valve.

 

As regards invalidating your warranty, I'd check with your dealer on this and follow his guidance. But if they insist on you using a mineral 10-30 I'd change it every 1500 miles or so.

 

The above is based on my obsessive compulsive disorder that I have sufferred from over the last 15 years regarding oil and should be used as a base for further reading. I've managed to make friends with one or two really knowledgeable guys in the industry and had some directed reading given me, so I'm pretty sure whereof I speak these days. If anyone wants to take me to task then please do so with facts & figures and stuff like that rather than anecdotal evidence - everyone wins & we will be really good mates

 

Mind you I'll be away for the next week so could be vigorously eviscerated and not even know it .

 

All the best Tommy,

Graeme

[Guest Neil700]

Hi Graeme. I am also OCD and oil is one of them. Cannot disagree with a word you said. I personally use castrol magnatec 10-40 in my bike. I am just happy with it. Not Jaso but I know many others who have used it I their bikes for many thousands of km without a problem. I personally think that most specific bike oils are over priced marketing ploys. Just my 2c worth. Good posting thanks Graeme

[Guest igipo]

Can anyone suggest other companies that make 10w30 oil and fulfils the specs for our bike? I'm currently using honda 10w30 but im looking for something cheaper.

 

Thanks.

I use Motul 10W30

 

https://www.motul.com/ba/en/products/oils-lubricants/5100-4t-10w30