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Moto engine oil swells O-rings...??? Moto engine oil swells O-rings...???
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Equipping the Bike - what's the best gear? Anything to do with the bikes equipment, saddlebags, etc. Questions on repairs and maintenance of the bike itself belong in the Brand Specific Tech Forums.
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  #1  
Old 1 Nov 2007
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Question Moto engine oil swells O-rings...???
Hi all,
I spoke with a mechanic earlier this week regarding making a homemade chain oiler for my bike so I could use (new) engine oil with it.
He told me that motorcycle engine oil tends to swell the O-rings... now this is totally new for me, anyone has heard anything similar?
I want to add that this guy is not a dealer, he is just a mechanic (old friend of mine by the way) and he has no interest in selling/not selling a particular item to me.

Any comment?


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Old 1 Nov 2007
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Hi,

Yes Oil will swell an O'ring because the oil gets hot and the rubber expands under heat, that's partly why they use rubber for SEALS.

Don't use engine oil on your chain it's gets flung off to easy and will mess up you bike, and could be very dangerous if it gets on your tires or brakes. Chainsaw oil I think is what most people are using that don't want to pay the money for a Scottoiler and it's recommended fluid.

Hope that helps
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  #3  
Old 2 Nov 2007
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engine oil
i use already a long time a pro-oiller system it works with engine oil no problems whatsoever
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Old 2 Nov 2007
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Juddadredd -mate. I promise I'm not following you around to disagree with you.

A few years ago I was tired of shelling out for Scottoil and thought I'd save money by paying the same amount for 5 litres of chainsaw oil as I would for 500ml blue Scottoil. I'll agree it worked, after a fashion, but in the UK (and not in the middle of summer) it flowed so slowly that I almost had to have the scottoiler set on full the whole time. Yes it didn't fling off, but it also didn't give much a range of control of the flow.

In a warmer environment I'm sure it would be fine but I went back to buying the blue stuff after I'd emptied my high-capacity reservoir.

Maybe it was just the brand of cheapskate chainsaw oil I bought.
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Old 6 Nov 2007
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Thumbs up Engine oil OK
LoobMan LOOBMAN - manual chain lubrication system for all motorcycles with regular, O-Ring and X-Ring chains actually RECOMMEND engine oil. I use it. 60,000km on a Yamaha FZR600 chain and it was still going fine when the bike was written off.

Regards

Nigel in NZ
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Old 6 Nov 2007
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Engine oil these days has additives that "swell" o rings and seals .
But what this really means is that it keeps the seals supple and prevents them baking and becoming hard and brittle at engine operating temperatures .
I wouldn't really worry about the effect it would have on your chain .
Use whatever oil works best for your situation , gear oil ,engine oil [most of which can be used in gearboxes anyway] or chainsaw cutterbar oil , if it's too thick dilute it with some parafin or diesel .
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Old 6 Nov 2007
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Hi all,

Sagarmatha Don't worry matey I never take offence, and seeing other people’s views is good as it leads to balanced discussion.

My FIRST Sponsor for my trip was SCOTTOILER, I perfected my pleading patter with them so I love them to bits, I'm riding around with a huge great big Touring Res on my bike with lots of nice fluids sloshing about in it. Doing a wonderful job of keeping my chain and sprocket costs to a low low price I might add.

I was answering the original post, which asks about expanding o'rings and HOME MADE OILER WITH NEW ENGINE OIL. From reading peoples experiences on this site, and speaking to people at the Horizons bash, the general consensus is that Normal Bike Oil WILL get flung off the chain and end up in DANGEROUS places. That's why I offered the Chainsaw oil as an option for Alex, the last thing I want to hear is that he has an accident due to normal oil getting everywhere, if I didn't warn him in due time.

Even when I run out of the supplied Scottoil (19000 km) I will refill it with that product mostly because the THAT OIL is made for the oiler and works much better than anything else on the market, from the horse’s mouth so to speak.

I also have my small res cable tied to my bike just above the engine where it's nice and hot so that the oil gets heated before it leaves the res, mostly as I'm going to be riding during winter and up at altitude.

Hope that helps someone
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Old 6 Nov 2007
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I was given this recipe for home made chain lube use Graphite grease mixed
with ep80 or ep90 oil just mix it to the thickness you find works best.
I have not used it yet and it could separate if left sitting in your chain oiler??

my first post hope it will help
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Old 6 Nov 2007
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I've been using 90 grade gear oil (can't remember whether it's ep or not) in my diy chainoiler and its been about the right viscosity through the summer. Now that the temps are dropping I've noticed it's running slower so I'll have to come up with something a bit thinner.

The mk1 version of my oiler fed the chain just as it went onto the bottom of the rear sprocket. A lot of it was flung off to the rear and excess would drip onto the rear tyre when the bike was parked. I've now moved the feed to the front sprocket and so far it seems to be a lot better. Less oil is needed and, surprisingly, there appears to be less mess with none on the rear tyre.
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Old 24 Nov 2007
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i used automatic transmission fluid
its just thin red oil and it worked a treat for me ,my chain is going great guns ,i love my scott oiler ,best thing you can put on a travel bike
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