20W50 Oil for 2003 XT600e
 

Hi Guys

Will it be ok to use 20W50 instead of 20W40 (recommended by manual) ?

I want to do a oil change soon on my XT600e. I see I have still almost 4litres left of Castrol 20W50 in my Shed

I shouldn't worry, after a 1000 miles or so the 20/50 will have degraded into 20/40 anyway. Only thing to watch is if you have an engine management system that uses sensors. 20/50 MAY have more antiwear additives that could affect sensors in the exhaust.

Thanks oldbmw

no trouble for the viscosity

Good luck starting the engine when weather gets cold! 5w/30 would be best in winter.

Beware
 

I was in a kind of light mood when I read this thread... Below is something from another forum (Truth about Synthetic Oil - KLR650.NET - Your Kawasaki KLR650 Resource! - The Original KLR650 Forum!).

Truth about Synthetic Oil
Got this off another board...

This article contains vital information for any bike owner. Read this on the net so it must be true.

From the AFM-ClubRacer list
Subject: Beware synthetic oil

Beware of synthetic oil, it can do terrible things to you and your beloved motorcycle. It will not only leak out of your engine faster than you can put it in, but it will also cause your oil filter to clog and implode, dumping debris and dirt into your lubrication system. It also will make every part of your bike permanently slippery because of its linear molecular chain dispersion action.
Then it will leak onto your kickstand causing it to retract automatically, dropping your bike on the ground! But that's not all...
Synthetic oil will round off your gears and spin your bearings. It will also splatter onto your seat causing your girlfriend to fall off in the apex of a turn and she'll never ride with you again. Synthetic oil coats your sight window and your timing window with a whitish
pro-emulsification additive that is both non-removable and highly corrosive. Synthetic oil will completely leak onto the ground overnight and your dog will drink it and die.
Synthetic oil will wear out your tires and make your battery leak. It will give you the desperate need to urinate after you put your full leathers on and then jam your zippers shut. It will contaminate your gasoline causing your bike to stall on railroad tracks and accelerate uncontrollably near police cars. It will make it rain during rallies and on weekends. It will lubricate your timing belts causing them to jump teeth and break your valves to bits. Synthetic oil chemically weakens desmodromic valves and causes the clearances to change every six miles. Then it melts the black soles of your riding boots right before you walk across your new carpeting.
While riding past groups of attractive women it will cause both of your handlebar grips to slip off at the same time so you smash your windscreen with the bridge of your nose. It also causes your swingarm to crack, your studs to break, and your rotors to warp, and then it voids your warranty by changing your odometer reading to 55,555. It
also dries out your wetclutch and wets your dryclutch. It makes your clutch slave cylinder seal fail in the heaviest traffic on the hottest day of the year while putting an angry wasp in your helmet for good measure.
Synthetic oil hides your 13mm socket and puts superglue on your earplugs. Synthetic oil will scratch your faceshield and make your gloves shrink two sizes night before trackday. Synthetic oil stole your neutral and sold it to the Chinese for $1.25. Synthetic oil will make you grow a tail. Synthetic oil will write long crazy e-mails to your Internet friends and then sign your name at the bottom!

ROFL that was GREAT.

Ah ...... That explains so much. Thanks.

I use this stuff, the XT doesn't seem to be too fussy about oil.

Halfords | Halfords Motorcycle Engine Oil Part Synthetic 10W/40 - 5ltr

Truth about Synthetic Oil

Hello, new to HUBB after buying a 1999 XT600E a few weeks ago.
It's very clean, only 25k km. probably mostly in the dry from the look of things.
Few things to do - I'm currently waiting for a chain and sprocket set as I think the original was still on, surprisingly the sprocks aren't bad, but the chain describes a half circle when held sideways on - it also appeared never to have been lubed from the state of the gearbox sprocket area, only needed a wipe with an oily rag to clean it!
Anyway, reason for this post:
I decided to change oil and filter while waiting for other parts. Read a lot of threads before deciding to go the straight mineral oil route at first, maybe a quick oil change later to semi-synthetic, maybe stick with mineral.
Anyway, drained crankcase, frame tube, filter chamber and put in a new filter. Couldn't get the frame strainer out so blew it back - drained oil was a bit black, but nothing untoward. I then slowly poured about 2.6l of the 15W40 into the filler, just about missing an overflow! Fitted the dipstick, removed sparkplug and turned over a few times. No sign of oil on the dipstich, so added more oil to about 2.8l, still not registering, so ran the motor for a short while, checking for oil at filter breather (isn't it fun trying to get the breather plug back in with oil coming out and a hot exhaust pipe!). Anyway, levels now seem OK so I have to potter at other things until the chain kit arrives.
The article on the perils of synthetic gave me a good laugh.
Excellent list, though like a lot of internet info reading too much can scare you into thinking you have non-existent problems.

You only need to loosen the little screw on the oilfiltercap, you dont have to unmount it completely. When oil starts seeping, tighten it and youre done. :D

D'oh!

dohThat explains why every time I sneeze I piss my pants, I use full synthetic oil !:oops2: