Oil Question

[drg650]

I have a 2003 RX1 Snowmobile.I got it used with 7000 km/4300 miles.The person before me used castrol 5w30 fully synthetic.I called a dealer they told me to use 0w30 yamalube with a new filter.I changed the oil and the filter to the 0w30 yamalube.But my question is can you change from fullly synthetic to semi synthetic.I know 0w30 yamalube is semi synthetic.But i was told that fully synthetic oils cause your engine seals to swell.If so.Will semi-synthetic cause the seals to shrink.

 

[RTX Rox]

Look around a little on here, there are so many discussions on oil it will make your head spin.

Castrol Syntec 5w30 is a great oil, I would go on-line and check the "dropping point" of the Castrol. The dropping point basiclly means when the temperature is too low for the oil to flow. I would think that the Yamalube 0w30 will perform better than the Castrol Syntec 5w30 in the cold.

You don't show where you are from so I don't know how cold it gets or maybe you store your sled in doors. But I would be a little concerned about inital start up. Even when you stop for lunch or whatever. Inital start up is the hardest on your engine. Yamalube has never let me down. I use it and I sell Castrol and Texaco Products for a living.

Also, that stuff about synthetics causing seals to swell and semi-syn's shrink them are a bit of an old wives tale. It's not like mixing orange juice and milk like everyone thought in the '80's.

 

[LazyBastard]

I would think that the Yamalube 0w30 will perform better than the Castrol Syntec 5w30 in the cold

Not necessarily.... At 0 deg F it will flow more easily, but that's as far as you can determine without testing it. Its possible, even likely, that the semi will become more viscous faster than the full as the temperatures drop BELOW 0 deg F.

 

[sleddheadd]

drg, basically it will do no harm to your motor by switching from full synthetic to semi or even to plain old oil! as long as you have lubrication you are good! now the difference in the protection you get will be far different from one to the other!
also as far as switching from 5W to 0W all that # does is measure the lubricants ability to pump 60,000 centipointe units with no yield stress at a certain temp. an example is 0W can pump 60,000centipointe units of oil at no yield stress at a tempurature of -40 degrees celcius. 5W works at-35 degrees and 10w works at -30 and so on in 5 point increments all the way up to 25w which is -15. basically the 0w yamalube will give you better cold weather starting on those really cold mornings.
synthetics will not cause your seals to shrink!!!! if anything they will help your seals last longer! your seals will shrink or go bad if they get dry or become bunked up with sludge and are no longer getting oil too them to help protect them. when people switch to synthetic, the synthetic will remove the sludge from the seals and thus reveal a small leak that was covered up before and now is open, this allows the oil to seap or run out and that is what has caused the myth about synthetics causing seals to go bad.
in other words......
you are not hurting your motor at all! Happy Trails!

 

[drg650]

Thanks everyone for your help.The info was great

 

[gsxr]

We have used 0w40 amsoil in these sleds since 2004 rx1.
No issues , no cold start problems , no engine failures ,

our group has gone over 70000 miles ,with only fun and satisfaction !

 

[rightarm]

I've used Yamalube on both my 03 RX1's for 4 years with no problems period.So why use anything else it's snowmobile specific and formulated for CW.

 

[Sled Dog]

Wasnt that long ago Yamaha and Harley Davidson was saying synthetic oil should not be used. Now that they are both selling synthetic that has all changed. Now whats with that? LOL

 

[rightarm]

I think Yamaha stated not to use synthetic on the 03 RX1 only.

 

[RTX Rox]

I would think that the Yamalube 0w30 will perform better than the Castrol Syntec 5w30 in the cold

Not necessarily.... At 0 deg F it will flow more easily, but that's as far as you can determine without testing it. Its possible, even likely, that the semi will become more viscous faster than the full as the temperatures drop BELOW 0 deg F.

I don't know how a 5w performs better than a 0w in the cold, even if it's a full syn against a semi. Doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. But there's definitly nothing at all wrong with running a full synthetic and Castrol for that matter.

 

[rightarm]

Non synthetic oils are refined and the molecular structure of this oil is scattered,Snythetic oil is chemically broken down(moleculare structure)then it is chemically put back so the moleculare stucture of the oil is now uniformed giving you the superior protection.Just my .02

 

[mach2]

yamaha are not an oil company, and they have to buy thier oil from a refinery and re-label it. and im pretty sure that refinery is castrol.

 

[LazyBastard]

I would think that the Yamalube 0w30 will perform better than the Castrol Syntec 5w30 in the cold

Not necessarily.... At 0 deg F it will flow more easily, but that's as far as you can determine without testing it. Its possible, even likely, that the semi will become more viscous faster than the full as the temperatures drop BELOW 0 deg F.

I don't know how a 5w performs better than a 0w in the cold, even if it's a full syn against a semi. Doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. But there's definitly nothing at all wrong with running a full synthetic and Castrol for that matter.

The specifications ?w? defines the viscosity at particular temperatures. When you go outside the specified range, its anyone's guess how the different oils will perform relative to each other.

Now the way you get multi-grade oils is by adding certain polymers to the oil. As it heats up, these polymers stretch out and tend to increase the viscosity. The second number, ie 30, means that at 100 deg C, this oil has the same viscosity that SAE30 has at the same temperature. The "W" value is a little different; a 0W oil is measured to be able to flow at a particular ease at a temperature of -30 deg F, a 5W oil flows equally well at -25 deg F -- ie its measuring the same flowability at 5 deg F decrements.

Now depending on the characteristics of the selected polymer and the base oil, how can you tell the viscosity of a 0W oil at -50 deg F? Or how about at -10 deg F? Both of those numbers are outside of the testing ranges! A 0W oil is tested at -30 deg F and 100 deg C ONLY. You take one particular 0W oil, and though it flows REAL well at -30, maybe it stops flowing altogether at -45. Some other oil, maybe a 10W is tested at -20F, but keeps flowing (albeit not quite as well) down as low as -80F -- this 10W might actually be BETTER at extreme low temperatures than that 0W! Or, it could be better at MODERATELY low temperatures than the 0W.

More importantly, the following quote from Wikipedia says it extremely well;

The real-world ability of an oil to crank in the cold is diminished soon after put into service

That means that 50 miles down the trail, your 0W might become 15W, whereas a superior 5W might hold closer to its specifications.

 

[RTX Rox]

yamaha are not an oil company, and they have to buy thier oil from a refinery and re-label it. and im pretty sure that refinery is castrol.

Apperently, Yamaha has switched suppliers for oil and dealers are having a hard time getting product. I think they were using Petro Canada before but I think they have switched to Castrol.