Which Oil do You use in your Vincent?

Shadowman

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VOC Member
I have used Duckhams 20/50 for years without a problem. Now I hear it is being discontinued.
What do you all recommend?
Regards to all.
Peter Sprot.
 

Comet Rider

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VOC Member
Personal Preference

:)
Hi Peter,

As much as anything it's down to personal preference. In both mine and dad's Comets we run semi synthetic 15-50 wt oil. I buy it in bulk from my local central heating oil supplier. It's made bny Q8, and retails for arround £40 for 25 litres.

We used to run Morris straight 40, but I found that I was getting excessive cam and follower wear, which was eventually traced to poor drillings in the rocker retaining bolts...

Neil
 

Tom Gaynor

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VOC Member
Oil in Vincents

I have just bought Shell Rimula 40X, apparently the successor to Rotella which I had previously used for no better reason than inheriting a 40 litre drum of it. What I believe is that with a very low flow (5 cc per stroke) a Vincent needs traditional oils, rich in carcinogenic and environmentally unfriendy additives, and oils designed for diesel engines meet the bill. They are inexpensive (Rimula is £27.40 + VAT for 20 litres) - and if push comes to shove can be bought in motorway filling stations. Try buying Castrol R in Shetland......
 

John Cone

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Tom, I have been using Shell Rimula in our trucks for over 20 yrs, when you read about the service intervals on modern diesel engines I wonder who is ripping who off. Shell garantee Rimula for 100.000 miles, so it's plenty good enough for my Prince.
John
 

Tom Gaynor

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Tom, I have been using Shell Rimula in our trucks for over 20 yrs, when you read about the service intervals on modern diesel engines I wonder who is ripping who off. Shell garantee Rimula for 100.000 miles, so it's plenty good enough for my Prince.
John/ thanks. Always nice to have a decision confirmed!
 

Tnecniv Edipar

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Non-VOC Member
Theoretically , a multi grade with a wide viscosity rating should be avoided in engines with roller bearing bottom ends. The reason being that it is generally viscosity improvers that are used in such oils to achieve their viscosity spread , but these are sheared down more quickly in roller bearing type motors so the oil reverts to it's base lower viscosity , so in the case of say a 15w50 , it would become a 15 grade oil !! Not good !! Thats why mono grades are advisable. Things are not quite that simple though , if the oil is changed quite frequently by modern standards , ie 1000 - 2000 miles , a high quality wide viscosity range oil will probably not shear down by any significant amount , and , they are preferable in the respect of better cold start protection due to their lower cold temp viscosity. One way to determine if a chosen lubricant is performing ok is to have an oil analysis performed on a small sample. The resulting report will indicate any problem issues , such as larger than acceptable metal deposits which can indicate bearing problems for example , fuel dilution , etc etc . This is a normal routine for commercials and plant engines where engines are very expensive to maintain and overhaul , so there are a number of labs providing this service at reasonable cost.
 

john998

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VOC Member
Oil

The Rapide has had Chatworth stright 40, since the last engine rebuild.
As the engine now has 50K under it's belt, I decided that a look under the timing cover would be a good idea. The cams, cam followers, and spindles look as good as ever.
The idear of saving money on oil and using multigrade has therfore been abandoned.
Perhaps the secret is to allow the motor to warm up at no more than 60'ish
for the first 10 miles.
John Stainton.
 

Tnecniv Edipar

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Non-VOC Member
For sure always good practice , especially as Vincents have such slow oil circulation and are consequently so slow to heat the oil to operating temp. I recall seeing a tech article that found if the space between the inner sides of the fuel tank and the UFM were blocked to prevent airflow that oil temp went up from 60 or 70 deg c , which is really too low for the oil to work properly , to 80 - 90 deg c which is much better.
 

harry

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Non-VOC Member
Like John Stainton i too use Chatsworth 40. I run the first 30-40 miles about 50-60. The engine feels really ready to go. I rebuilt my engine about 10 years back having covered 500,000 Miles. Iused Duckhams for most of that, as i did with all my past bikes. Rotella was another oil, used also on compressors, i used this on my A10 BSA. again without any problems. Harry McMaster.
 

glen

Active Forum User
VOC Member
oil change

how often is the recommended miles inbetween oil and filter chages on a twin?
 
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