used motor oil for chain oiling

[veodoble]

oh, nevermind about dripping, my bike sleeps in the street, since my economy is not in good conditions and I can't afford a garage

so I park it along other bikes in a motorcycle-parking-lot

I'm longing to get the bits I need in order to start making my own oiler

homemade oilers are very common, as I see here and in other spanish sites for every kind of bike, most trail though.

some said using chainsaw oil, but I'll use what you say, gear oil.

thanks for your advise

[Tony M]

Hmmm . . .

I suspect part of the question is, what exactly is the oil going to DO once it gets onto the chain.

There's more than one issue floating about, I suspect:

a) Part of what's needed is to simply keep the O rings / X rings / whatever wet, to stop them deteriorating. Pretty much anything would do for that.

b) The point about high loads in the bearing surfaces is clearly a fair one, but I'm not convinced that, if the seals are still working, any of the oil applied will actually get past the seals and onto those surfaces. Of course, if the seals work and the inner surfaces are well lubed, that wouldn't matter anyway.

c) The oil needs to cover the chain, and, to an extent, stick to it, preventing it from rusting. A thin oil might flow and cover more easily, but a thicker one would probably stick better. However, if it does that really well, the cr*p sticks to the chain, so

d) It may not be a bad idea if some of the oil flies off, and takes the cr*p with it. Just so long as it doesn't cover the back wheel in oil, of course.

I don't have an answer. The oiler I'm trying is cheap and cheerful, and 20/50 engine oil can be adjusted to a drip per minute, which is their recommended starting point. That's what I'm using at the moment, 'cos I've got some that's been lurking in the garage for years. I'm pretty sure the oiler could be adjusted for thinner or thicker oil.

I thought I might try chain-saw chain oil, especially if I can find some cheaply. It isn't all that thick, but does seem to cover the links and stay on.

In the end, so long as it works for you, it's fine. I've seen quite a few discussions on this subject, and I don't think there's an agreed "best" answer.

Just my two penn'orth.

Cheers,

[Austin]

Both my scotoilers were filled with EP90 but it stinks. My garage stinks of EP90, when I 'm stopped at lights all I can smell is EP90. I said "were filled" not coz of the smell but coz in the very cold weather it seemed to just about stopped flowing - needed the oiler at prime to get a 45sec to 1 minute drip rate. Currently filled with a mix of scotoil and EP90 to get the flow better but will return to the cheap stuff when it warms up.

[GSPD750]

I've been using chainsaw bar oil in my Scottoiler. Make sure you buy the summer weight oil as opposed to winter...it's a bit thicker. It has no smell and fairly cheap to buy with lots of brands to choose from.

[stageonesimmo]

I'm with Austin - Mine is running a 50/50 mix of Scottoiler/EP80 - the bottle was getting low and I had some 80 left from a job on the disco so just chucked it in - best of both worlds - like a kind of multi-grade oiler oil.........

[cbrpaddy]

I've been using used engine oil with my scottoilers for er, fifteen years or so, and have had no issues. It does splatter a bit alright but that's it, longevity is excellent. 30k miles on a Blackbird and just changed the chain and sprockets on the AT at 34k miles, got it with 13k up and don't know if they were previously changed.

[Mervinh]

Saw chain oil designed for chains has to be good i reckon, and if you are worried about the environmental impact you can get biodegradable chain oil
all available from Opie oils on the discounts section of the forum £25 + carriage for 5 litres
Merv

[veodoble]

haha, Mervinh, I was reading your reply and then I saw "Harley Davidson The best way to convert petrol to noise without the horsepower", smart quote I've got to say!

Fine, you all have given good info and ideas, more than I'd ever expected!

As CBRpaddy, I would use used engine oil, but I'm concerned about the impact on environment (the main reason I sold my Dommie and bought the Transalp: oil burning ). Maybe I'd use it if while travelling I run out of normal chain oil.

Austin is right as well about smells, I've worked (in my early twenties) in some sort of racing formula car team, and whenever we had to change the gearbox sprockets to fit the best set of gears to the track, the whole box and everything that was in touch with that oil stinked, no matter how you washed it. But my bike sleeps in the street so problem solved.

Also temperature issues, Spain is not as cold as UK or Calgary (GSPD750 ) and flow-rate when it's cold shouldn't be a setback. On the contrary, heat IS an issue, imagine 40º Celsius air temperature, riding at 120 kph, you need something that doesn't fling off as it falls over the chain.

I think chainsaw oil, better if biodegradable since I'm concerned about environment, might fit my needs.

There's an acquaintance I know of that went from Madrid to Cape Town with a little modified XR600 that had the need to oil the chain and used kitchen oil, because there was nothing else to put there. He says that he just attached a 1 liter bottle full of cooking oil with a little hole in the bottom, with zip ties, to the chassis so gravity dropped oil over the chain.

[Mervinh]

Barcelona carriage maybe expensive but sign up and log in as an XRV member too see discount prices at http://www.opieoils.co.uk/default.aspx?
click on biodegradeable oils on the lower laft hand side of the page
tech info on oil here
http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/FUCHS...PLANTOTACN.pdf

merv