Oil Change at 40K miles (6,000 between changes) didn't burn a drop!

[mrbios]

Made a video I was so impressed with this motor even though the original owner went some crazy amount of miles between oil changes turning the engine brown inside still doesn't burn or leak any oil.

I use Walmart SuperTECH 10w30 100% synthetic and ST6607 car oil filter (for the Honda Fit) which this motor is supposedly derived from.

Does Car oil cause the Clutch to Slip?: Except for special situations in general I don't think synthetic or "car" oil causes clutch problems. Since my first motorcycle in the 80's I've hear things like "don't use Castro brand oil". I intentionally used it a bunch of times and never had a clutch problem. My NC's clutch was about 75% worn @ 33K miles when I got the bike in 2019. After using the SuperTECH 10w30 oil for 6,000 miles nothing has worn so I'm not worried about wearing out the clutch.

 

[MZ5]

Thanks for making the video. I don't think the NCX engine is derived from the Fit engine in any known way.

Also, it'll be interesting to see how that oil works for your clutch long-term. Does it meet the motorcycle's specification for JASO MA rated oil? Most (nearly all) 10W30 passenger car engine oil with the API Starburst symbol on the front does not meet JASO MA spec. Even much (most all; all?) of the diesel or 'all-fleet' 10W30 these days does not meet that spec. If your oil does not meet that spec, expect shortened clutch life, and _maybe_ discernible slipping.

I can't quantify for you how much of a reduction in clutch life you should expect, since I don't know how that particular oil performs in the friction tests in JASO MA.

 

[Janus]

The joke was that the NC engine is half of a Honda Jazz engine. They are similar but slightly different configurations.

I personally use a Mobil 1, the M1-110 or M1-MC 134 depending on how well I'm planning. I used the CalSci cross reference to decide what to use
https://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/FilterXRef.html our bikes are in section [5]

 

[670cc]

Sometime last year I realized I had failed to check oil levels on any motorcycle for a very long time. I guess I got so accustomed to the lack of oil consumption on modern engines, I just never bothered to check them anymore. I need to get back in the habit of checking oil levels in the latter part of their change intervals, just to be safe.

 

[670cc]

Made a video I was so impressed with this motor even though the original owner went some crazy amount of miles between oil changes turning the engine brown inside still doesn't burn or leak any oil.

I use Walmart SuperTECH 10w30 100% synthetic and ST6607 car oil filter (for the Honda Fit) which this motor is supposedly derived from.

The Fit (Jazz) and the NC700X were both built by Honda, but that is about the only commonality. Besides a coincidental bore and stroke number shared with only one of several Jazz engines, that‘s about the extent of the connection between the two.

Edit: I have since learned that there are a few common parts shared by the engines, but nowhere close to “half”.

 

[Raylongbowman]

Made a video I was so impressed with this motor even though the original owner went some crazy amount of miles between oil changes turning the engine brown inside still doesn't burn or leak any oil.

I use Walmart SuperTECH 10w30 100% synthetic and ST6607 car oil filter (for the Honda Fit) which this motor is supposedly derived from.

Does Car oil cause the Clutch to Slip?: Except for special situations in general I don't think synthetic or "car" oil causes clutch problems. Since my first motorcycle in the 80's I've hear things like "don't use Castro brand oil". I intentionally used it a bunch of times and never had a clutch problem. My NC's clutch was about 75% worn @ 33K miles when I got the bike in 2019. After using the SuperTECH 10w30 oil for 6,000 miles nothing has worn so I'm not worried about wearing out the clutch.

Nice video, that bike is in better hands now!
I used shell diesel oil in a shadow for about 2k miles before I sold it and it had a tiny bit of slip if I rolled the throttle hard.
I almost never rolled the throttle hard so it was fine on that motorcycle but I do like to punch it a little on my nc700x, it's got quite some pep to it(compared to the shadow).
.
Have you rolled the throttle hard on your nc700x at a green light without any slippage?

 

[TNHoosier]

At the risk of starting an oil thread.....

I have used Shell Rotella oil in many bikes for the last 20 years. Some rated @ 145 hp. Never experienced any clutch slip on any motorcycle. And yes, I can have a heavy wrist from a start. There may be speed limits, but I have not seen a posted acceleration limit.

 

[dduelin]

At the risk of starting an oil thread.....

I have used Shell Rotella oil in many bikes for the last 20 years. Some rated @ 145 hp. Never experienced any clutch slip on any motorcycle. And yes, I can have a heavy wrist from a start. There may be speed limits, but I have not seen a posted acceleration limit.

Rosella 5w40 or 15w40 diesel oil has never been tagged as Resource Conserving which is the reason behind the warnings not to use car oils in motorcycles. In order to get the Resource Conserving certification the oil has friction modifiers in the additive package that can cause oil bathed clutches to slip.

 

[mrbios]

Nice video, that bike is in better hands now!
I used shell diesel oil in a shadow for about 2k miles before I sold it and it had a tiny bit of slip if I rolled the throttle hard.
I almost never rolled the throttle hard so it was fine on that motorcycle but I do like to punch it a little on my nc700x, it's got quite some pep to it(compared to the shadow).
.
Have you rolled the throttle hard on your nc700x at a green light without any slippage?

Yes. Most of the time I drive it very smoothly but on group rides there's always a few with a "race on the streets not the track" reverse mentality. Also, for the first 6 months or so I a lot of full throttle takes-offs bouncing the rev limiter. I live at the bottom of an extremely 'California steep' road that wouldn't meet code and there is no slip and that is with a clutch which is probably 60%+ worn due to previous owner. Zero fear of oil types and brands even with fuel-saving additives.

 

[670cc]

I wanted to thank you all for contributing to this thread. Yes, service intervals are short and yes, they do help with dealer profits considerably. Does the oil ever truly burn or degrade in these intervals? In many circumstances, no. Or, barely, or not noticeably. My dealer head mechanic says for best results, natural oil only for wet clutches. Castrol GTX. It is just another opinion.

If you forget to change the oil for a while, say, 8,000 miles, should you panic? No, not really. Don't go crazy dumping kerosene into your motor in an attempt to flush out the goop. Much of the time, you can clean your motor out with two or three short interval oil changes.

Much of the time, oil degradation is about heat and friction and much of that comes from scorching Texas heat... I am not leaving out Arizona! Yes, you have us beat for the heat.... or New Mexico with your ever shifting weather... If you are a commuter and do not sit in traffic for hours, you are probably not going to have to worry at all. It is all so circumstantial. We can bounce this around in another thread for weeks and people will argue in circles.

What is good to know is that you can get away with stretching that oil change, no matter where you live. Woohoo!

Another cool Honda factoid is that some newer small motors are slices of larger ones.

And, if you watch asian programming the way I do, larger scooter multi piston engines are actually several single piston motors, carefully sliced and assembled into two, three, and four piston motors. Wow. They can do that in A 3rd world country machine shop!?!?! So, it goes both ways when it comes to engine design.

I always run to 8000 miles on the oil, and not at all because I forgot anything. 8000 miles is the Honda recommended change interval. I don’t say that to start an oil thread, I’m just repeating what is in the owner’s manual.

 

[brb]

My 2cts on oil, Diesel grade(I used 15W-40 in my Autos for years) has a high film strength to protect the bearings(plain) from the high loads that they see. If you use a non diesel grade in your diesel you WILL have bearing failure. Motorcycle engines have plain and roller bearings along with gears that will sheer the molecules(cutting) that is why the recommended is a JASO spec. All oils are friction modifiers but in some cases a additional friction modifier is needed. Any one who has a Posi diff in their old Muscle car(we are talking clutch packs not Detroit Lockers) should already know about this but what a lot of the automatic trans experts have known for years is that little bottle of "friction modifier" for the rear diff works great in the automatic transmission(also known as a anti-shudder additive). These all have one thing in common the use of a WET clutch. A wet clutch will "slip" as the oil is displaced between the discs and plates when it is more slipping than easing the engagement it is time for replacement. Honda has used there special additive package to their oils for years along with many other MFGs . With all the new engine controls being used today( cam timing comes to mind not to mention the NC700XD) to ignore what a MFG has designed and proven because we can save a few bucks well that is what my brother has always said "you must be a gambling man". Yes the maintenance is 8K and 10W-30 GN4 recommended but i choose to change every winter break,4.5~5k with the updated Honda synthetic.