I know oils have been a much discussed issue, so apologies if this has been answered before. I have looked in the official Ducati workshop manual for my newly acquired 750F1. It states the engine oil should be Castrol GTX2 - turbo tested - SAE 20W/50 or equivalent. As its a 1986 engine I'm guessing this has long been out of production, and a google search reveals no useful information. It is clearly different from Castrol GTX, but does anybody know what it was? The current Castrol website reveals; Castrol recommends for your Ducati 750 (1985-2002) Power 1 Racing 4T 10W-40 Should I go for that, or a 20W/50 and if so what grade?
Would you be happy with 1986 tyres? Oils have come a long way in 30 years. I use 5W40 in my 1967 250 mk3.
I use Silkolene PRO 4 10W-40 XP in my 1982 Pantah 500. It is basically the same engine as your 750F1 which is much the same as all the other belt Ducatis right through the 90's. In fact, apart from the Panigale and V4, they still haven't changed much.
After going through the spec sheets on all of the top market oil brands, the brand I found to be the best available is Penrite, and this has been consistently the case since I began comparing. I've been using it in all my bikes for over 20 years and have never had an oil related problem. They have types and viscosities to suit all motorcycle applications. Bevel twins and singles no longer need a monograde oil, most of the top brands multigrades of the appropriate viscosity will be fine, but for me, Penrite is the best. For your 750 F1, a 10w40 will be fine, almost any oil produced now will be massively better than those produced in the 80's, so a 20w50 is not only unnecessary but actually worse than a modern 10W40 in it's ability to protect the engine.
There are plenty of excellent quality modern specification 20w50 oils on the market. Motul 7100 being one example or Rock Oil Trm which although 20w60 is specifically developed for air cooled v twins with roller bearing crankshafts. Whilst the F1 has plain bearing big ends, the design brief still seems relevant as the main bearings are rollers. Both are fully synthetic. Running a 40 weight oil in an air cooled engine with an uncertain cylinder head and piston crown temperature seems like a thoroughly bad idea, especially if the ambient temperature is high. The oil is both a lubricating and cooling medium and in those circumstances you'll want a more viscous oil. 15w50 is the only other option that perhaps has validity as an alternative. Stating that one brand is somehow better than another seems spurious. Everyone has their preferred option but that's all it is, just a preference. The viscosity index of an oil is a fairly reliable way of objectively assessing quality and refers to how long the oil stays in grade during use. A VI of 160-170 plus is a good start. The information is available on the technical data sheets on each manufacturer's website. However, the use of VI improvers can adversely affect these figures and give a false impression, so it's wise to be cautious and make a decision in the round.
I did say that I've gone through all the spec sheets to compare the brands and Penrite has better specs than all their main competitors. With some the advantage is relatively small but with some notable brands the superiority is marked.
Interesting thread. Rather than start a new one and hope you guys join in again, could I jump in here and ask what modern oil I should put in my 1981 MHR?
The link below to a previous forum consideration of options for oil might be of general interest: https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/wrong-oil-delivered.90791/ . Hope it helps. Tom.
Recommended is a momo grade 50 wt like morris https://www.morrislubricants.co.uk/...ils/golden-film-sae-50-classic-motor-oil.html
Hi Paul, I think the answer is “it depends” and the thing it depends on I think is far more important than which oil has the best specs, what the multigrade range is or the VI, or the additive package or any of the many things that cause people to choose one oil over another. To me, it depends on what the oil and rebuild history of the engine is. If it has low miles, been rebuilt fairly recently, with a full strip and thorough removal of old oil sludge from all oilways and drillings, I would choose a good name modern full synthetic with the right grade viscosity / heat range to suit the engine clearances. (I have my own “never had a problem mate” favourite, others have different ones) However, if the engine has some miles on it been run on old tech mineral oil, building oil sludge up over years, if I wanted to run it without a full strip and rebuild, I would run it on as close as I could to what it was run on in the past, and not switch to a modern oil. A modern oil in that case is likely to, over some time, dislodge those deposits, which could move to where they cause oil starvation in really inconvenient places, like big ends or mains. Jon
Well done Jon, you have said what i couldn't be bothered too The only thing i would add when starting with a clean engine remember these bevel engines are all ball race bearings. the point of the thin multigrades is A/ they are usually under pressure from the pump where a bevel engine is not and B/ they are designed for close tolerance shell and plain bearings. As for the detergents in modern oil actuating the sludge. Last 860 engine i stripped i found a set of piston rings in the sludge (in bits)...Somone must have pulled a head/barrel off and replaced the broken rings without recovering the old ones ...now thats why you dont want to activate the sludge
Ooo... a bevel engine oil thread dare I throw me oar in... I've been using a Motul 5100 10W50. Hopefully for 10 to assist cold starting and lessen the load on the sprag and for the 50 to assist the bearing(s) lubrication. One thing I can confirm is that it's excellent at finding it's way into the rear exhaust port...
