Will 10W50 oil be fine?

[khernik]

Hi, it's kind of hard to say which oil to use to be honest, with everyone saying something different. This is what and where I ride:

Bike: S1000XR 2016 (no warranty)
Location: Thailand

The manual says 5w40, and that's what the dealership recommended me, which is almost impossible to get here. Last time I used AMS oil, 10w40, which was pretty cheap at less than 10 pounds, this one here:

https://amsoil.eu/images/uploads/files/Entry_Level_Motorcycle_Oil.pdf

And has all the JASO MA/MA2 and API SJ, so should have been fine. I noticed that it was on the low level after a 2,000km long trip, maybe I checked it wrong though. Anyway, I changed it to 10w50 very recently, more expensive as well unfortunately at around 25 pounds per L:

https://www.wunderlich.de/shop/en/liqui-moly-engine-oil-racing-synth-4-t-10-w-50-24630-200-1.html

But apparently a bit better and W50 being better for hot ambient temperatures.

Having the bike without warranty Im kind of worried about the engine, cam tensioner issues, etc. Will I be fine running the bike on those oils? Does it actually matter much?

[smithy]

I use Penrite full synth 10W60 in my '17 model...have done since it was new....engine still looks new internally and no issues at all after 55k km.

TBH, it doesn't matter whether you use 5W40, 10W40, 10W50 or 10W60.. As long as you use a good quality oil...it will be fine.

Smithy.

[khernik]

Should be fine then, I was a bit worried I'll need to change it after spending 80£  thanks!

[Diavel]

If you listen to Smithy's advice you won't go wrong but nearly any oil you want is available on lazada.co.th which is where I bought my oil for onward delivery to Laos 😁

[Antares]

Originally Posted by khernik

Should be fine then, I was a bit worried I'll need to change it after spending 80£  thanks!

My recommendation is Shell Advance Ultra 10w40, basically the same stuff as BMW Advantec Ultimate (even the name is similar) which is not surprising considering BMW oil is made by shell for them using PurePlus tech that's also the same as the Shell own brand one. Only difference is Shell only comes in 10w40 not 5w40 and that it costs less than half what the BMW version does (£29 for 4 liters). I use this or Motul 7100 5w40 but really i notice no real difference between the 2, maybe the motul falls away a bit harder? They both always come out clean though and my XR's got almost 42k miles on it now.