What is energy conserving oil?

[AbsoluteZero]

Hey all,
I know this doesnt have much to do with bikes but it could relate to my TTR as well. I was at walmart looking at oils for my car (old 1990 uses dino oil) and the ones that are advertised as *high milage oil* do not have "energy conserving" listed in the little api circle thing. Alot of the others DO have it listed though. Im wondering, what is the differance? Is there some kind of additive in the non-energy conserving oil?

As far as my TTR125, I know to use nothing but Mobil1 Red Cap. If I dont it will affect the clutch or something. But either way, can anyone help me out on this? looking for a good dino oil for my car.

[04whyzee]

Actually it's the other way around. There are extra additives in the Energy Conserving oil that makes it "Extra slippery" which could "in theory" cause the clutch on a motorcycle to fail b/c there simply isn't enough friction. I have just switched my bike over to straight 30WT Shell Rotella as it's an ultra cheap but high quality oil that is not energy conserving.

And to answer your question if your old 1990 has high miles then I would recommend good old Mobil TriSynthetic Blend. That's what we run in my brother's 1991 Honda Civic. That little squirell under the hood is still running strong even though my uncle changed the oil maybe 4 times in the 80k miles that he owned. it!

[Racer#857]

i'm using valvoline max life oil now. I looked at that mobil-1 red cap 15w-50 stuff, but it says fully synthetic, and don't want that bc the clutch will slip and burn.

energy conservative oil reduces friction.

[04whyzee]

Fully Synthetic is perfectly alright to run in your motorcycle's gearbox. As long as the bottle does not have the "Energy Conserving" printed on it anywhere then it does not contain the extra additives that can cause the clutch to slip.