Yamaha TRX850 Enthusiasts Forum

I'll start with an apology in case this topic has been done to death and I didn't find the thread.

Oil, what grade do people use, what spec (mineral, semi-synth or full synth) and how often do you change your oil?

I would be of the opinion that as the TRX has a dry clutch, you would use the most exotic full-synthetic oil you could find, but the chap I bought the bike from swore by cheap semi-synth oil and change the oil more regularly. I can see sense in both but just wondered what the common logic was. I'll be commuting approx 500 miles a week on mine so longer gaps between oil changes would suit!

Motul 5100 everytime for me.
Mine has a wet clutch! could be something wrong if yours is dry!

Silver wrote:Mine has a wet clutch! could be something wrong if yours is dry!

Where did I get that from then, I must figured Yamaha went the whole Ducati-hog... my bad, hopefully no-one will notice

What kind of intervals do you get between oil changes Silver?

mine is track only now, i changed it quite often before fitting race clutch, now once or twice a year. I would think on the road 3-4 thousand miles?
I used to get a bit of clutch slip and missed gears when it needed changing, it had a hard life (still does).
Next outing is bedford autodrome 3rd aug.

Spec is every 4000 miles (I think!) but I usually do mine at 3 to 3.5K. After 2K it starts drinking it anyway so the oil doesn't get too worn!

Straight forward Hein Gericke 10w40 semi synth here, which is Motul 5000 in a different bottle. The gear change is tolerable when the oil is new, quickly goes crunchy/clunky but no way would I pay out for four litres of 5100 every time. It's only a TDM motor

A good mineral or semi synthetic is fine. I prefer semi. It doesn't need to be fancy or exotic just a reputable oil that meets spec.
Frequency of change is much more important that a fancy label, especially at the rate that some TRX's drink the stuff.

TRX has a dry sump, not a dry clutch, and you need a decent oil.
I use Motul 5100.

ive been using Castrol diesel for around 40.000k and have had no problems
bike now has 135k on it, as for intervals,.......5k at least, but it uses a bit so always getting toped up with new

pom in nz wrote:ive been using Castrol diesel for around 40.000k and have had no problems
bike now has 135k on it, as for intervals,.......5k at least, but it uses a bit so always getting toped up with new

135k...

Is that common for these engines? Or are we talking Trigger's Broom?

Thanks for the input guys, I'll do an oil change in the near future then look at every 4,000 (miles) there after.

If you look after it, you'll get double that.
So many drink oil because they glaze the bores within the first 1/2 hr of riding them from new.
Over 1000,000km on my motor when I did my rebuild and serious upgrades and the bores where in excellent condition, plenty of hone marks still evident and using 500 to 1000ml of oil every 3-4,000km's and plenty of hard riding so a testament to Yamaha on the Trx motor.

Great to know its a long term keeper as she is definitely growing on me! Was thinking I would need to buy a long haul tourer to commute all year around. If the engine is half as good as every suggests I'll invest a bit in the old girl and get ready for winter.