Valve clearance: Molybdenum oil/engine oil??

[UK_Vstrom650]

I've been following the excellent guide for doing the valve clearances found here:
http://www.circlenz.co.nz/Library/category/tech-tips/Suzuki-v-strom-DL650-valve-check-and-adjustment

Whilst waiting for the new shims to arrive (came yesterday) I've been looking over the service manual which talks about using molybdenum oil on the camshaft journal holder which I understand is the same as assembly lube. I had been going to use engine oil, but should I be using molybdenum oil/assembly lube?

[porter]

I used the assembly lube on mine, cam caps and cams but mainly because once I'd the valve covers on I was going to do other jobs while the tank was off and with limited garage time it was two weeks before I got her fired up. I'd  say oil would be fine if your able to get the engine running the same day or next. Turn her over on the starter a few times without letting it fire up to pump the oil round.

[Mr Nick]

Be generous with oil over the assembly making sure it gets into all the lobes & shims and it should be fine: the engines are designed to retain enough oil in the cam area to lubricate them sufficiently on startup even when they've been sitting a while. Just be gentle & let the oil feed through: older bikes where the kill switch doesn't disable the starter are handy as you can crank to build pressure without it firing up. But that's progress for you...

[UK_Vstrom650]

 
I may order assembly lube as its unlikely I'll get it reassembled and started in one weekend 
It's also been sat since early March unused. (How do bikers cope over winter if they don't ride  )

[Brockett]

Don't know about others but I Youtube bike stuff till my eys go square and then go on a certain forum, see what clever folks are up to and write complete borrocks.

[Mr Nick]

Youtube is a minefield of information you have to traverse with care; often populated by those who shout loudest rather than know best.

[UK_Vstrom650]

I'm the same Brockett. I'd googled whether to use assembly lube or not, which brought up a load of results ranging from 'you must use it or your engine will go pop', to 'you don't need it at all' and even 'make your own by mixing moly grease with oil'...

What I do know however is that asking here gets you a good answer from knowledgeable folk 

As an aside, I don't happen to have any 4-stroke oil for the lobes and shims etc as it all went into an oil change just before lockdown and Eurocarparts aren't delivering it until Wednesday despite it being 'in stock at the local shop for immediate delivery' (they brought the brake cleaner yesterday). Anyway, what I do have is a lot of fork oil, and some 2-stroke oil* so in a moment of madness I googled 'can you use 2-stroke oil in a 4-stroke engine', thinking it's only a small amount, and most of the results talk about adding it to petrol to boost performance... (I'm waiting for the 4-stroke oil and assembly lube).

*the 2-stroke oil must be 13 years old as it's leftover from my days of riding a 50cc Peugeot Ludix Blaster. I must find some use for it (maybe a 2-stroke motorbike  )

[Mr Nick]

I've never considered using 2 stroke actually inside a 4 stroke engine I must admit: yeah, adding some R30 to the tank for the smell as been done back when I had some left over. I have to go out & have a look at what I have in the garage & see what I think. Gut feeling is to wait until you get the right stuff.

[Brockett]

So many Youtube experts are dangerous know nothing idiots and I wouldn't take any notice of most of the 'short cuts' and "do this trick that the bike industry don't want you to know" borrocks. Maybe you can use two stroke oil but there is a world of difference between "can" and "Should" and I would not put an oil/grease mix in an engine's oil ways in case it reduced or even blocked flow. I do what the book says. True story - I'm the idiot that asked another idiot how to best remove the stickers from a new bike. I was told "white spirit" will remove the glue. It did. However it left large white patches on the black plastic which it degraded beyond recovery and I had to fork out £90 to replace the part. 

[Mr Nick]

After extensive testing (all of 5 minutes), I think the answer is maybe for some, but not if I didn't absolutely have to.
I have 4 different 2 stroke oils in the garage just now and out of them all, Valvoline Durablend is the closest in look, smell & viscosity to the 10w30 I used as a benchmark, probably a little thicker.
Silkolene Super 2 injector, Castrol Actevo and Shell VSX just didn't feel comparable: they were noticeably thinner and didn't smell like oil at all. However, the Motul synthetic I use in the 990 smells even less like oil, so that's not a huge indicator.
Given there's no info about additives (other than Valvoline mentions a salt), I'd be wary of using something that's designed to be diluted & burnt.

[Mr Nick]

Youtube is all about monetising your content so make it as eye catching as possibly with flashy images and fanciful titles so you drag gullible people in. With 7 billion on the planet, you'll always find enough idiots to believe your story if you sound convincing enough - history shows many crackpots with disciples who blindly follow their teachings: today it's just a different form.
Did you sort out your banjo washers by the way?

[oslin]

I have rebuilt a lot of engines when I was a mechanic and I always used ordinary lub oil for the rebuild and never had a problem with any of them

[Brockett]

@Mr Nick. Yes I am a clot. The fluid was seeping from a not very tight bleed nipple and dribbling onto the banjo union which was not itself leaking.
But here's a funny thing. I did not then have to bleed the brake ( only the one caliper on thjis bike) I just filled the main reservoir  and kept pumping the brake lever. Tiny bubbles erupted at intervals and in no time the brake was good to go. An 80 mile run around the block this afternoon and all was well.

[Mr Nick]

Excellent news: not that you're a clot, but that it's fixed. Dripping fluid does tend to stop air getting in - it's when there's nothing to drip that it gets in. I've bled many a system by just opening the nipples & letting it run itself clear, just remembering to keep the fluid topped up. Doesn't work so well on modern cars & bikes with ABS pumps & the like that get in the way of gravity doing what it was invented for.
Anyhoo: I found a gallon of 75w140 hypoid gear oil in the shed - could I use that instead of assembly lube? Discuss...

[Pete O Tube]

I used clean engine oil and there no squealing cam bearings on start up.
I was happy doing this as I noticed, when Turing the engine over by hand, just how much oil is pushed up to the cam journals by the pump in less than one turn of the crankshaft.
Turn it over by hand or on the starter with the plugs out, refit plugs and start, and it'll be fine.