I love oil threads almost as much as tire threads, especially when they are hijacked buy the OP to go down the new road.
More seriously, I am loathe to disagree with Steve ... who is not only a Guzzi guru, but great friend who has helped and taught me and others so much about Moto Guzzis. But I had a bad experience with Liqui-Moly 10-60.
Two summers ago, while riding on a very hot day, I got stuck in festival traffic in Brevard, N/C. Yes, Brevard. Even small towns can have gridlock.
Anyway,I had put the L-M oil in question in my Norge just before leaving the top of Virginia for a back-roads run to Atlanta, so oil was fresh.
No problem for first few hundred miles. The secondary, tertiary, and occasional lesser roads 'tween home and Georgia are simply grand.
Then, in at the main intersection in downtown Brevard, while idling and reading the bumper stickers on the car in front of me, the
OIL "ALADDIN'S LAMP" got my immediate attention.
Bear in mind that my Norge was among that early group of imports that had bad oil pumps. Mine fractured and the engine seized, so, gangrenously sensitive to oil lights, I pulled to the side of the road and shut it down in an instant.
I sat there feeling very sorry for myself for a few minutes. Then, I tried a restart to see if the dreaded can reappeared. Nope. Thumbing the starter brought nothing but silence from the Norge. I suppose now without really knowing that the ECU recognized that the engine was too hot to run properly and "declined" a restart.
I decided to go to lunch and drown my sorrows with a Nehi Peach and a greasy burger.
On return to the Norge, Varoom, started. Sounded fine. Nevertheless, I loafed as well as I could the remaining miles to Atlanta without issues. As soon as I got there, I drained (the near-black, btw) L-M and put in Agip/ENI.
OK, yes, the above is anecdotal and one-off. But I can assure you that -- besides not letting my Guzzis idle over-long in stopped traffic (where I almost never am, anyway) -- I'll not use L-M again.
Yes, it says it's SL, which, as I understand it, includes the earlier, e.g., SG ratings, but I cannot recall or read on images and specs to see if it is full ester synthetic. But, I do know that since that day, only motorcycle-specific oil gets into my Guzzis.
Steve says dealers use it, and I don't doubt that for a minute. Wonder, however, if Piaggio says L-M is OK? I'm not going to ask, but it would be interesting to know.
That said, it may be that my Stornello -- which had its last service in Atlanta -- has L-M in it. No issues with it I know about in last 3K miles, but when I get back from Erie later this week, I'm putting Italian (OK, OK, likely Libyan
) oil in it just to make sure.
But, I also have done almost every oil change after first service in my moto-harem and have -- except for the L-M experience related above and dino oil in my EV -- ONLY put Agip/ENI or Motul in my Guzzis.
OK, apologies for the length of the above.
Best,
Bill
