well in my sp 600 I have always ran polaris 0w-40 syn. oil in it...but it is time to swich for me I think... i have warped or damaged two valve covers on mine because I assume lack of oil pressure(lack of cooling in valve cover) to the valve cover at idle.. it gets about 5psi at idle, but that is at the oil filter, probably alot less psi at the valves...well thinking of switching to like a 10w-40 syn. oil from mobile one....what do u guys think??I need somthing thicker I think....

 

I use a synthetic 5W50 in mine

 

I run the 0w40 Amsoil in my HO and am very pleased with it. I wasn't impressed with the Polaris oil, when I dumped it at 60hrs it looked like dirty water. I see you live in Minnesota so if you use your bike in the winter a 0w or a 5W oil would be better for cold starts.......

 

Both oils are a 40wt oil at running temperature, so it won't make a difference which one you use. The 10W40 will provide less startup protection (not much) at cool temps. If you are getting hot enough to warp the valve cover then I would say you have some other problem in your cooling system. Thicker oils run hotter than thinner oils, so that isn't going to help you any either.

 

Is 5psi at idle normal? What do you get at higher rpm's?

 

well it gets about 25psi of oil pressure when running the machine. checked the oil temp today after some riding, it was at about 175 degrees F. when i was riding it in low for awhile to get the oil hot it got little to no oil pressure at idle, but this is a mechanical guage so it could be off alittle....

 

A mechanical guage is probably more accurate than an electronic one. I heard that these machines run very low oil pressure. Ask your dealer what is correct. Just because the pressure is low doesn't mean that it isn't getting a good flow of oil. Low pressure can also mean good flow.

 

I would be carefull with using the 10w-40 oil if you run in the winter. When it is cold, the oil won't flow fast enough at start up, and you can damage your engine. This is just what I heard.

I my manual for my 500, it says that there is a blind plug on the front left cyl head to test oil pressure. Yours may have something around there as well. With the engine at operating temperature there should be 20 psi (standard), 12 psi (minimum).

I am leaning towards what tmorris1 wrote about the cooling system.

 

is that 20psi at idle or 20psi at running rpm?? just wondering cuz mine gets 25psi running, thats not bad pressure, but the 3-5psi at idle and 175 degree oil temp is what makes me worry....shouldnt the oil pump keep the pressure up on this thing, i thought it was a pressurized system?

 

I have an oil pressure gauge on my scrammy. It is connected at that blind plug in the cylinder head where Krank mentioned. At idle, I am only pushing about 3 psi, but at when running at speed (around 300 rpm) It is up around 20-28psi. That is what my manual said too. Oh, I also run Amsoil 0W-40 and Mobil 1 0W-40 at times