The International CBX Owners Association

M 1st post after intro... I just changed my oil on 1981 CBX (24000 miles). I refilled with mobil 1 synthetic motorcycle oil 20 w 50. Now when i start bike starter turns a couple of revolutions and then goes brr..ing and continues brinngg. engine not able to turn over enough to start. I searched this forum for info on starter clutch and found reference to synthetic oil starter clutch issues. Is this oil type the cause or do these bikes have starter clutch issues? I will be draining and refilling with standard oil but still curious.

Yes, this often happens when changing to synthetic. Change back and you should be good.

Dave

While I have seen many reports of this, and I believe it happens, if you used 20W50 Mobil 1 Motorcycle oil, you used the wrong one. Read on the container. It says it is for V twins. The correct Mobil 1 is Mobil 1 Racing 4T. It is a 10W40 oil. I have used it in my CBX for 11 years without a problem. Maybe, in the future, with more miles, I might have a problem, but so far, none. I believe the additives in the two types of oil are different, and that may be causing your problem.

Just to clarify, my personal '79 does fine on synthetic but I have seen so many others that didn't-that's why I made the comment.

My story and I am sticking to it
I have been using Mobil 1 15w50 synthetic automotive oil that I purchase from Walmart in a 5 quart container for about $25.00. I have been using this oil in all my CBX's and many other motorcycles for the last fifteen years. That is both normally aspirated and a number of turbo's without incident. I have never had an oil related failure. Occasionally the Green Meanie starter clutch will skip a beat but it did that before I was using the synthetic in it. I am sure that others may have had issues but I have not and I have had many, many CBX's.
Best,
Phil