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I just got a (new) Yamaha 78 XS750SE, and it rides nice, but I am thinking I want to change the oil and fluids. I looked on the bike and it states to use SAE20W40 but I cant find that anywhere. I am wondering what to use for the oil, as well as the gear oils, I know how to check the levels and what not, but not too sure what to use. Any thoughts? Also, anything else that you can think of that should be checked and changed besides plugs and wires of course. Thanks in advance

XS750 is the three cylinder, right? Sweet bike.

I think you'd be fine with a 10w-40 motor oil. Slightly wider temp range than 20w-40. Beware of "energy saving" and "friction reducing" motor oils. They have slippery additives that will make your clutch slip. Just plain old multi-weight oil will do fine.

Not sure what you mean by "gear oils". The Yamaha engine shares the motor oil with the tranny. It's all the same stuff and goes in the same hole.

Additional things to check for are chain and sprocket wear (check your manual for specs.) and tire rot. The tread can still look fine, but time ages the rubber and makes it hard and slippery. If your sidewalls look like they have a lot of tiny hairline cracks, they are way past their prime and need replacing.

Thanks for the answer. It is a shaft drive, and the rear part has a place to add oil, and I assumed that it was different than the reg engine oil.

And it is a triple, Its fun to ride....

aschwartz wrote:Thanks for the answer. It is a shaft drive, and the rear part has a place to add oil, and I assumed that it was different than the reg engine oil.

And it is a triple, Its fun to ride....

You're right. I forgot about the shaft drive. There should be a plug on the rear housing for changing the final drive gear oil. You'll have to check the manual for the spec. It's been about 20 years since I worked on one, but I seem to remember that it called for 90 wt gear oil. Don't trust my dusty memory, though.

The shaft drive unit takes GL-4, GL-5 or GL-6. It's usually 80-90wt and also used in automotive rear end (differentials), transfer cases and some manual transmissions.