San Diego Scooter Repair
619-581-3755
619-581-3755
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San Diego Scooter Repair is an Amsoil Independent Dealer.
This page is dedicated to explaining what Amsoil is and how it benefits you. You will seldom find such tangible proof of how high quality synthetic oil can save you money and the life of your engine. Amsoil is the first company to introduce true synthetic oils to the general population of America back in 1972. The creator of Amsoil was a retired Air Force veteran who took part in the creation of synthetic oil needed for Ram Jet supersonic jet engines that flew to the outer reaches of our atmosphere. This insider knowledge gave him the inside track to create his own very high quality synthetic oil and make it available to the public. True synthetic oil is different from petroleum oil in that every single molecule is exactly round and exactly the same as every other. Highly refined petroleum oils like Mobile 1 are not true synthetic oils and do not provide the same protection as Amsoil. A simple analogy for synthetic versus petroleum oils would be: Imagine having a clean concrete floor and you needed to slide a 4x8 sheet of plywood flat across the floor. This would be kind of difficult with nothing in between. Now imagine having gravel in between the wood and the floor. You could now slide the wood easier but your scraping things up a bit. Now imagine having hundreds of the exact same size marbles in between the wood and floor. You guessed it, the gravel is petroleum oil and the marbles would be synthetic.
How does all this relate to your scooter? I will use the standard GY6 150cc engine as an example. This engine is the most popular scooter engine and was the most sold engine of any type in the world last year. The GY6 relies on forced air cooling to remain within operating temperature. It does this through means of a fan, shrouds to direct the air, cylinder cooling fins, and most importantly, oil. The GY6 holds 750 ml of oil which is about .8 quarts. This is the same amount as its little brother, the GY6 50cc engine. This low oil capacity is more appropriate for the 50cc version as its small displacement generates less heat. The 150cc generates nearly 7 more horsepower which directly translates into more heat that must be removed. The engine oil not only reduces friction from between the moving parts but it MUST withstand the heat, absorb the heat, and convect it so it can be dissipated through the cooling fins. The GY6 150cc is a fragile environment when it comes to this process. Using low quality oil such as standard car oil (designed for water cooled engines) will begin to break down from the heat. Once broken down, the oil loses its viscosity and lubricating qualities. This exponentially gets worse as the broken down oil gets burned off into vapor, thus reducing the amount of oil left. The photo below is of a GY6 150cc engine that only had 906 miles and has suffered from what I have just described. Note whats left of the oil (sludge) staining the inside of the engine permanently.The engine should look like bare clean metal like the outside. This particular engine required a top end rebuild as the piston and rings had severely scuffed the cylinder walls causing a loss in compression. From the outside the scooter and engine looked new, because it basically was.
How does all this relate to your scooter? I will use the standard GY6 150cc engine as an example. This engine is the most popular scooter engine and was the most sold engine of any type in the world last year. The GY6 relies on forced air cooling to remain within operating temperature. It does this through means of a fan, shrouds to direct the air, cylinder cooling fins, and most importantly, oil. The GY6 holds 750 ml of oil which is about .8 quarts. This is the same amount as its little brother, the GY6 50cc engine. This low oil capacity is more appropriate for the 50cc version as its small displacement generates less heat. The 150cc generates nearly 7 more horsepower which directly translates into more heat that must be removed. The engine oil not only reduces friction from between the moving parts but it MUST withstand the heat, absorb the heat, and convect it so it can be dissipated through the cooling fins. The GY6 150cc is a fragile environment when it comes to this process. Using low quality oil such as standard car oil (designed for water cooled engines) will begin to break down from the heat. Once broken down, the oil loses its viscosity and lubricating qualities. This exponentially gets worse as the broken down oil gets burned off into vapor, thus reducing the amount of oil left. The photo below is of a GY6 150cc engine that only had 906 miles and has suffered from what I have just described. Note whats left of the oil (sludge) staining the inside of the engine permanently.The engine should look like bare clean metal like the outside. This particular engine required a top end rebuild as the piston and rings had severely scuffed the cylinder walls causing a loss in compression. From the outside the scooter and engine looked new, because it basically was.
Attention all Chinese scooter owners: you must drain out and replace the low quality
oil that comes in your scooter almost immediately or this could be you.
It does not take long for partial or complete engine failure if you don't take preventive maintenance seriously.
Note the upper portion of the valve cover seal. It is now brittle with a plastic like texture, and is slightly melted due to being run hot from oil failure. If you have a GY6 engine in your scooter and it is leaking oil, there is a very high likelihood it was caused by overheating- caused by low oil, low quality oil, infrequent drain intervals, or a combination there of.