If you have a look at motor oil labels, you will often find they have a Cx rating (which means "Compression engine" i.e. Diesel) and also a Sx rating (which means Spark Ignition engine, i.e. petrol)
The "x" is an Alpha characetr, so CF, SJ etc
"SA" being the oldest (long ago discontinued) and they are up to about SL by now.
As a rule of thumb, if you use a later version than is in the owners manual, it will be better and compatible.
I used to be interested when SJ and SL Fuel Conserving oils came out some few years back, and I asked the API. They have friction inhibitors which make them (probably) unsuitable for motorcycle engines with wet clutches. OOI, rather than buying expensive "motorcycle" oils most will be happy on SH grade (I had a GSX engine variant which though still manufactured was designed ?20 years? ago when oils were far inferior to what's on the market today.
The newer the engine design you have, the more likely it is to have been designed with modern oils in mind. Turbos are especially fussy due to very high speeds and temperatures and funny bearing materials and I used to use Mobil 1 in my Pimpmobile.
btw if you use a highly detergent oil in a neglected old engine whith a lot of sludge or hardened deposits, it will loosen them and they may circulate round and get into places where they do no good. This is also why you occasionally hear people saying things like "this new oil causes leaks"
