Who makes Honda GN4? I have no issues supporting my dealer, but in a case of emergency, what alternate can I run? Must be JASO MA/MA2 due to a wet clutch.
Honda GN4 questions?
- Thread starter WillB
- Start date
For motorcycles having a shared engine / transmission / wet clutch oil, there are several good choices. Sometimes "motorcycle" oil is just regular oil with a picture of a motorcycle on the label and a higher price. In the past, I ran Mobil 1 15w50 and Chevron Delo 15w40 both with good results. Both much less expensive than Honda GN4. Search and you'll find several other recommendations here.
I use to ride and read up on that oil some years back. I read somewhere Honda discovered during testing that typical automotive 10W30's shears too much and caused wear problems in the transmission. The HTHS in Honda's GN4 is higher unlike typical automotive 10W30 motor oil's.
So don't use a resource conserving 10W30 in your motorcycle.
So don't use a resource conserving 10W30 in your motorcycle.
Bud_One
Site Donor 2022
Rotella T4 15W-40 and Rotella T6 5W-40 both have Jaso MA ratings and are ok to use with wet clutch bikes.
Conventional 15w40 is good down to freezing and well below for start up. How cold is it going to be? 5w40 Rotella is going to shear down pretty quick to a 30w like has been reported here over a good number of posts over the years. Shift quality falls off pretty fast when that occurs as you probably know.
-30 to -40 is quite common for our winters. OCI are 1,000km/600 miles which I will be sticking too.
It's a Honda Rancher 420 Footshift.
Lol, my bad! Probably a good choice for that. Carry on.
I was told that Mobil made the GN-4 for Honda but that was a few
years ago. not unusual for a party to switch from one blender to another
for little or no reason. Formulas are changed or updated as needed
over time. It's decent oil in any case.
My 2¢
years ago. not unusual for a party to switch from one blender to another
for little or no reason. Formulas are changed or updated as needed
over time. It's decent oil in any case.
My 2¢
Might be worthwhile to mix the T6 5w40 with 15w40 to get a nice mid temp oil that won't shear as bad. I have been doing this with my atvs
Mobil very well may make it for Honda, however it's an additive package like nothing Mobil sells themselves and GN4 is a conventional oil not synthetic.
Thanks for the replies. Im'm sticking with Honda GN4.
Honda also makes a full synthetic oil in 10W-30. I used it for awhile in my 2014 Honda Rancher 420 automatic shift and it made shifts very smooth and my engine fan hardly ever kicked on but it's expensive and it did cause my engine to tick more loudly when running it. My dealer sells it cheaper than this Amazon link does. Amazon.com: Honda Pro HP4S Full Synthetic 4-Stroke Motor Oil 10W-30 32 oz.: Automotive
