Nope, I've tried them all. T4, T5, T6, and numerous other brands of HDEO oils.
I do use T4 in the Diesel Dually. It would be great if a cheap, and readily available HDEO worked to my satisfaction in the sportbikes.
Is Rotella 15w-40 still ok for motorcycles?
- Thread starter Fordiesel69
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Nope, I've tried them all. T4, T5, T6, and numerous other brands of HDEO oils.
I do use T4 in the Diesel Dually. It would be great if a cheap, and readily available HDEO worked to my satisfaction in the sportbikes.
Years ago, early 2000's, on the GoldWing Rider's board the question of using HDEO in our Wings was being debated regularly. It so happened that a member was a Shell employee in the correct department to answer the concerns. At the time, 15-40 was NOT labled as JASO. He reported that the JASO specs were old and way below the then current qualities for the application of the HDEOs then available. He said he would look into getting 15-40 and maybe 5-40 so labled. By golly, he did; that was when the JASO MA or such was printed onto the bottles, no change in the oil, just listing spec that was so easily exceeded per his explanation. I would not pay them a fee either. HDEOs have changed due to EPA foolishment. If concerned about that, I can not help.
I will always pay attention to certs and approvals... but my 'butt' is the ultimate test. I just had my WR450 in to the dealer for a full 'tune-up' and they replaced the oil and oil filter against my approval. (yeah, they backed out the charge).... but they put in a 'top quality' ($15 a quart) 10w40 and the bike ran like pure Angus Cow Poooo Poooo... it was rough and horrible and shifted rough, despite it being a top shelf motorcycle oil. I promptly dumped and quickly realized the PURE, silk performance of T6 15w40.
and yes ladies and gentleman thats the real butt test....there are a few that you can tell the instant the motor fires and the clutch is pulled in.
NOPE!
NOPE!
I did not have good luck with Rotella T6 in my Victory. I saw shift degradation in less than 1500 miles into a 1700+ mile road trip. Granted I was riding hard and in high heat, but I have never seen an oil degrade that noticeably in that short of a time. Also note that its an 865lb bike, 300lbs of rider/gear, shared sump and over 100lbft of torque so a lighter bike with less torque would likely hold up better. When I drained it I was surprised to see how much foam there was on the surface in the oil drain pan, a clear indication that the oil was toast in my eyes besides the observed shift feel. It was the first time I used T6 and the last time I'll use Rotella in a bike, it left that bad of an impression on me. Since then I have been running M1 20w50 V-Twin, it is not blessed by the JASO gods which I questioned, but found that the reasoning was due to some of the additives that exceed JASO levels and not due to the MA2 friction ratings. So far the M1 20w50 has been great and I will likely continue to use it, though I am curious to try Schaeffers 20w50 motorcycle oil since it is cheaper and I have had good luck with many of their other products.
I'm not trying to completely bash Rotella, it just didn't work for me. In fact many Victory riders swear by it. But I will say there is also a large part of the community that also swears that full synthetic oil makes the clutch slip which is complete bs imo as long as it's a motorcycle oil. But I also believe that many don't monitor their clutch adjustment like they should and switching oil brands (no matter the base chemistry) has an effect on clutch performance, too many factors that can play a role there.
Victory XC notchy shifting
Went on a road trip last week from Iowa to Colorado and it was insanely hot! Bike is a 2012 Victory Cross Country. Anyways, I noticed about halfway through the trip (1750 mi in 4 days) that my shifting became very notchy feeling, especially on down shifts. This was the first time I had used...
bobistheoilguy.com
I'm not trying to completely bash Rotella, it just didn't work for me. In fact many Victory riders swear by it. But I will say there is also a large part of the community that also swears that full synthetic oil makes the clutch slip which is complete bs imo as long as it's a motorcycle oil. But I also believe that many don't monitor their clutch adjustment like they should and switching oil brands (no matter the base chemistry) has an effect on clutch performance, too many factors that can play a role there.
Which ones do you prefer?
I just put Valvoline Synthetic 10w40 Motorcycle oil in a friend's Yamaha ATV he had me service and it does shift better than whatever was in it.
I tried t6 5w40 in multiple bikes and didn’t like the shift quality after 4000km.
I use t5 10w30 as transmission oil in my vintage 2 stroke road motorcycles and the shift quality is better than t6 5w40. I replace the oil every 1600km so cheap oil is a must.
I would believe that most 10w40 and 15w40 are better that t6 5w40 in motorcycle applications, unless you ride in freezing conditions.
I use t5 10w30 as transmission oil in my vintage 2 stroke road motorcycles and the shift quality is better than t6 5w40. I replace the oil every 1600km so cheap oil is a must.
I would believe that most 10w40 and 15w40 are better that t6 5w40 in motorcycle applications, unless you ride in freezing conditions.
How many people here have tried the 15w40 T6? I think it's relatively new.
Its a few years old, its fine. I dont notice any difference between T4 or T6 in any flavors. I exclusively use T4 15w-40.
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