Oil for a Thumper???

[RWEST]

Quote:
I think I will change to Rotella 5w40 synthetic in both bikes in the near future, as I am moving to Rotella Synthetic in my Strom and it is much more convenient to run the same oil in all three bikes.

I thought you tried Rotella T Synthetic 5w40 already, John? I know my Strom didn't like it near as much as either the ACTevo 10-40, or the current Mobil 1 10w40. With the RTS, the shifting definitely felt 'notchier' - I changed it back to ACTevo at less than 500 miles.

 

[gmh101357]

I had a 87 Honda XL 600 and a 79 XT 500 Yamaha
I used Golden Spectro 20w 50 year round and never had any problems. WAAAAYYYYY back then I might have used the Yamalube 20w 40? to long ago to remember.

 

[areyou4real]

Why not use Rotella 15w40 (or Delvac 15w40) in all of them? It's cheaper and a 15W is ok for startups down to 40F at least. Also, multiple used oil analysis on here show that the 15W Rotella shears less compared to the 5W Rotella and protects just as well or better.

I had an SV650 (essentially same motor as the Strom) that I used it in (sold it this Spring) and I currently use it in my DRZ400E that sees mostly dirt. All used oil analysis have come back excellent for 1000 mi OCI on the DRZ and 3000 mi OCI on the SV.

FYI: I initally started with MX4T 10W-40, but all of my research on here indicated that a 15w40 HDEO would be just as good and cost less. I saw no increase in wear metals or shearing with the switch to 15w40 Rotella. Also, the 475F flashpoint for the 5W-40 is wrong - it's 435F. The PDSs do show a 20C flashpoint difference between them, but in practice most used oil analysis show them to be within 10C of each other.

5W-40: http://www.shellusserver.com/products/pdf/RotellaTSynthetic.pdf
15W-40: http://www.shellusserver.com/products/pdf/RotellaT(CJ-4).pdf