Rotella 15W-40 CJ4 - 2724 Miles on 07 Goldwing

[TucsonDon]

Basic Information

Bike: 2007 Honda GL1800 Goldwing
Miles on unit: 6,386
Miles on oil: 2,724
Months on oil: 2 months (June and July)
Oil: Shell Rotella T 15W-40 CJ-4 Triple Protection
Filter: Honda OEM
Lab: Blackstone

Results

Aluminum: 6
Chromium: 0
Iron: 12
Copper: 20
Lead: 1
Tin: 0
Molybdenum: 17
Nickel: 0
Manganese: 0
Silver: 1
Titanium: 0
Potassium: 0
Boron: 20
Silicon: 8
Sodium: 3
Calcium: 2021
Magnesium: 16
Phosphorus: 868
Zinc: 1085
Barium: 1

Sus@210F (should be 68 - 78): 69.5
FlashInF (should be > 390): 390
Fuel% (should be < 2.0): trace
Antifreeze% (should be 0): 0
Water% (should be < 0.1): 0
Insolubles% (should be < 0.6): 0.2

TBN (started out ~10.1): 6.1

Questions

Q1 - Aside from copper, wear metals look pretty good, particularly for a new bike. Am I reading that correctly?

Q2 - Any idea about the copper? Blackstone comments say it's probably due to the relatively few miles on the bike and it's not a problem. Agree?

Q3 - Where in the world would that moly be coming from? Virgin oil supposedly has none. Residual from coating applied at factory?

Q4 - I'm curious about the phosphorus and zinc. If the VOA of this oil is to be believed, it started out ph=989 and zn=1208. Can anti-wear additives degrade over time?

Q5 - Blackstone reports "The viscosity of the sample read on the low side for a 15W/40 but it still read normally." How does that look to people -- low, average or high shearing for 2,724 miles in a shared sump Goldwing?

Q6 - With a TBN of 6.1, the wear metals relatively low and the viscosity still holding at (low) 15W-40 ... what's the consensus on how far this oil could have been taken?

Q7 - Any comments or feedback?

 

[Titan]

I like Rotella for it's price. It did not hold it's viscosity well in my shared-sump bikes, so, instead of having to change it so often, I changed to a different oil. As long as you are willing to change it fairly often (which IS a good strategy, if you don't mind it), I think it performed well. Moly: Factory assembly. Copper: newer bike. Phos and Zinc: The important question is not how much these dropped, but, what is an appropriate level of each. I think these are appropriate levels. Good report overall, don't you think?

 

[TucsonDon]

In general I'm well pleased with the report. I had no expectation of Rotella 15W-40 being some kind of miraculous "super oil" ... my view was -- and is now more or less confirmed -- that Rotella 15W-40 Triple Protection is a pretty darn good $9/gallon oil for 3K OCIs.

 

[SLM]

17 ppm of moly isn't much. Looks okay, maybe rotella is not quite as good as it was back in the CI-4 days. For $9 a gallon its hard to say no. Remember when it was $4?

 

[Titan]

Quote:

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In general I'm well pleased with the report. I had no expectation of Rotella 15W-40 being some kind of miraculous "super oil" ... my view was -- and is now more or less confirmed -- that Rotella 15W-40 Triple Protection is a pretty darn good $9/gallon oil for 3K OCIs.

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100% agree! In fact, with a shared sump system, 3K OCI's with Rotella might be so good, you couldn't do better from an overall economic standpoint. Ride on, brother!

 

[TucsonDon]

Question -- the Goldwing is a water cooled bike. Could the outside temperatures of Tucson in June and July -- 95 to 110 degrees -- have contributed to the viscosity loss? Or is outside heat somewhat of a non-issue in water cooled bikes?

 

[Titan]

My GUESS would be that if your cooling system is operating correctly, it's a non-issue.

 

[KW]

The oil looks like it held up well.

 

[CaspianM]

I don't think these water cooled bikes have T'stat so air temp is a player as the operating temp factor to a point where the fan kicks in and that is mostly with slow moving bikes such as in traffic.

 

[craigq]

I checked Ron Ayers and the 1800cc Goldwings have a thermostat and controlled fans. Heck, my low-budget low-tech 2007 Honda CBR125R has a thermostat and a thermostatically controlled cooling fan

 

[CaspianM]

I never opened it up for a look.
Due to so much coolant temp variations, I felt for all practical reasons the coolant temp is not conrolled like cars at a single temp like 188F plus minus.
All fans ae conrolled by a temp sensor in the radiator not really T'stat but they say it is tstkly controlled.

 

[Propflux01]

That shared sump is what killed thie vis, not the cooling..

 

[kballowe]

Well this is good news. I own an '07 Gold Wing and it has its' first 10,000+ miles on Rotella 15W-40 with 2.5k OCI. Just switched to Rotella 5W-40. I was thinking 4K OCI with the 5W-40.

BTW, the manual calls out 10W-30. Is this an EPA thing? Or would the 10W-30 be better in some way? It's not an issue at present - try finding a 10W-30 without that little "Energy Conserving" statement on it..... I COULD buy the Genuine Honda 10W-30. Not.

 

[TucsonDon]

Quote:

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BTW, the manual calls out 10W-30. Is this an EPA thing? Or would the 10W-30 be better in some way? It's not an issue at present - try finding a 10W-30 without that little "Energy Conserving" statement on it..... I COULD buy the Genuine Honda 10W-30. Not.

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It must be an EPA thing, or a fuel efficiency thing or something. I think using a 10W-40 is absolutely fine. In fact, the owners manual allows for 10W-40 at higher temperatures. But the truth is, the 2007 Goldwing engine is probably no different from the '05 engine, and that called for a 10W-40.

 

[kballowe]

Quote:

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Quote:

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BTW, the manual calls out 10W-30. Is this an EPA thing? Or would the 10W-30 be better in some way? It's not an issue at present - try finding a 10W-30 without that little "Energy Conserving" statement on it..... I COULD buy the Genuine Honda 10W-30. Not.

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It must be an EPA thing, or a fuel efficiency thing or something. I think using a 10W-40 is absolutely fine. In fact, the owners manual allows for 10W-40 at higher temperatures. But the truth is, the 2007 Goldwing engine is probably no different from the '05 engine, and that called for a 10W-40.

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Yeah, that's what I figured.

I've been a lurker here for about two years - this is only my second post. Been running Rotella T Synthetic 5W-40 in all my water-cooled bikes. Before that, I just used the 15W-40 w/2.5K OCI. Too bad they don't make a 20W-50 for my Harleys. Sent various samples in for analysis and it looks good. Ah, but I'm always searching for that ONE majic motor oil.

Thanks.