Originally Posted By: Bonz
Originally Posted By: MotoTribologist
Originally Posted By: troop
Yeah ... It's weird how the Rotella T6 syn and T4 dino are JASO MA rated, but the T5 syn blend is not? Mybe they just don't wanna pay cert fees? Hmmm..
They don't pay the fees for any of them.
I'd venture they've modified the formula of the T5 enough from the basic add-pack to have little confidence it would pass the clutch test.
It’s all about the $$ and how many folks would use it in a 3 qt wet clutch sump versus using gallons at a time in a diesel sump. We aren’t their market, and they know folks will use it anyway.
However, they haven’t modified a thing to where it won’t work in a wet cluttch. They are all just different ways to skin the same cat.
The UOA I did of T5 shows normal quantities of the same antiwear additives as all HDEO’s. Rotella doesn’t need to test it, common comparison says that it will work just fine. How many millions of miles did T4 have in wet clutches before it was certified?
Ran T5 15w40 in my modified ZRX1200 (145+ hp, 87 ft/lbs) and it 1) stayed in grade over a 4,000 mile OCI, 2) had the best wear numbers of any oil I have tested, 3) clutch is as tight at 55,000 miles as when it was stock and making much less power across the rev range and 4) shift quality remained high for the entire OCI.
T5 15w40, use it with confidence!
There are many friction modifiers that will not show up on a VOA or UAO. Anti-wear chemistry has little to do with clutch performance in most cases.
Also, it costs a whopping $400 to register a product with JASO and about $3000 to complete the testing at full commercial price from an outside lab (which they probably don't need to since I'm sure they have the equipment in their own labs). The money is not an issue here.
I don't personally know Shell's reasoning, but my guess is more about formula control. Once you register with JASO, you cannot make any formula adjustments aside from anti-foam and PPD content without re-registering the new formula. It becomes a hassle if you want to adjust the formula in any way and can be a bit of a handcuff in some cases.
As to why T5 differs from T4 or T6, I'd say that there is a friction modifier somewhere in the formula that they aren't confident wouldn't affect a clutch. They've already got T4 and T6 to cover the application, so there's no business case to give T5 a second thought with regards to bikes.
Oh, and in regard to how many miles T4 has before it was certified, I'd say infinite, because it has never been registered with JASO.