Rotella cured my Honda 400X

[Funster226]

Another vote for the Rotella t6 5-40.

I bought a used Honda foreman 450 ES that had just been dealer serviced so, of course, it had the Honda brand juice in it.

Like you said, it was ok at first, but then the shifting became gradually more clunky. I had more valvetrain noise hot than I would have liked as well.

I ran some Mobil 1 15-50 since I had it on the shelf and had good results with it in my Honda 919. It was fine until winter set in and the shifting seemed sluggish so I switched to the Rotella. Even on the coldest days it now shifts immediately but with no clunk, and the valvetrain is dead silent.

I like it so well I'm going to put it in the 919 this summer.

 

[JetStar]

Just curious if you are still running stock jetting which is lean and will make it run HOT. I assume you are talking about the air/oil cooled 400EX? I used to have a 2002.

 

[04SE]

Originally Posted By: JetStar
Just curious if you are still running stock jetting which is lean and will make it run HOT. I assume you are talking about the air/oil cooled 400EX? I used to have a 2002.


If you are talking to me I have a 40 pilot and 162 main. I have a Lexx MXe exhaust and four 1/2" holes in my airbox lid. My sparkplug is a nice golden brown. I am debating on adding a stage 1 hotcam and FMF header this summer.

 

[JetStar]

Originally Posted By: 04SE
Originally Posted By: JetStar
Just curious if you are still running stock jetting which is lean and will make it run HOT. I assume you are talking about the air/oil cooled 400EX? I used to have a 2002.


If you are talking to me I have a 40 pilot and 162 main. I have a Lexx MXe exhaust and four 1/2" holes in my airbox lid. My sparkplug is a nice golden brown. I am debating on adding a stage 1 hotcam and FMF header this summer.


Good to hear you have it opened up. When new, mine was so lean at idle the header would glow at night. After a Dynojet kit and a slip on, it was a completely different machine, and it ran cooler too. Made the mistake of running a K&N filter back then and injested some dust in the top end over time. Did an overbore with a new piston. Also had to install a new head due to a crack in the cam chain tunnel which was weird. Use a good oiled foam filter. If you tear into the cam job yourself, get a good torque wrench, especially for the 6mm cam cover bolts, there is a bunch of them and have seen several people strip them. The cam cover uses an aluminum shim gasket that costs around $30.00. Use a new one, it's critical since the rockers ride on shafts in the cover and effects the valve lash. I actally saw a guy who left the gasket out and used RTV in its place and wondered why it wouldn't run afterwards. the valves were being held open.
Other than the weird cracket head, the quad was bullet proof. My only regret was that I didn't know about Rotella back then.
Sorry about the long winded disertation.

 

[subiedriver]

I've got an '07 Yamaha Grizzly 450 with 6150 miles on it and its been bulletproof. The only thing I've done is oil changes, a few spark plugs and a rear axle seal, that's it. I'm still on the original belt too.

I run Rotella T6 in my quad and it works great. I'm sold on this oil.

I'll continue to buy Yamaha ATV's, they are bulletproof.

 

[JetStar]

+1 on the Yamaha's. I have a Grizzly 660 thats going on 8 years old, and a YFZ450 that will be 7 years old. I kinda like Yamaha's.

 

[MrRPM]

i had a 400ex a few years ago. i put an 11:1 piston in, a stage 2 hot cam, full exhaust, opened up the air box and removed the choke valve from the carb and holy [censored] did she rip. out of the hole no one could touch me (i ran maxxis razrs) and not even 450s and banshees could catch me till a little past 300 feet (raced it in 300 foot drags) i loved the thing.

if you want to go all out and love high RPM power get a high compression piston and the stage 2 cam. it was amazing

 

[jdawg89]

Amsoil 10w40 all the way!!!

 

[Cmarti]

Rotella T6 Syn in ATV's, Goldwing, lawn tractor, lawn mower, generators, snowblower, tiller & logsplitter......(funy, never in a vehicle)

Good oil, cool for wetclutch. Would others do the same, probably, but easy to keep one type stocked in barn.

 

[jongies3]

I know this is an old thread, but why not run Rotella T6 year round? That's what I run in my 400EX and it's amazing hot or cold, starts and runs beautifully, transmission shifts smoothly no matter how long I keep it in there, top end is quiet.
Like you, I had tried several other oils to meet my needs including Honda conventional GN4 and synthetic HP4, which both quickly turned to horse whizz, Lucas motorcycle oil, worked pretty well but sheared down fast after a few hard rides, Amsoil motorcycle oil seemed similar to the Lucas and left me with a notchy transmission after a ride or two. Funny thing is, the T6 is cheaper than all of them and works the best, who knew? I found my keeper! Rotella is the stuff for these quads.

 

[sw99]

I use the T5 10w30 in all my dirt toys. Never any problems!

 

[wtd]

I just bought some Rotella T6 5W-40 to try out in my 2014 Honda TRX420 4x4 AT. I'm currently using the Honda full synthetic 10W-30 in it and while it shifts great, the engine is more noisy than it was with the Honda GN4 10W-30 I used to run. The Rotella is also a lot cheaper than the Honda synthetic so I will be curious on how it works.

Wayne

 

[Black_Thunder]

Indeed I run T6 5w40 year round in my grizzly 550 and also a kodiak 450.

I always change the oil in them right before winter regardless of miles/hours.

 

[04SE]

Originally Posted By: jongies3
I know this is an old thread, but why not run Rotella T6 year round? That's what I run in my 400EX and it's amazing hot or cold, starts and runs beautifully, transmission shifts smoothly no matter how long I keep it in there, top end is quiet.
Like you, I had tried several other oils to meet my needs including Honda conventional GN4 and synthetic HP4, which both quickly turned to horse whizz, Lucas motorcycle oil, worked pretty well but sheared down fast after a few hard rides, Amsoil motorcycle oil seemed similar to the Lucas and left me with a notchy transmission after a ride or two. Funny thing is, the T6 is cheaper than all of them and works the best, who knew? I found my keeper! Rotella is the stuff for these quads.


OP here, I sold that 400X several years ago. My current Arctic Cat has a sump full of T6.

 

[ic3man5]

I've been running 0w-40 amsoil in mine. My oil temp in the tank has hit 290F when running it extremely hard (Near WOT 4th gear for at least 20 minutes straight in wet sand). Shifting did get extremely [censored] when I was running the Honda GN4 for break-in.

edit: Just seen the OP and original date...

 

[Spdfrk1990]

Is T6 still good to use in ATV's/motorcycles since they changed the formula awhile back? I use to run it in my previous ATV's and they seemed to do ok with it. I did not think they shifted the smoothest when using it but not bad. I just picked up a 2012 TRX400X this week myself and trying to decide on an engine oil.