o.k. most of you know i use rotella oil 20w50 now after checking with shell's tech support i am going to try rtella t6 full syn.5w40 blue bottle. has anyone used this weight in their roadie?

mkayx wrote:
o.k. most of you know i use rotella oil 20w50 now after checking with shell's tech support i am going to try rtella t6 full syn.5w40 blue bottle. has anyone used this weight in their roadie?
===================================================

The shell tech is incorrect,the Rotella line of oils(all of them) don't have the proper zddp lvl (approx 1300-1400ppm or higher)required to properly protect the old school air cooled motor from the excessive heat it produces and to just as inportantly properly protect the Flat Tappet cam/lifters in R* too.

And thats not to mention the rotella line of oils "very likely "have friction mods in it too that can also lead to clutch slippage in some cases too.

When i was researching motor oils over past 4 yrs or so just about any grade of oil weather it be thin or thick had fric mods in it as per the oil mfgs when i asked that question of them.

It's not just the thinner fuel conserving grades that have the fric mods in them anymore which is now a thing of the past.

Why run an improper rotella oil in the R* thats not designed with the proper addiitve pkg to properly protect the lrg old school air cooled v-twin in the R*?

There are plenty of competitively priced motorcycle/v-twin oils out there today with the proper zdp for protection of the ft cam/lifters ,protection from excessive heat,and that have no fric modes that are wet clutch freindly too.

Every so often you read about lifters/cams going bad on R*'s here in RSc and i bet most of the time its due to running pass car/truck oil with an improper zddp lvl.

BTW,from the oil testing i did chevrons delo 15-40 ase oil in a multi visc 5w-40 still has a decent 1300ppm zddp in the newer CJ rated oil but also has a small amount of fric mods in it too like most oils today have.

But i would not run a 5w base oil in multi visc 5w-40 oil in a R* ,the lowest grade i'd run would be 10w-40 unless you running it in 20deg f temps on a daily basis.

You can safely run 20-50 in the R* down to approx 35-40 deg even though some oil mfgs states 20-50 is ok to run down to 20deg f which i would not do in a pass car or bike motor.

The oils mfg's also state the 15-40 is ok down to approx 10deg f but i would not go lower then 25-30deg f that one either leaving some safety factor there.

I normally dont ride below 50 deg f so i run mobil 1 v-twin syn 20w-50 oil and forget about it,change oil & filter approx every 6k miles or so,some people go 8k miles with an oil filter change at 4k-5k miles.

Amsoil also makes a very good syn 20-50 for v-twins,mobile 1 & amsoil also offer 10-40 syn for v-twins too if that will fill your need.

Spectro oil (lrg bike oil mfg) also mfgs' decent conventinal, semi blend ,syn oil for v-twins with the proper zddp lvls and no fric mods too as does valvoline and many other oil mfg's too.

Do your R* a favor and run a decent motorcycle specific oil that's mfg'd with the proper additive pkg containing a proper higher zddp lvl for flat tappet cams and better heat protection with no fric mods in it too,your bike will like ya for it/?LOL!!!!!

Scott

Scott whats your take on the yamalube 10w40?

chiefriceburner wrote:
Scott whats your take on the yamalube 10w40?
===============================

Well i have an extensive oil test done on 17 diff bike specerific oils and not 1 is a yamalube product and i have never run the yamalube either not having any 1st hand exp with it not having any samples of it tested either.

So i dont know how the yamalube stacks up again other bike specific oils of same grade ,sorry about that.

But i will say in general it's better to run yamalube or a bike specific 10w-40 in a R* if it states its for wet clutch setups and more importantly being a bike oil should also have a the higher zddp lvl required to better protect the motor from excessive heat and also to better protect the ft cam/lifters too vs a pass car or truck 10-40 oil that has fric mods and lower zddp lvl.

But i feel 20-50 protects the hot lrg air cooled v-twin motor the r* has better then 10-40 can if you run the bike in above 75-80 deg f temps like i do.

I ride in anywhere from 50 deg f to 100+ deg f temps and 20-50 does just fine at 50 deg and even better aobve 80 deg f in a hot running old school v-twin like the R* has.

If you ride in temps that peak at approx 80 deg f tops or raely goes above that then a quality 10-40 bike specific oil will do just fine in you R*.

And even in temps above 80 deg f a quality 10-40 bike oil for air cooled v-twins with still do ok ,its just that in cond like that in higher temos above 80 deg f the 20-50 bike oil can protect a better providing significantly better film strength with less viscosity breakdown if all else is = in the oils quality lvl/additive pkg/etc.

Hope that helped you out.

scott

the bike calls for 20w40.20 stands for how the oil preforms at or below freezing. the 40 means it is a weight or stokes at 212 degrees.so the 5w40 is faster foling then 20w40 when cold and the same went warm.rotella t6 has no friction mods. in it and when tested againest mobil 1 v-twin and amsoil motorcycle oil it held up the best then amsoil golden spectro supreme and the motul 5100 ester came in last. the test was done on how the oils held up after 4500 miles in a high compression motorcycle engine the rotella and the amsoil only brokedown to 30 stokes(equel to a 30 weight the mobil only a little worse 27 stokes)

mkayx wrote:
o.k. most of you know i use rotella oil 20w50 now after checking with shell's tech support i am going to try rtella t6 full syn.5w40 blue bottle. has anyone used this weight in their roadie?

Nope!
I use 20W-50 Valvoline 4-Stroke MC oil.

uh oooooo. again.

cruizin wrote:
uh oooooo. again.

Yup! Amazin' ain't?

yep

this was not to be about brand but the 5w40 weight