When is oil HOT? Sunruh?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
939
Location
IL
I put a temperature dipstick in my mixmaster (ATV in signature) and with SRT 10w30 I am seeing 175*F with "normal" riding and 215*F when I absolutely flog and abuse it. Ambient temp was 78*F. Now, these are POST oil cooler so I figure actual oil temps are probably 25*-35* higher. Honda recommends a 10w30 in this thing from 30*F to 100*F so it would appear they are not too far off.

I will run this SRT 10w30 for another 10 hours and then put SRT 15w40 in and see how warm it runs.
 
Not really relevant to your post, but I always felt more comfortable with a heavy duty oil in my 400ex. I ran rotella 5w40 year round with good results. When i ran the honda 10w40, after about 30hr(very rough guess) the valves would chatter a little when really hot. With the T6 the engine sounded the same through the entire oil change. Also i believe oil temp goes up almost linearly with ambient temp in an air cooled engine so if it is 90F, you could probably add about 10 deg to your oil temps. Being you have a temp gauge, it will be interesting to see if you see the same effect with temperature.
 
The issue is how accurate those are, I have a drain plug temp sensor, granted the oil pan is finned cast aluminum so a giant sync, but I see up to 160F.
 
Originally Posted By: 04SE
I will run this SRT 10w30 for another 10 hours and then

yosemitie sam voice on
whoa dragon
i said whoa dragon
when i say whoa, i mean whoa!
/yosemitie sam

this oil is already dead in that quad.

why are you going to keep abusing your motor and clutch?

10w30 goes 5hrs max. its done. over. kaput.

sae30, maybe. 10w30 or 10w40 NOPE its dead.

do you both a favor and put in the SRT 15w40 now.

besides the outside temp will have changed and that affects it all.

you need to be thinking 15w40 in the summer and 0w30 or 5w40 in the winter. summer is anytime the ambient is above 32f and you start the motor.

steve
 
Originally Posted By: sunruh
Originally Posted By: 04SE
I will run this SRT 10w30 for another 10 hours and then

yosemitie sam voice on
whoa dragon
i said whoa dragon
when i say whoa, i mean whoa!
/yosemitie sam

this oil is already dead in that quad.

why are you going to keep abusing your motor and clutch?

10w30 goes 5hrs max. its done. over. kaput.

sae30, maybe. 10w30 or 10w40 NOPE its dead.

do you both a favor and put in the SRT 15w40 now.

besides the outside temp will have changed and that affects it all.

you need to be thinking 15w40 in the summer and 0w30 or 5w40 in the winter. summer is anytime the ambient is above 32f and you start the motor.

steve



I do think its better to put in the 15w40 but most 10w30's now have very little VII's so I'm not sure why you are saying a straight 30 would be better.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand


I do think its better to put in the 15w40 but most 10w30's now have very little VII's so I'm not sure why you are saying a straight 30 would be better.


do you have any uoa's to back that up?

because i do.
 
Originally Posted By: sunruh
Originally Posted By: 04SE
I will run this SRT 10w30 for another 10 hours and then

yosemitie sam voice on
whoa dragon
i said whoa dragon
when i say whoa, i mean whoa!
/yosemitie sam

this oil is already dead in that quad.

why are you going to keep abusing your motor and clutch?

10w30 goes 5hrs max. its done. over. kaput.

sae30, maybe. 10w30 or 10w40 NOPE its dead.

do you both a favor and put in the SRT 15w40 now.

besides the outside temp will have changed and that affects it all.

you need to be thinking 15w40 in the summer and 0w30 or 5w40 in the winter. summer is anytime the ambient is above 32f and you start the motor.

steve


In prior model years Honda recommended 10w40 year round with up to a 20w50. Now, for 2012, Honda calls for a 5w30 below 30*, a 10w30 from 30* to 100* and "allows" for a 10w40 in "hot" conditions. I am running 10w30 because Honda says to do it. I have run Valvoline ATV 10w40 and killed it in less than 3 hours. I have run SRT 15w40 for 10 hour intervals and noticed no degradation in shift or clutch feel. I went with the SRT 10w30 for the cooler winter/spring temps. SRT 10w30 has to be leaps and bounds better than Honda 10w30?

Should I just run SRT 15w40 and be done? I had wanted to try to get a UOA with the SRT 10w30 to see if the Honda engineers had found some bad drugs. I know I don't have Texas style heat up here but is 10w30 really that weak?
 
Originally Posted By: jstutz
Not really relevant to your post, but I always felt more comfortable with a heavy duty oil in my 400ex. I ran rotella 5w40 year round with good results. When i ran the honda 10w40, after about 30hr(very rough guess) the valves would chatter a little when really hot. With the T6 the engine sounded the same through the entire oil change. Also i believe oil temp goes up almost linearly with ambient temp in an air cooled engine so if it is 90F, you could probably add about 10 deg to your oil temps. Being you have a temp gauge, it will be interesting to see if you see the same effect with temperature.


I really want to try T6 but I know I can shear it in probably 3-4 hours. I use and abuse my ATV, I mean like it is stolen type of abuse.
 
Originally Posted By: 04SE
Originally Posted By: jstutz
Not really relevant to your post, but I always felt more comfortable with a heavy duty oil in my 400ex. I ran rotella 5w40 year round with good results. When i ran the honda 10w40, after about 30hr(very rough guess) the valves would chatter a little when really hot. With the T6 the engine sounded the same through the entire oil change. Also i believe oil temp goes up almost linearly with ambient temp in an air cooled engine so if it is 90F, you could probably add about 10 deg to your oil temps. Being you have a temp gauge, it will be interesting to see if you see the same effect with temperature.


I really want to try T6 but I know I can shear it in probably 3-4 hours. I use and abuse my ATV, I mean like it is stolen type of abuse.


I dont run mine very hard. Its still kicking fine with the 5w40 in it. If you run yours that hard, then just listen to Sunruh as he has data to back up his claims. I dont. I dont know but maybe a 15w50 would be a good fit for you since you run it so hard. I dont think the thickness is an issue, even in the winter. They warm up fairly quickly. Unless it is really cold like less than 20F or so. My grizzly definitely dont like the 15w40 in the sub 0 temps. It starts up much better with the 5w40 in it.
 
the OP is in IL. it can get darn cold for many months there. as jstutz said, cold weather starting for 15w40 can be tough. 5w40 just doesnt hold up in the shared sump. and i know how much work (and fun) a 3/4 wheeler in the snow can be. last thing you want to do is be changing oil. you want to start it and go!
another awesome choice is Castrol Syntec 0w30 in the cold. way more spendy than srt white and probably even blue jug, but good stuff.
should be warm enough now to put in srt and run it and run it hard. probably until october. not that it has to be srt. just get the hdeo thats on sale. let your left foot be the judge when to change it.

keep all 4 down,
steve
 
Originally Posted By: sunruh
the OP is in IL. it can get darn cold for many months there. as jstutz said, cold weather starting for 15w40 can be tough.

That's assuming the ATV is not garaged. If it is in a garage where the temp is in the 40s at least, then I don't see a big deal in starting it with 15w-40 oil in it. Once the engine is running, it shouldn't really matter that it's in the 20s outside.
 
There is also 0w40 Amsoil. Expensive but possibly a good alternative to 5w40 HDEO as its designed for being used in wet clutch applications. Although this is conjecture as I have never seen any data on how it holds up.
 
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
There is also 0w40 Amsoil. Expensive but possibly a good alternative to 5w40 HDEO as its designed for being used in wet clutch applications. Although this is conjecture as I have never seen any data on how it holds up.


It shears. It is a stout oil with good add pack but it shears.
 
Are you talking about this Amsoil 0w40? I use this oil for my ATV's. Could you give me links to the source for this shearing issue? If true, then maybe I need to reconsider my oil choice? I would have thought this to be a very shear resistant oil due to the intended application.
 
Sunrah, how have you determined all this oil is bad after 5hrs when the manufacturers seem to think 4000 mile oil change interval is plenty whether it 10w30 or 10w40? Just wondering. Blackstone do analysis, you do your own just by how thin the oil appears? Just wondering, not doubting, and if you have all these stats it would be nice to see them and how they were figured. I'd run that poor KZ1000 10,000 miles around the country on 10w40 oil 20 years ago and it never complained, didn't know I was probably riding 9950 of it on bad oil I guess.
 
Last edited:
Well just because an OEM says its ok to run a fluid for a certain distance, does not mean it is truly ok. Toyota for instance says that Type IV does not need to be serviced before 90k miles, says right on the dipstick. But all evidence shows its spent by 30 to 40k
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top