Wal Mart 15w-40 oil faired better in UOA

[kargo27]

All,

I'm new to the forum part here but have visited BITOG site many times in the past.

As a fellow lover of oil, lubricity and everything associated with the slick stuff, I thought I'd share some findings with you. Stop me if he's already posted this.

A fellow motorcycle rider, Steve (sunruh), in the Thumper Talk Yamaha YZ/WR250F forum, did a UOA on the SuperTech 15w-40 Wally World oil and his results were as follows:

"less shear than SRT, more zinc, more phos, 1/3rd more calcium

I've tested all the big names this year:
chevron delo 400 le
mobil 1300 delvac
shell rotella t
there is not a bigger 3 than those.
and to have supertech be better, was a complete shocker!!!"

Karl

PS I'm not sure about the calcium part, was he joking or does oil really contain it? Steve???

 

[02zx9r]

yeah I have been emailing back and forth and he told me the same thing that the supertech 15W40 did really well.

I have a gallon of the delo 400, mobil delvac, gal and a half of rotella, gal of gtx 20/50, 12 quarts of Brad Penn 20/50, 12 quarts val synpower 20/50, 1 quart havoline SL, 1 quart val maxlife SJ, and about 10 quarts of gtx 10/40. Once I am done with that I would like to try the supertech

 

[kargo27]

LOL, how long do you think it'll take you to use those up?

 

[02zx9r]

probably will be a while for me. I ride my ninja as much as possible but I cant ride it to work as I never know if i will have to go onto the base or not.

I change about every 2-3 rides in my crf but since it is only about a quart and a half total in that it will be a while too. I bought the delo and delvac just to try it since I was using rotella. And heard about the Penn oil and got a case of that, and got the val syn at bogof. I had every intention of just sticking with the rts but you know what happens once you become a member here, you try and stock up enough so if the worlds oil supplies go dry you can save the world

 

[dnewton3]

It's reasonable to assume that Wally's SuperTech would do well.

I saw a VOA comparison of all the major oils in Trailer Life magazine about a year ago. Of the diesel oils tested (including Super Tech), all the virgin oils were very near each other in additive packages. For each brand, there was a little more of "this", and a little less of "that", but overall they were VERY similar.

Seems to reason that if they all start at a similar point, they'll finish in a roughly equivilant manner. Not exactly the same, sure, but very similar.

That's really what the API cert's and SAE grades are all about; setting minimum performance standards, that are driving towards better and better performance with each evolution.

 

[sunruh]

kargo,
please don't believe me. its not like i've been doing this for 6 years and 7 months.
go spend the $22.50 x 8 (plus postage) plus the price of oil to prove it yourself.
oh and that quantity of oil you will need is for 2 changes.
and you will also need about 16 hours of riding time of which at least 12 will be in offroad competition.

 

[02zx9r]

some do contain calcium, if you go to the Voa section you can look up results, or possibly the data sheets on the web

 

[kargo27]

Steve,

I think that you misunderstood, I'm backing you up on this, and am all in favor of it as great evidence!

Did my post seem unfavorable? If so then that's the opposite of what I intended!

I think it's great and great that you were kind enough to share that with us!

Karl

 

[kargo27]

Ahhh, ok. You know how some people will joke and say "less filling/tastes great", I thought Steve was just giving the results and then adding a little humor at the end.

I didn't know that oil contained calcium. I have a lot to learn about oil contents!

Karl

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted By: kargo27
A fellow motorcycle rider, Steve (sunruh), in the Thumper Talk Yamaha YZ/WR250F forum, did a UOA on the SuperTech 15w-40 Wally World oil and his results were as follows:
"less shear than SRT, more zinc, more phos, 1/3rd more calcium

I've tested all the big names this year:
chevron delo 400 le
mobil 1300 delvac
shell rotella t
there is not a bigger 3 than those.
and to have supertech be better, was a complete shocker!!!"

It's not that surprizing if the name brands tested were the new CJ-4 versions. The SuperTech on the other hand is still the previous CL-4 grade.

The SuperTech scored better in the TDR comparison test this year as well.
http://www.turbodieselregister.com/articlelive/categories/Technical-Information/

 

[Mackelroy]

all of the 15w40s work, I'm more into which shift the best.

I like the motorcraft pretty well, not sure who actually manufactures it. Some body said Havoline, but havoline oil unless its changed use to stink really really bad, so I dont think its Havoline.

Then I came across something that said it was made my conoco phillips.

 

[kargo27]

Originally Posted By: Mackelroy
all of the 15w40s work, I'm more into which shift the best.

I like the motorcraft pretty well, not sure who actually manufactures it. Some body said Havoline, but havoline oil unless its changed use to stink really really bad, so I dont think its Havoline.

Then I came across something that said it was made my conoco phillips.


I've heard that the Motocraft is good oil. At Wally World, the semi-synthetic is really cheap. So is the Trop-Arctic and that's Conoco-Phillips, right?

 

[Mackelroy]

I run the 15w40 Motorcraft diesil, I'm not sure on the tropartic.

It shifts alot beTTer than the Rotella IMO


surprisingly I'd walked by that oil so many times, there's just not alot of info in running it in a Motorcycle.

 

[kargo27]

Originally Posted By: Mackelroy
I run the 15w40 Motorcraft diesil, I'm not sure on the tropartic.

It shifts alot beTTer than the Rotella IMO


surprisingly I'd walked by that oil so many times, there's just not alot of info in running it in a Motorcycle.



Yeah, same here. The Motocraft bottles are near the SuperTech and Diesel oils in my Wal Mart so I'm always looking at them and wondering.

Well, that's good info that you're getting better shifting than the Rotella. Are you talking about the 15w40 Rotella that's giving you shifting issues or the synthetic?

 

[kballowe]

Originally Posted By: kargo27
Originally Posted By: Mackelroy
I run the 15w40 Motorcraft diesil, I'm not sure on the tropartic.

It shifts alot beTTer than the Rotella IMO


surprisingly I'd walked by that oil so many times, there's just not alot of info in running it in a Motorcycle.




Yeah, same here. The Motocraft bottles are near the SuperTech and Diesel oils in my Wal Mart so I'm always looking at them and wondering.

Well, that's good info that you're getting better shifting than the Rotella. Are you talking about the 15w40 Rotella that's giving you shifting issues or the synthetic?


We've run a lot of oil analysis on different bikes with integral engine/transmissions. Rotella 15W-40 gets excellent numbers but you're right - it's a little notchy on the shifting. Most noticable is my '07 Gold Wing. AMSOIL, Mobil and Rotella T Synthetic make for smooth shifts but the smoothness starts to fade after about 3,000 miles. Bug clunky gears in a Gold Wing transmission.

For winter fill I used Mobil 1 5W-30 but it's somewhat notchy also. I keep hearing that it'll make my clutch slip, etc. and that's certainly a consideration on a 900 pound bike. We'll see.

In the mean time I'm watching the threads on the Wally World SuperTech line of oils. Don't know who makes them, but they seem to be decent oils. I've only run two samples on the regular (dino) auto 10W-40. One with 4,000 on an '06 FJR1300 and another with 3,200 on an '05 ST1300. Both reports looked good.

Hadn't thought about the Motorcraft 15W-40 diesel oil.
So - it shifts smoother than the Rotella 15W-40?

Hmmmmmmmm...........

 

[02zx9r]

I think you could run the same oil in the same exact bikes and one would shift differently than the other.

 

[kballowe]

Originally Posted By: 02zx9r
I think you could run the same oil in the same exact bikes and one would shift differently than the other.


Yeah - that makes sense. And if (years ago)someone would have told me that one oil would make for better shifting than another - I would have thought they were nuts.

Some bikes are more sensitive than others. Near as I can tell it has more to do with clutch separation and spin-down.

First noticed this in Harleys where the clutch/primary is separate from the transmission which is separate from the crankcase. Some lubes (more than others) produced a less noticible "clunk" and made for smoother shifts.

A lot of the Gold Wing crowd (Me included) complain about clunky transmissions. If you've ever seen the gears in a Wing xmsn it would be easy to see why.

In my personal experience in an FJR1300, YZF-R6, VTX1300, GL1800, and the primary chain cases in several Harleys - the AMSOIL, Mobil 1, and Rotella T Synthetic make noticible smoother shifts.

How much smoother? Well I suppose that depends on the particular bike.




Opinions by Kevin

Your mileage may vary.

 

[Mackelroy]

I havent ran the 5w40 rotella for about 20 sum thousand miles, I'd say the 15w40 and 5w are similar shift wise.

Normally I run the higher end synthetics, but I got a big house payment , so I was trying to cut expenses. The rotella 15w40 I hated it right off the bat(shift wise), and immediately went back to highend Mc synthetic, but decided to give the diesils another shot because of the expense.

I'm satisified with the Motorcraft 15w40, but I think its the old formula, atleast I see 2 different styled bottles and I go for the less pretty one.

cl4

 

[02zx9r]

In my zx9r I noticed smoother clutchless upshifts with both rotella flavors and exxon superflo 20w50. With M1 racing 4t (mx4t) i noticed more notchy shifts. Before all that I was using Golden Spectro.

 

[TucsonDon]

Originally Posted By: kballowe
A lot of the Gold Wing crowd (Me included) complain about clunky transmissions. If you've ever seen the gears in a Wing xmsn it would be easy to see why.

What does that mean? I have a GL1800 and I'm curious what you're getting at with that last comment. Are the gears cut different?

Originally Posted By: kballowe
Some bikes are more sensitive than others. Near as I can tell it has more to do with clutch separation and spin-down.

I have found with my Wing that if I pull in the clutch and wait just a moment and then shift the bike tends to shift more smoothly. Is that the "spin-down" you're referring to?