Honda Quads, Which oils?

[albertaboi]

Hi, I was wondering which engine oils to use in my honda quads. I have used Rotella(non-synthetic, 15w40 i believe) in my old 84 honda seemed to work good(just sold this rig). Now I got an 05 250ex(air cooled) and was wondering if its a good idea to use the same oil?I also have an 05 rancher 350(also air cooled), would that be a good choice for it? I ride mainly in summer, but over night temps can drop alot and sometimes it can snow(on the rare occasion). Any insight is greatly appreciate!

Thanks,
Matt

 

[cancov]

I'm interested in the replies to this thread.

 

[volk06]

I used valvoline ATV 10w-40 in our honda rubicon 250 and 450 rancher with great results. Now we use honda oil we got with the with the purchase of the 450, I used up the valvoline first. Id probably use Rotella 5w-40 since its synthetic instead of the valvoline dino.

 

[abycat]

In my honda's I ran the 10w40 honda oil. My brothers 2004 trx450r that is pretty worked over gets the same mostly. I used some quakerstate syn before. I think anything that is stock and is older than 2000 could run anything in a xxw40 I dont think it would be smart to run a 30 wt in a bike and especially an air cooled one. A oil temp dipstick would be a worthwhile and cheap investment. It seems the HDEO is a good fit for most bikes. i would slap some synthetic delo in it or some rottela and call it a day. Some say that the wet clutch if you have one can slip with some oils. I have never experianced or heard of it personally with any oil but I did hear a few times that a honda shadow and one or two other big bikes can have clutch probs.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

OP: look up what the manufacturer recomends you use in there engines, then pick what company you wanna give your money too.

most likey a 40 wt.. if its a shared sump avoid energy conserving oils..

 

[CarbonSteel]

10/15w30/40 would be quite OK in your ATV. I run 10W-40 or 15w40 in my Brute Force with no issues. Even if the temps drop into the 30s a 10/15W should still be usable--especially since it is air cooled and would not take long at all to reach operating temperatures.

 

[albertaboi]

with clutch slipping issues, do you think it would still be a good idea to try it in my 06 kdx 200, in the transmission? (its 2 stroke so its gearbox oil.)

 

[albertaboi]

is shell rotella energy conserving?

 

[04SE]

Originally Posted By: albertaboi
is shell rotella energy conserving?


No. None of the Rotella product line is friction modified or energy conserving.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: albertaboi
is shell rotella energy conserving?

No; it is JASO-MA rated (for wet clutch applications). If you have a wet clutch, then a JASO-MA rated oil is what you will want to use.

 

[cancov]

So I read in our owners manual that the Rancher and Foreman requires JASO T 903. The following paper describes that JASO T 903 is made of subcategories that are under the T 903 umbrella. These categories are MA, MA1, MA2, and MB. Look here on page 5, paragraph 3.2:
http://www.jalos.or.jp/onfile/pdf/4T_EV0604.pdf
So now look at the product sheet on the Rotella T6 5W-40 here:
http://www-static.shell.com/static/can-e.../rotella_t6.pdf
On the first page in the second table, it states that Rotella is JASO DH2, MA certified.

And right now Rotella T6 5W40 can be found at WalMart in a (4) qt jug for ~$21.50. It is actually on sale at AutoZone for $19.99.

 

[Teddi]

I use Rotella T 5W40 in winter in my 05 Rubicon since it has a wet clutch. In summer I use standard Rotella 15W40. I recently bought a 1 gal jug of the Rotella semi synthetic 10W30 - I may end up using that year round.

 

[jdawg89]

Use amsoil 10w 40 motorcycle oil. I use it in my 250ex and I POUND this machine and it still is goin great. In the winter use 0w40 same protection at operating temps but thinnner on startup

 

[KevGuy]

Rotella T6 5W-40