20w50 for ATV

[redhat]

Friend of mine bought a used ATV, got it running recently. It is a 1999-2001 Arctic Cat 400 4x4 Manual. Engine runs good, but she does smoke a bit. As with the general condition of the machine, it has been abused. Hoping to get him by for a year.

Have 15w40 Rotella in it now. Can anyone recommend a 20w50 that is cheap/readily available that'll play nice with the trans in this thing? It is a manual but must have a clutch as well since you can take off in any gear.

Probably needs rings and a general overhaul but that is way beyond my care for this thing.

 

[krismoriah72]

Castrol Actevo 4T 20w50 is $16/ gal at walmart. Valvoline 4T 20w50 is $4/qt so same price. Both meet your JASO needs. Castrol is Semi Syn so the smoking probably wont be as evident as with dino.


if you want to give the smoking a try.. give it a good dose of Redline Si-1 fuel additive..cleans the entire fuel system plus upper cylinder..then keep adding the rest of the bottle at 2oz/ 10 gallon til the bottle is empty.

 

[beanoil]

Nearly any 20w50 would work. You won't find an energy conserving label on any of them.
Valvoline MC oil comes to mind first. Check AZ or Advance.
If you can find Valvoline white bottle, or Castrol 20w50 (still at some WM), that would be fine as well.
NAPA always has their house 20w50 in stock.

 

[Chris142]

Whatever 20w-50 is on sale. May want to try a straight 40 or 50.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

Back in the day I ran Castrol HD straight 30 or 40 in Honda XR's and Yamaha XT's. Cheap. No friction modifiers. 30 in spring and fall. 40 in summer. Never any clutch issues.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by JunkdrawerDog
Back in the day I ran Castrol HD straight 30 or 40 in Honda XR's and Yamaha XT's. Cheap. No friction modifiers. 30 in spring and fall. 40 in summer. Never any clutch issues.

Are you sure?

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

No. But back then ,1985-1995, straight weight was supposed to be the way to avoid them. If not, I stand corrected!

 

[kschachn]

It shouldn't have viscosity index improvers, but I had never heard they didn't have friction modifiers. I would have thought that was a function of the specific formulation and not the grade.

 

[BigCahuna]

Walmart 20/50 was less then $3 a qt when I bought it last. A gallon might be less then $15. Doubt you can do better then that.,,

 

[BigCahuna]

Walmart 20/50 was less then $3 a qt when I bought it last. A gallon might be less then $15. Doubt you can do better then that.,,

 

[ammolab]

Walmart has Supertech 20W-50 Synthetic motorcycle oil. JASO spec for clutches. Should be what you want...$8.50 a quart.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

I think ILSAC GF-x certs and API SH showed up about the same time. Motorcycle specific lubes continued on as SG for quite a while. Motorcycle manuals warned against using friction modified, energy conserving lubricants for fear of clutch slippage. This was the point where "car oil" and "motorcycle oil" went down seperate paths. For the frugal, straight weight oils without ILSAC certs or "energy conserving " nomenclature became a workaround. Or this could all be a bunch of malarkey. At any rate straight weight worked well and no clutch issues.

 

[kschachn]

No that's interesting, thanks. I just thought the reason for using a mono-grade was to prevent shear-related viscosity degradation.

 

[redhat]

Thanks folks. Appreciate it.

 

[another Todd]

Why do you want 20w-50? I would stick with what you are using or switch to Rotella 5w-40 synthetic and let it smoke if it wants to.

 

[ccs368]

My '06 Vinson is also a semi-auto clutched atv and I'm currently using Honda GN4 10w-40 with no issues thus far. Wth the exception of my ATV, I only used 20w-50 during the riding season in every motorcycle I ever owned. I only used "motorcycle" specific labeled oil that was not synthetic due to my perceived experience that after several hundred miles, I felt the clutch slipping and a vague feeling in the shifting throughout all the gears. So I only used Dino, conventional, or mineral motorcycle specific oil if it had a shared sump with better results. This was with my sold ninja 600r, fzr1000, Cbr900rr, and ex500.

The only time 20w-50 synthetic motorcycle oil was used was wth my '01 Ducati 996S or '03 HD Fatboy with good results as the oil is not shared with transmission.

So to answer your question of recommended cheap/readily available...I think it may be the valvoline motorcycle conventional 20w-50. Unfortunately, I don't think valvoline makes an "ATV" labeled 20w-50 and just 10w-40 but I would use this oil in either motorcycle or off road application with confidence.

 

[kmrcstintn]

use whatever 20w-50 you like...if you feel slippage then dump it & go for a motorcycle specific formula with jaso ma rating for wet clutch compatibility

 

[DGXR]

Valvoline 4-stroke 20w50 will fill your request nicely, it is inexpensive and readily available. Try Walmart or AutoZone. The bottle might say "v twin" but still it's fine to use in your friend's ATV.