im new or at least not an active forum reader and im sure you get way too many oil ?'s but where can i find this good maxima oil ? does it come in different viscosities ? and what one should i use in my 03 rancher that will probably need a rebuild in the near future. i bought it used and its not going to hold upas well aswell as my old atc's have but i am the third owner and hope to treat it better than the previous two thank for any advise

 

I have been getting my Maxima oil here. Even with shipping, it is still less than what the dealerships try to charge for it: http://www.onoffroad.com/

They have Premium which is a basic economically priced petroleum oil. Blend which is a petroleum/synthetic mixture. Extra which is a 100% ester based synthetic. And Ultra which is Extra with the addition of a very special (and expensive)ester that acts as a friction modifier. Maxima also has the best additive package in the industry!

My favorite is Extra, which I run in all my quads. I run 10W40 in the cooler seasons, and 15W50 in our very hot So. Calif. summers.

If I was on a budget, I wouldn't hesitate to run Premium in my lower end machines, but I would never run anything but an ester synthetic in my 400EX and 450R.

 

You can also get the Maxima oils here: http://www.ms-zone.com

Their prices are pretty close to onoffroad.com but if you stock up and get over $100 worth the shipping is free (onoffroad.com shipping is pretty high).

Cheers!

 

sounds good i will check into it , how about the synthetics for break in and do the have any negative effects on clutches in the honda trannys?

 

also im in ne arkansas and we have very hto summers and i do a lot off steep up and down slow paced riding in the ozarks . my ride is a 2003 rancher with manual shift 4x4 and has a fan but is there any precautions to take that will help keep it cool ?

 

When the weather is hot, the thicker the oil you start out with the thicker it will stay when it gets toasty.

 

but the thicker oil takes longer to make it to vital parts of the engine(head/valve train).
Which is why many car and truck manufacture's are going to lighter oils like 5w20 and 5w30(plus they increase gas mileage).

On my quad I would run what it is designed for as far as viscosity.

 

First off, car and truck manufacturers went to thinner oils to get better gas mileage and meet the governments CAFE standards (corporate average fuel efficiency), not for better pumpability!. There is a lot of speculation that they did this at the expense of engine longevity....at our expense that is! Car manufacturers did have to tighten their bearing tolerances for the thinner oils, but I am not at all aware that motorcycle manufacturers have been tightening theirs. Read this:

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/...y%20vs.%20Wear

One of the HUGE advantages of a synthetic is that they are very thin when cold. When cold, the Maxima Extra 15W50 that I run in summer, has the same vicosity as a cold 10W40 petroleum oil. I am getting the best of both worlds, pumpability when cold and superior durability when hot! Stop missing out and start running a synthetic!

 

I hate to argue reconranger.
But......HONDA did exactly that in the 86-89 accords. In 86-87 the accord got so many complaints about valve noise even when adjusted to specifications(everyone was running 10w30 or 10w40 in them at that time) that in 88-89 they made every car to be ran with 5w30 motor oil and................no more valve train noise on start up. Because the thinner oil got there much quicker.


As far as running a synthetic oil that is a good idea for added durability and longevity of the engine. I run mobil clean 5000 in my car and truck and run the OE Yamalube in my atv's it has always served me good. Someday I might switch to a synthetic in my atv but not just yet(probably after a cam and big bore kit though)

 

Pumpability is very improtant! If you have to run a thin oil, even more reason to run a very high quality synthetic one!

Pumpability is really important with engine that have plain bearings, where the bearing is actually just some oil held under pressure. Cars/trucks and some street bikes may have them, but not any dirt bikes or quads. Some day we may see them. They have little drag compared to traditional bearings.