HINTS. 1. Two Drain plugs 2. turkey baster to suck out the extra oil you will put in 3. floor jack to hold the skid plates in place while trying to align up bolts to put back on. 4. pay real close attention when you drop the filter! the spring and such will confuse you for a second. 5. a cleaned out pepsi bottle works great as a funnel!

I have over 2000 miles on mine and I also switched to the valvoline atv oil.. I feel it runs cooler and not as many noises. THAT IS MY OPINION only. good luck and enjoy the fealling when done...

Remember it takes almost 6 qts.

 

listen reconranger, I'm not a chemist so I'm not going toe-to-toe with you on this

However, not all ester based oils are the same. Esters are added to PAOs to swell seals and improve sealing (among other reasons). In my experience, some ester oils have caused extreme swelling of viton orings to the point of extrusion. I'm not talking Buna-Ns. Believe it or not. We've had to incorporate Viton GLT (off-white color) in these areas, which I would bet is not used in the Hondamatic.

Unlike others, I feel that I am unqualified to recommend an alternative oil for the Hondamatic, so I just folllow what the people that designed the Hondamatic suggest. It's so simple.

 

Well, it just so happens that I AM A CHEMIST, which contributes to my interest in the subject!

It is true that I don't know anyone who is using a 100% ester in a Rubicon, so I am really not recommending it to anyone one way or the other. (But you can't discount there are perhaps thousands of Rubicon owners that may have chosen HP4, and are at least running a blend.........recommended by Honda!) Just want folks to be aware of the options out there. Most folks are just going to be so confused by Esters, PAO's, Group III, etc., they are going to blindly pick an obsolete pertoleum product because that is what their dad did. That's what I did for years, until I decided to look deeper into the subject.

With esters, there are an infinite number of types (diesters, polyol esters, etc.) and combinations possible. There are a number of companies blending esters (Klots, Motul, Silkoline, whoever supplies Honda with HP4, etc.). Some formulations will be harder on seals than others, and blenders have learned with time (sometimes by trial and error) which ones to eliminate. That along with improved seal material, has as far as I know eliminated the problems experienced back in the early days.

So, I am betting that your negative experience with esters was something that happened some years ago??? In any case, can you point out which particular product gave you a problem??? Did you contact the manufacutrer and try to sort the problem out??? The problem might be caused by only one of the components in the blend, and they might easily be able to eliminate it from the formulation.

As for me, Redline in my truck, and Maxima in my bikes!

 

no, this problem was solved recently

a phosphate ester oil was swelling every Viton seal that it came in contact with by over 30%