Had to do a quick oil change on my foreman 500 es. the dealer where I bought it from was out of the Honda synthetic oil. He recommended the Polaris 0w-40 synthetic atv oil. I changed the oil and filter and everything seems to be fine? I'm sure the oil is not made by polaris anyhow. Bike shifts fine and seems to not have the fans kick on as much. This is my third oil change in 725 miles. I dropped the oil that was in the bike from new after a few hours and put in amsoil 10w40 motorcycle oil w/ filter. This past weekend when I was at our deer camp the oil change light came-on leading to this oil change. I wanted to stay with synthetic. The polaris oil was all the dealer had. I hope there is no problems??

 

If your Bike Runs Better with that Polaris Oil.... Run it..

 

yeah, if it runs ok with it and it meets the JASO MA and API SG or whatever rating is for your machine, run it. It has to be good oil, It's kinda hard to get bad oil from anybody anymore. Unless you use that cheap gas station oil...

 

I think Polaris synthetic oils are PAO's (similar formulation to Amsoil and Mobil 1 ?????), so it should be descent stuff.
BUT, check and see if the oil is API SG/JASO MA. The reason I bring this up is that SG/MA oils have high pressure additives intended to protect an integrated transmssion and your wet clutch. Now Polaris builds belt driven automatics, that don't have integrated transmissions or wet clutches, so they may not be specing their oils for those applications????? (Polaris may have integrated transfer cases????)

In any case, your owners manual does not spec 0W40! I would go back to 10W40 for summer, and maybe a 5W30 for winter. Whatever oil you pick, be sure it is motorcycle specific API SG/JASO MA!

My personal choice in oils is Maxima Extra (http://www.maximausa.com/products/4s...synthextra.asp), an ester synthetic and the best oil I have found after studying the subject for years. My second choice would be Mobil 1 MX4T, only if I couldn't find another ester based synthetic. http://www.maximausa.com/technical/l...beNews2002.pdf

Some good basic oil info.: http://www.thumperfaq.com/oil.htm

 

My Polaris Expedition 425 came with 0W-40 synthetic and is a manual transmission with a wet clutch. I realize that Polaris usually makes belt drives, but as soon as they came out with the Expedition, I bought one for the ride and seat comfort that I couldn't get in my Honda Foreman. Anyway, the Polaris 0W-40 has been a great oil. No smoking in the 7 years I've owned it. Before this, I'd always heard that engines should be broken in with regular oil before switching to synthetic, but the Polaris owner's manual said it started with synthetic and only synthetic should be used. It is expensive!!!! I've heard that the oil is made by AMsoil, but I've no idea if true.

 

Can you do me a favor, and go out to the garage and see if the Polaris oil is API SG/JASO MA, or any other info on the oil bottle (like what kind of synthetic it is)??? I tried to come up with some info on-line, but counldn't find anything.

Again, I wouldn't run 0W40 in my Honda, unless I had some pretty detailed technical data on the oil, and I was sure that it speced out similar to a 10W40 when the oil is at running temp.

 

Reconranger;
Well, I walked to the garage, instead of running (heheheh....we old people have a peculiar sense of humor), and here's what I read on the container of the Polaris Synthetic 0W-40 oil;
"Exceeds API-SH and ILSAC-GF-1 Specifications".

It also says "Made for Polaris Industries". I couldn't find anywhere indicating what type of synthetic it is. I do know that it has a mint green tint.

I'm not recommending it for any other ATV, but it seems there should be no harm in "tiogajoe" using it until at least his next oil change. If I get a new ATV this coming year (the new Grizzly with power steering has me drooling. I've had 2 broken collar bones and numerous broken ribs in an ATV accident, and my shoulders are weak), I just may use it in that one.

 

After SG, the add packs started to get downgraded, because these chemicals that provide you with high pressure protection, also poison catalytic converters on cars. Even Honda and Yamaha oil is now SJ, and I absolutely will no longer use them (no doubt a marketing decision to keep these branded oils cost competitive on the dealers shelf ????).

There are numerous widely available very good SG oils out there, so for me, it just doesn't make any sense to use anything that isn't SG. Why take a chance and guess what your oil may or may not have in it?????

 

I run the Amsoil 0w-40 in all my atv's. The Rancher, the Bruin and the little 90 run great on the stuff. It is MA rated for wet clutch apps.
I even put the stuff in my 20hp riding mower.

I can say this, the atv's seem to idle a little faster, run cooler and as God is my witness, it stopped the Bruin from burning oil on start-up due to worn valve guides. It's great stuff.

 

Sorry no offense, but whenever somebody touts the glories of Amsoil, I am alway suspicious that they may be a dealer hyping the product (????). I simply refuse to buy Amsoil because of their weird marketing practices, and the way they have flooded the internet with their marketing hype. Mobil 1 is the same thing as Amsoil, and Exon/Mobil is reaming us at the gas pump and making huge billion dollar profits off of us, so I am not real fond of them either!

The PAO's (Mobil 1 and Amsoil) are great, and as I recall, the Amsoil motorcycle oils are SG (????) so that is good. But, PAO's have the second best chemistry compared to the ester synthetics, so I will always pick an ester over any PAO anyway.