<<<<<<<<smarter than the next guy.

 

I used Valvoline 10w40 All Climate oil in our 01 Rubicon for the first 3000 miles and then switched to Valvoline ATV oil. With 7500 miles on it today it still runs great.

I remember a couple of other forum members that had 10,000 miles on their Rubicons and ran which ever 10w40 automotive engine oil was on sale.

I am sure automotive oil has changed in the last five years, I switched because the ATV oil had friction modifiers for the wet clutch.

 

I use Rotella...


http://forums.atvconnection.com/mess...did/507021.cfm

 

If you can't decide on what oil to choose and/or aren't willing to do the research required to find something better, at least the manufacturers branded oil is a default choice where you can't go to far wrong.........I think that was the point of his comment. Manufacturers oils seem to be formulated to meet a price point that is somewhere between the cheapie dino oils and the very expensive full synthetics. There are better oils than the manufacturers out there, and there are lots of worse ones.

Has anybody noticed the changes in Honda's oil viscosity charts the last two years???? Gone is the old chart that had a variety of oil weights (including the heavy 40's and 50's), and all they have on the chart now is 5W30, 10W30, and 10W40 (and the 5W30 has an arrow pointing toward the high temp side, like they are calling it an all-climate oil). Anybody got any insight about this change????????

Most automobiles now spec very light oils, like 5W30 or even lighter. There is a lot of speculation that we the consumers are getting screwed here (with shorter engine life!) so that manufacturers can meet their CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) requirements by running oils that increase gas mileage, but have less protection for moving parts.

 

Good question. I know a few people that have newer Hondas (cars) that aren't too thrilled about the requirement to use 5w20 oil. One likens it to pouring water into the engine. Whether it will provide the protection we're used to with heavier oils only time will tell. I feel it is on the light side, but how thin is too thin? I've run 5w30 for ages in inline 4's with zero problems, maybe 5w20 is okay too. Oddly though, I think only Honda and Ford are specing the 5w20 so far, Toyota and others are choosing to be more conservative and stay with 5w30. So, is it really too thin, or are they playing on our perception that it's too thin and staying with 5w30 to maintain a customer base?

 

My 400ex, mojave, jeep, chevy malibu, and craftsmen lawn tractor all get valvoline 10w-40. lol

 

The car manufacturers were forced to tighten the tolerances of their bearings, when they decided to go with thinner oils. I am not aware that Honda has tightened their tolerances, yet Honda has dropped the heavier weight oils from their recommended oil viscosity charts. I wish they would tell us what's going on here........

One reason I am such a proponent of Ester Synthetic oils is the great film strengths they give you, even at low viscosity. On a manufacturers data sheet, these will be the HTHS values (high temperature high sheer or cP at 150 degrees). THIS IS A MEASURE OF THE PROTECTION YOU CAN EXPECT IN HOT NASTY AREAS, LIKE THE CYLINDER WALL. For example, a 30 to light 40 weight oil has to have a minumum HTHS of 2.9, and a 20 weight needs to have a minumum of 2.6. If you look at an ester oil like Redline (http://www.redlineoil.com/pdf/4.pdf), their 5W20 oil has an HTHS of 3.3, 5W30 is 3.8, and 10W40 is 4.7!

More examples: An oil needs a minimum HTHS of 3.7 to make heavy 40 to 60 weight. Just for the record Maxima Extra Ester Synthetic (my favorite motorcycle oil), has a HTHS of 5.5 (!) in 15W50 weight. Honda HP4 in 20W50 weight gets a respectable 4.5 (from what I can tell by the smell HP4 has a fair bit of ester in it......I just wish it was still API SG like it was a couple of years ago, and not SJ like it is now).

What does this mean???? It means that with ester synthetics you CAN safely run a thin oil that will give you more horsepower by not bogging the cank, yet you are still getting the protection in critical areas of a much thicker oil. (You can have the best of both worlds!)

 

Way to much research for me, I'll just keep using what the manufacturer recommends. Far as having to many different oils around, big deal. I farm so we have several different oils around anyway between diesel tractors and hydraulic oils, transmission oils and 2 stroke for the chainsaws whats a couple more as long as I now they are good. 2 or 3 quarts of oil per year is all you would need for most quads anyway. I never have had to add oil between changes on any Honda or Yamaha I've had.

 

Just for comparison.......5W30 dino Penzoil (what you will probably get if you take your car to a Jiffy Lube type place for an oil change) has a HTHS of 3.0 (remember 2.9 is the minimum required for a 30 to light 40 weight), compared to Redline's 3.3 for its 5W20!

 

Who's talking cars and all that specifications and crap. We are talking Honda's quads I presume, and what the dealer recommends.