I broke my rubi in on flat trails, spending equal time in D1 and D2, changed the oil when the light came on at 100 miles (to early if you ask me) as the filter will trap any metal. The thing holds more oil than my F-350 4x4 does! I ran 10W 40 in it for another 500 miles and changed it over to AMSOIL 10W40 motercycle oil and zeroed the oil change light.... havent touched it since and its still puring perfect... and yes, 5 minute min warm up!!! my stock 1991 XR250R sill runs like day one even after i lost count of mileage after 24,000 miles of serious useage thanks to Amsoil!

 

I should also add, let it WARM UP! I found this out after someone tried to break into my nebors place and I jumped on my rubi with my shotgun and took off after them down the road, the second it started i floored in in D1 while pushing in the choke.... no problems until we hit the road and i had to slow down for a turn at the bottom of a hill, when i let off the throttle at 50MPH on a stone COLD engine the tranny grinded so loud i thought it would BLOW UP!!! It was 10000 times louder than rolling down a hill backwards in low range!!! I never got close enough to take out there rear tires but was able to give a description to the cops. My rubi returned to normal after it warmed up but man oh man did it sound BAD!

 

I know these are all opinions, so heres mine.

I let everything warm up. We did not beat our Rubicon but used the trans in all modes alot while breaking it in. We drove it easy and we drove it hard. We did not baby it and we did not beat it. I like to call it "exercising" a new vehicle. It is as important to decell with a new engine as it is to accellerate. You need to break in "both sides" of the engine. Maintaining a steady speed is bad.

I changed the oil the first time at 100 miles. I have used only Valvoline 10w40. My oil changes consist of new oil, new oil filter, both o-rings and both drain plug gaskets every time I change the oil. At 500 miles I changed the oil again and have changed the oil every 500 miles since. At 1200 miles I adjusted the valves and replace the valve cover gskts. At 2400 miles, I adjusted the valves, flushed the cooling system and filled it with extended life (like "Dex-Cool") coolant and distilled water, 50/50 mix. I also changed the front and rear differential fluid and filled the with 100% synthetic gear oil.

I guess if I change the oil too often I have waisted a little money, oh well. When I drain the oil it is still clean but the filter seems to be a little darker in color than the new one. We now have 2900 miles on our Rubicon and it runs perfect. The only two things that have gone wrong with this ATV is a weld on the rear rack and we cracked one of the floor-boards. A good friend welded the rack for us and a new floor board cost $22 with tax.

This next oil change I am going to use Valvoline's new ATV oil. It does have the same rating as Honda GN-4 (contails more copper and other heavy metals than the newer rated oils and also contains friction enhancers for the clutch).

When the oil change light come on I just reset it, it means nothing to me.

This has been a great ATV and I am sure it will be for a long time.

 

The oil change interval comes on at the initial 100 mile change, and roughly every 600 miles or so after that. Mileage will vary because it works on hours, not miles. Your dealer has an oil viscosity vs. temperature chart in the shop manual. I suspect but don't know for sure it may be in the owner's manual also. Because the rubie's tranny uses motor oil as hydraulic fluid, the oil viscosity becomes very important, especially in temperature extremes. 10-40 has the widest range of temperatures. But even that's too thick here in MN in the winter. If it gets much below freezing the heavy oil really starts to slow them down, and they take forever to warm up. About right for summer though. If I'm not mistaken it's gotta be pretty warm outside before 20-50 becomes acceptable, and you certainly wouldn't want have it in there in the cold Rattner. BTW, Honda has recently introduced a 0-30 oil for the Rincon (another fluid tranny), which according to the chart is good up til 70F!! For the best performance use the right weight oil for the temperature. So Rattner, how do you like it? Is it broke in yet?

 

I use 10-40 only in the winter time. In the summer I use 20/50, air temp is usually 95-103 on an average day. Its about time for me to do an oil change anyway.

 

i use 10W40 both winter and summer as with liquid cooling the block is the same temp in any season and the thing would boil over before 10W40 lost it touch

 

I won't run any motor hard until it is broken in.