Choosing the correct Oil for a wet-clutch Motorcycle

when you talk about Shell Rotella® T Triple Protection engine oil are you talking about the Heavy Duty Diesel oil?
that would save me a lot of cash.

 

Yes, the Rotella T 15W 40. Or you can also use the Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 or Mobil Delvac 1300 15W-40. I use the Shell Rotella T, never tried the others two.

 

Mobil Delvac 1300 15W-40, for me. three bikes and a cub cadet

 

Interesting post. I was just talking with a guy who takes care of 65 motorcycles with a motorcycle training school in Ottawa. He had done a bunch of research on oil as, by the nature of the business, there are beginners on the motorcycles, and beginners are hard on clutches.

He had decided on Valvoline ATV 10/40 oil, one of the reasons was that it contains Zinc (as K-moe mentions), it also contains Phosphorous (which fouls catalytic converters as K-Moe also mentions). He spoke with the reps at Valvoline, and apparently they had to call it ATV oil for this reason (so they would not get complaints about it fouling catalytic converters, works great in bikes with out cat conv's such as our old rides).

The guy I spoke with put it to the test. Half of his bikes received Valvoline ATV oil, the other half did not. After two years of this, he had never had a problem with the bikes that were filled with the ATV oil. He's now on year 5 and where this was a chronic problem before, he rarely has to change clutch plates any more.

This oil is a little pricey and hard to find in my area, but it is available.

 

when you say hard to find you mean the atv oil?
I went with Shell Rotella T its just under 14$ a gallon the motorcycle oil with the pritty picture of a motor cycle on it is $8.25 a quart. with a gallonof Shell Rotella T i get an oil filter change and an oil change. with the quart its 20$ an oil change 33$ vs 14$. not a hard choice where both oils are jaso rated for motorcycles. you do need to be carfull of other brands of diesel oils they are jaso rated but not for motor cycles

 

Here's a quote "Shell Rotella T is formulated to help maintain the efficiency of the latest vehicle-emissions technologies."

What this means is that it has reduced zinc and phosphorous (as it clogs catalytic converters) amongst a few other things. i.e. the "good stuff" has been removed to meet emission requirements.

Valvoline ATV 10w 40 is a non-synthetic oil that meets the JASO MA specs AND it contains zinc and phosphorous (the "good stuff" added, or left in). Great mixture for wet clutch applications, particularly in older mc's.

The motorcycle training school's test wasn't a scientifically controlled thing, but it was enough to convince me. A quick read through the Valvoline website and you can read through the lines...called ATV (as ATVs are off road vehicles with different emission requirements), but meant for any wet clutch application as long as it doesn't have a catalytic converter

It's about $7 a liter around here (about $25 per US gallon). Just a personal choice I thought I'd share here.

 

well i chose Mobil Delvac 1300 because it comes in a black jug and has a real nice spout. hows that for scientific

 

I wouldn't be so sure about that without looking at an oil analysis.

Here is a thread with analysis results from just a few days ago.

Yes there is less ZDDP than in the past (this is true of all diesel oils for roadgoing use), but it is still more than is in the typical in non-diesel, non-synthetic automotive (and motorcycle) oils. Shear stability is another factor that comes into play. Rotella T, and other diesel oils, have a much higher resistance to molecular shearing (which is a very good thing for our transmissions).

I've read neumerous reports that the Valvoline ATV oil is very prone to shear out of grade in a shared sump engine long before the next oil change is due (this may be due to the fact that the typical ATV does not roll down the highway at 70 MPH all day, so there would be less shearing expected in the intended application).

 

Good point K-Moe.

The motorcycle training school would be slow speed riding and limited to a few hours/day/bike.

 

I primarily use Yamalube 10w-40 in all my bikes. Never had a problem.

Dave Fox

 

I am going to add some information about gear oil for the final drive. The service manual specifies GL-4 for a very specific reason, GL_5 gear oils contain sulfur additives that are great for protecting steel gears, but eat gold-colored metal parts (copper, brass, zinc). For years I have simply gone with that recommendation, but everything is temporary.

I was entirely unaware that the additives in GL-5 gear oil have changed (so unaware that I didn't realize the changes happened about 20 years ago). The sulphur additives that are in the current crop of GL-5 gear oils are buffered, and will not damage the gold-colored parts in gearboxes and differentials, so go ahead and use a GL-5 oil.

The following paper is geared (lol) to Corvair owners (who's transmissions have bronze synchronizers, and a transmission and differential that share the same housing), but the information therin is accurate and the first few paragraphs provide an easy-to-read explanation. http://www.widman.biz/uploads/Transaxle_oil.pdf

Note that the reason for not using GL-5 in the corvair is specific to the synchronizer wear caused by the protective layer formed by the additives peeling away the underlying bronze when under load. The XJ final drive has all steel gears, so that is not something that can occur in our machines.

 

Thanks K-moe. Your "20 years behind" is still light years ahead!!
You are indeed the lube guru. That final drive oil with LSD (not the drug) additive was a GL-5, so I had additional concerns, which now have been aleived (again, not the drug)

 

Linked for posterity. This is still a good and relevant article.

http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/powersports-motor-oil-revised-archived.66638/

Thanks to slackard for recovering it from the nether.

 

Nope. I know exactly what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it.
Super Tech oil is great to use in a watercooled engine. I use it in my Truck. But it isn't going in my aircooled, shim-over-bucket, motorcycle engine.
None of the oils that I use or recommend are anywhere near being expensive (though I do miss the days of 79¢ quarts of Valvoline).

 

I am having a problem with my '85 XJ700. I just bought it 3 weeks ago and it has been running great. I decided to change the oil. I used Victory 20W-40 Semi-Synthetic. The bike now runs like crap. It shakes at low RPM when I get on the throttle. The bike acts like a big rig when the clutch is slipping ( I used to drive semis). I am going to use the Rotella and see what happens. What do you all think?

 

Synthetic oils are generally not recommended for our motorcycles, is that Victory oil made for automotive use or motorcycles?

I would drain out that synthetic oil and replace it with the Rotella. Make sure you put the correct amount in the engine, fill till you have a small bubble at the top of the window on your clutch cover bike on center stand.

 

+1 ^.

@k-moe: There are still places that sell a quart for $.79. It ain't worth a damn tho.

Gary H.

 

Got the oil at the closest motorcycle shop to my house. It's made for Victory motorcycles. It says on the bottle okay for clutches. But that may be for newer clutches. I doubt the clutch in this bike has been changed. I got the oil changed, but it's getting late and 6am comes fast. I will try it out tomorrow and reply with results.

 

However I didn't get the Rotella. I bought Motorcraft 15W-40 for Diesel trucks because it specifically says "not for use in gasoline engines with catayltic converters." From a previous post this means the zinc and phosphorus has not been taken out of the oil, which should be good for the clutch. Time will tell.

 

The zinc and phosphorous (ZDDP) isn't for the clutch, it's for the valvetrain and gearbox. The clutch problems occur when using oils with friction modifiers. The Motorcraft oil you chose is equivalent to the Rotella (perhaps a bit better in the ZDDP content), and will be more than fine to use. You may want to do short term "flush" with a cheap dino oli to help get rid of any remaining synthetic.