Search the Community

This reminds me of a story, co-worker who passed away while riding his bike (heart attack, then through a ditch and fence) finally got him a harley. Had to have harley oil, I asked him if harley actually owned their own oil or a label maker? He asked what I used and told him Rotella T6 5w-40, he couldn't believe it like many others. street bikes, track bikes and dirtbikes, many hard miles and lots of data to back it up. So he bought the harley oil to make sure it wouldn't hurt his engine. oh well...

Twelve pages of results for Rotella. http://www.cbr1100xx.org/forums/index.php?/search/&q=Rotella&search_and_or=or

Actually, diesel oil is accidentally good lubricant for motorcycle powerplants. I thought everyone knew that. Something like Shell Rotella 5w/40 had or still has JASO MA specification, so it is even for motorcycles with wet clutch, transmission as well. Except it is irrelevant in this case because traditionally HDs had separate lubrication systems for engine, transmission and primary. There might be powerplants like that from other makers, but vast majority has just one lubrication system, not three, and that dictates oil specifications. So, HD engine oil has evidently not much to do with traditional "motorcycle oil" because requirements are vastly different. HDs have, at least, air cooled cylinders with big bores with necessary generous piston to cylinder clearance becouse that tend to run hot like fuck. Diesel engines of semi truck have huge 130-160 mm bores, and under full power for 30 minutes or better climbing Independence Pass do run hot as fuck as well. It requires generous piston to cylinder clearance as well. Hence oil specifications. So, diesel oil is better match, and on the top, is widely available. Walmart, truck stops, etc will have it. 24/7. Motorcycle dealers? Not so much. I don't see anything surprising 8n what they suggest. And you? You'll never admit you were wrong, so couple pages of Latino Bull Shit is coming next.🤪

That bike was more clunky than it should have been, my guess is that the clutch brake thing, whatever it's called, had worn out. I remember on your 2000 if the clutch was held more than a second or so the clutch would completely stop and sometimes wouldn't go into gear, like when the engine is off. My '97 was very clunky on Rotella, a little less on bike specific oil, and pretty decent on the current super special race oil. The shifts are amazingly smooth, like it just wants to be in the next gear.

No, I refuse to disrespect our dinosaurs like that. I think it was Castrol motorcycle spec 10-40 dino oil, don't remember the exact flavor. '4T' stands out in my mind, but I use Rotella T4 in a lot of shit so that might be clouding my memory. The current Bird has some super duper fancy synthetic 'race' shit that was ridiculously expensive, but it looks and smells pretty. And it did make it shift much more smoothly.

I stopped reading here. It is hopeless. You are natural born IDIOT. There is absolutely no hope for you. BTW, I still have damaged crank and piston. And btw, at that time I was using either rotella 5w/40 or mobil1 motorcycle spec 10w/40. I switched to thinner later after rebuilt engine was broken in ( new rings) on cheap dino oil. That took one day on the track. Once again, for those who are new to this fucked up tread, damaged chain scrapped enough plastic from cam guides to clog oil pump's mesh screen. Number 4 rod bearing blew up and top ring partially sized on piston 4. Clear signs of oil starvation, those parts are on tail end of oil delivery path. Pretty simple for anyone who has a clue. Engine had 500 miles when that happened. Other than those things everything else looked fine. More Bull Shit coming your way from my Cuban admirers.

Probably 5-40, I don't think there's a 20 available for diesels. After a lot of research I'm running Rotella T6 5-40 in mine year round. The only real downside I know of with running an oil with a large spread like 5-40, compared to 15-40, is that the additives are more compromised. But according to lots of used oil analysis, despite the 7.3 being hard on oil, that stuff does well even out to pretty high mile change intervals. I won't suggest going past 7k intervals just cuz, but the UOAs I've seen say that it's perfectly safe. The more it leaks or burns and has to be topped off the longer the oil will go. Even tho it turns black & scary looking, replacing even a small amount adds lots of life to the oil. Some big rigs have an on board oil change system that replaces about 2 of the 10-11 gallons of oil in the engine automatically and that small amount about doubles the change interval.

Well, I guess it has changed. There are now three grades of synthetic t6, 0w/40, 5w/40 and 15w/40. Last two have motorcycle jaso ma/ma2 specifications. https://rotella.shell.com/en_us/products/full-synthetic-and-blend-oil/t6-full-synthetic.html My company runs synthetic 5w/30 in 15 liter Cummins and couple older Cats.

My memory is off as well. I had the last few changes done by a pro who is a friend of mine that used some full synthetic he runs in his company's rigs. It has been a while. First number changed, not the second? https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/shell-rotella-t6-5w-40-full-synthetic-heavy-duty-diesel-engine-oil-1-gallon-550045347/11461091-p?product_channel=local&store=6341&adtype=pla&product_channel=local&store_code=6341&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=Cj0KCQjwncT1BRDhARIsAOQF9Lkpv_CmdA-4BLbLyWWmH-sIjEXbKD6NKPXU0QfUxZ7Xmfs1CVMWZtwaAvrkEALw_wcB https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/shell-rotella-t6-15w-40-full-synthetic-heavy-duty-diesel-engine-oil-1-gallon-550050467/12043805-p?product_channel=local&store=6341&adtype=pla&product_channel=local&store_code=6341&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=Cj0KCQjwncT1BRDhARIsAOQF9LlLWTzGqJqV0aD9RHbOPZGGHfdk2Zxl3TNjxBQxEBTFfIxldyeUCvQaAjmcEALw_wcB

Lol. That subject has been beaten to death, he knows very well how it went, so to bring it again after almost 3 years,,,,there was nothing polite about it. But of course I'm the one who is an asshole. Lol. Those two very fine gentleman are never guilty of anything, they are intellectually honest and well intended 24/7. IIRC rotella t6 comes only in 5w40 grade so,,,,

...straight up polite question with no insults. Me too @tomek , were you running a lighter oil? I used to get freaked out about my one mechanic had me go down to 5W-20? Rotella T6 for winter in my 7.3L diesel. Right now I'm considering trying the T6 in my XX for this year.

I never ran T6, I used the older Rotella. If I were gonna use it today I'd probably go with T6.

You are annoying, miserable, petty cuban piece of shit. Worse than 5 pre-pmsed women. You bring something from 2017 because your sore ass syndrome runs that deep. Twenty seventeen. lol. I don't wanna get into this so just shortly. Damaged camchain scraped enough plastic from camguides to clog mesh screen of oil pump's pick up. #4 rod bearing failed and 4 piston suffered partial seizure. Those are on tail end of oil feed food chain. Oil iirc rotella 5w/40. It carries jaso ma specs. Super hawk, you should concentrate on things you know best, like resurrection of 50 years equipment, valve jobs without head removal and things of that nature. Now you gonna shit on my vfr painting project because that's you, just what you normally do. Having no idea about particular subject won't stop you from talking.

...actually you guys talking about the Rotella T6 got my attention. That's what I ran in the F250.

It's supposedly super special great oil, but normally I wouldn't spend that kinda $. I did it as a last attempt before deciding that there is definitely something up with the clutch that needs investigating. The shifting smoothness compared to the M1 15-50 makes it worth the $, but if my clutch does have an issue it might shift as well with the cheaper oil once that's cured. If any of you would shoot a pic of your clutch through the oil filler hole it might help me ID what's in there without taking it apart, mine may have an aftermarket clutch. Also, if you have a way to measure the stroke of the clutch while you're there that could be quite helpful. One of my previous bikes, maybe my first '97BB, had a noticeable improvement with bike spec 10-40 (I think it was Castrol synthetic) compared to Rotella 15-40.

Don't know. The whole engine came out of CBRbear's whitebird, I think that's his name. HIs bike was super farkled, no idea if he raced it. My previous '97 was clunky on Rotella 15-40, others said they had the same experience with the early Birds and that oil and recommended a change. From recollection that one didn't have much drag to it, just stiction. The clutch actuator was kinda shitty and wouldn't fully disengage when I got the bike so it's possible that the clutch was overheated just from traffic driving and having it drag.

There is a big change on the horizon for diesel oils.New ultra low sulfur diesel fuel,plus new 2007 EPA spec diesel motors demend new spec oil,CJ-4 I believe. Whether those new oils will still work well in motorcycles is a unknown.

Weird, it's always $19.97 here. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Shell-Rotella-T6-5W-40-Full-Synthetic-Heavy-Duty-Diesel-Engine-Oil-1-gal/102646780

Rotella T6 Synthetic Diesel Motor Oil 5W-40 CJ-4, 1 Gallon - Pack of 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LH7L0KS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_h2sgCbZSH2VCA Its $22.50 per gal and $56 for the 2.5 gal jugs near me. Saw it for that while getting oil and filter for my wifes car Saturday

You can run 5-40 year round in the 7.3, probably in the 6.0 too. It's a bit more spendy, but not crazy. Walmart has the Rotella T-6 for $20/gal. and there's often rebates available. Walmart also has the Motorcraft filters pretty cheap and it's highly recommended to run them. Have an oil analysis at 5k and you'll likely find that you can go much further safely, or just read other people's analysis and make a semi informed decision. HotShot and Archoil additives, along with some others, are said to free up the spool valves on a 6.0. 5-40 may do the trick without additives. With 15-40 my injectors would stick below 80 degrees, with 5-40 they're pretty good to about 65, but it's a totally different deal compared to the 6.0 injectors. AE seems to be the holy grail and I'd love to have one, but they're spendy. I spent about $60 on Torque Pro, the dongle, & a cheapo tablet. If you have an android phone or radio you can use them as the 'gauge cluster'. The only thing I couldn't see is the injector pulse width, but I didn't try to figure out why it wouldn't just work. I might try at some point. It's nice to know that the ICP and other control stuff is doing the right thing. My main thing is to watch the trans temp when I'm towing my boat, at 13k lbs and over 13' tall it's a hearty load. The transmission programming in the '02 is pretty smart and it seems to keep the temp in check without my input, earlier ones weren't as good. The 6.0 auto is said to be pretty bulletproof, and it has a much bigger cooler than the 7.3. If not for the emissions crap the 6.0 would be the better choice over all. That engine is great once you address the things that will kill it, the trans is great, the truck is newer & nicer. The later 6.0, like your '06, is a bit better than the early ones. Mapmod: the 7.3 will de-fuel at around 25psi boost, safety thing. If your exhaust pressure gets that high and you do the mod it'll de-fuel cutting back your peak power. AE should let you see your EBP so you'll know if you'll be hitting that before you do the mod. I don't think a stocker will, but different people report different boost and EBP with supposedly stock engines. Another way to fool the MAP is with a resistor instead of connecting it to the EBP tube. There's other super cheap power mods like putting a resistor in the oil temp sensor line, resistor in the ICP line, and others. A highly recommended longevity mod for the 7.3 is a Ford AIS air filter. The stock air boxes tend to become leaky. If the box is good and you have a good filter they do a fine job, the AIS is a 'severe duty' system with a finer high capacity filter. Might be the only cool looking high capacity thing we can legally have in California.

I've tried 2 different local Walmart's a few times over the past week or so and Rotella Synthetic is nowhere to be found in the big jug. Just the 1 Qt size. Do any of you know if they are going to quit selling the 4 Qt jugs? Did I miss a post somewhere or do my local stores just suck?

I read a long ass write up by some oil specialist about gas engine oils and what I took away from it was to use 0-40 Pennzoil platinum in damn near everything. The Rotella T-6, in my mind, would also fall under the category of one size fits almost all. Lots of people on the Cherokee forum are using T-6 and oil analysis are coming back very good.

I was using the Rotella T6 5w40 in the bird, starts smooth when cold. Last time I used the Castrol bike oil https://smile.amazon.com/Castrol-10W-40-Synthetic-Motorcycle-Bottle/dp/B008MISDH4/

T6 is the 'go to' oil for lots of people, and not just for diesels. I've seen really good analysis from using it in the Jeep 4.0 as well as a few others. It's fairly cheap for the quality. Never tried it in a bike, but it shouldn't have any clutch issues. Edit: the Rotella I've used in bikes is the older 15-40 (I think it's T4) and not synthetic. Used it in: CB750, SuperHawk, Seca Turbo, XX, and several others. It's also been my go-to for every inboard boat engine, motorhome, and other vehicles. With the cars I've recently moved to Pensoil Platinum 0-40 because of some tests I saw on it combined with a write-up by a lubrication engineer.

Rotella T6 goes for on average $19 -$21 for 4qt jug at walmart and $28 or so at auto parts store