Dino Rotella T at seven dollars a gallon has both the additive packages for cam lobe flat tappet issues and as high a temperature threshold as any normal dino oil can offer.   It also has the detergent/dispersant and anti-foam packages that support long mileage diesel engines, so it will keep your small particulates in solution until you dump them out in the drain pan.

If you follow Charon's point -- rapid oil changes are the only method to remove mineral wastes from combustion products and fine air dust inhalation unless you use a bypass oil filtration rig.

OF, where you finding that $7.00 price tag? Ill get a boat load( row boat)?

If a guy drained his oil into a clean bucket & let it just sit, would the sand & crap just settle out? How long should it sit b4 it went back in the engine? Maybe a Salad Spinner with some coffee filters in it? LOL..

I suspect my bike was run with normal motorcycle oil for the 10,000 miles before I got it.  I popped in dino Rotella - shifting wasn't as good, but the oil dirtied up rapidly.  Changed after 800 miles because it looked dirty and the shifting just gave a faint sensation of not shifting as well.  Shifting back to it's previous level.  This wasn't a dramatic thing, but was pretty clear.

1000 miles on that oil and I changed to synthetic Rotella.  Dramatic improvement in shifting.  Have 500 miles on the synthetic and have noticed no change in shifting - if anything, the shifting is improving, which I can't account for.  

Given the superior performance in my bike of the syn Rotella, I'll keep using it.  Regardless of the occasional flak about it.  

The dust in the oil thing bothers me.  My teeth are ground flat from living in dust.  

So I need to come up with a change interval that gets the dust out suitably.  I'm not in a really dusty environment.  The air filter doesn't pick up much.  

Perhaps 1500 miles?  2000 miles?  I don't mind the cost of the Rotella synthetic.  It shift so much better and the shifting isn't changing over time.  So I suspect it's holding up very well, as one would expect.  

Any idea on suitable syn Rotella change intervals?

The syn Rotella has been nice enough running that I think I'll put it in my car & truck.

How about changing the oil, dumping into a clean bucket & running the oil thru a filter? I know you have the "How To" on getting hold of a filter base , oil pump & a pickup. Filter the oil up & in a coule thousand miles, dump the oil in the engine into a clean bucket, drop the filtered oil back in & run it. Its not "old & wo' out", but what about the acidity level from hydrocarbons & sitting around? Doesnt it get more acidic just sitting once its been run?

I hadnt even thot of just hooking the bike up to "Dialysis".

Most of us agree that it is wise to use an oil that is more robust than an automotive engine oil.  One of the more robust oils will likely add many miles to the cam chain life, as well as other parts.  Ordinary 10W-40 would be my last choice.  Diesel engine oil is a good choice, and I prefer the synthetic for its resistance to oxidation, especially at the hottest points inside the engine.

Motorcycle specific oil is different than automotive engine oil, diesel engine oil, or racing oil.  The question is where we really need that high priced stuff, and the answer seems to be that there are lower priced alternatives that give very good protection.

In very hot weather I prefer a 20W-50 or 15W-50 engine oil in our air cooled engines.  The average sump temperature is one thing, but the engine needs protection at the hottest points.

Mobil 1 racing oil is specifically not for wet clutches due to some of the antiwear agents they use (probably certain types of moly).  Chevron says not to use their Delo 400 due to the type of moly they're currently using.  Other oils with other types of moly work very well.  I use Schaeffer oil with a big load of moly (and 0.15% zinc), as do the engineers at Schaeffer in their motorcycles, and we get excellent results.  The Energy Conserving oils range from 0W-20 to 10W-30, so none will be in the 40wt range we need for these motorcycle engines.  

Most full flow filters have filtration ratings in the 20 micron range, and that is usually good for long engine life.  A bypass filter that filters down to the single digit micron range will give longer engine life, but the cost of the filtration system is hard to justify for most of us.  (Despite their advertising, there are no sub-micron filters.  If there were, they'd filter out the essential additives in the oil.)  A supermagnet on the filter or drain plug is a very good idea.  Industrial oil filters on parts with steel-to-steel contact, like gear boxes, often have magnets.  Expect to see a black "mud" of iron particles too small to be filtered out.  Hope you don't see anything big enough to be glittery.

Sounds like something to do when everything else is all done.. Ill never get to it..

bill67 wrote on 09/28/09 at 07:46:27:


I don't change mine more frequently, BUT, if I wanted to, I could actually afford to w/ Rotella T.
Hey, tons of MC riders use the stuff, and folks fairly new to the game need to know that they don't have to pay $8.00/quart or $100.00 to a stealer for a oil change...