Just to clarify - I'm going on what I have read on here and rotella seems to be preferred by people who seem to know what they are talking about.      # note other similar oils here are $30 to $40 ish for a gallon

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 08/01/12 at 05:28:34:


Rotella is used for 2 stroke diesel engines,Not recommend by shell for gasoline motorcycles,That says it all.

bill67 wrote on 08/01/12 at 05:42:05:




It says what you want it to say while you ignore what it really says,
Doesnt add to your credibility to ignore a very clear statement & pretend the statement you posted was all there is on the subject. I HOPE you just overlooked the part Im posting,,

While we have a Rotella range of oils (Rotella DD+ 40 and Rotella DD+ 50) in Australia, they are suitable for use only in Detroit Diesel 2 stroke engines, and as such cannot be compared to the American Rotella T. Rotella T is a universal (as opposed to diesel specific) engine oil, making it suitable for all types of 4 stroke engine (heavy duty diesel and both motorcycle and passenger car petrol engines.

 
Bill, you misquote him.   He said if you call Shell they won't recommend it.  

He got called on that one by the way, so let's see what he comes up with.


Justin,

A "spark plug diesel" can be a lower compression diesel engine, these are sometimes of the two stroke variety.   They can get twice as many power strokes per minute that way, but the intake charge is contaminated with some exhaust gases from the last power stroke.   They also have to dump off twice the amount of combustion heat input compared to a 4 stroke diesel.  

These engines are mostly marine diesel engines and they burn very crude low grade thick type oils.   But they are very cheap to run and they have a whole ocean full of cooling water to keep them from melting down.

A compression fired diesel is a very high compression 4 stroke engine, so much so the air gets literally red hot due to compression heating.   At this very high compression level, the injectors then shoot in the fuel mist that instantly ignites and burns.

Sounds fairly hairy, doesn't it?    Folks here http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=270799 say it reaches 614 degrees Celsius due to compression heating in a relatively low compression 16:1 VW four stroke glow plug type diesel engine.   The real open road big diesel rigs commonly run 20:1 compression ratios --- and wait, there's more.

Let's take that same engine and supercharge it to 20 something psi of intake pressure then compress that pre-compressed air charge 20:1 and see what you get.  

Why do that?   MORE POWER AND TORQUE from the same displacement engine of course .....

Rotella oils live very long lives in completely hellish conditions in their diesel world.   The oil is built to take this hell for 10,000 miles at a shot (and this is a minimum sort of mileage number, btw).  

Our little low compression low operating temperature motorcycle engines are nothing to this oil, a walk in the park.    Plus, we change the oil every few thousand miles which is a total joke to the additive packages the Rotella oils carry.

bill67 wrote on 08/01/12 at 06:29:44:


Selective mis-quoting billshutter.

Quote:


And no where does it mention T6

There is a wiki for the 250 Ninja, and Rotella T6 synthetic comes highly recommended from those folks. The 250 Ninja until about 2006 was red-lined at 14000, changed in 2007 to 13000 with (supposedly) a 14K limiter.

When I got my 2007 250 Ninja it was prone to the fairly common wet clutch problem of clutch sticking after it sat for a while. That's the problem where, when the bike is shifted into gear the first time on startup, it jumps and stalls the engine. It also "breaks" the clutch free, and all is well afterwards. I put the Rotella T6 in it after its 600 mile maintenance, and while the clutch still sticks a little it usually breaks free without stalling the engine now. I cannot say for sure the Rotella did the job, or perhaps it just got better as I used it.

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 08/01/12 at 06:58:04:




Detroit Diesels are common in tugboats, & 18 wheelers, & on frac pumps,
Ive never seen a spark plug diesel, I guess theyre out there,,IDK, but the article said the oil hadnt been tested in a spark fire engine, so, only diesel applications were recommended,, Thats why I asked the difference in oiling needs for spark plug fired engines( I thot they meant gasoline) ..
IDK how much different the heat issue is for a 2 stroke vs a 4.. but as you point out, it fires at TDC, every time,, so, yea,, twice as much fire to handle.,.so, if the oil is okay in a 2 stroke diesel,, Id think it would handle a 4 stroke gas,, the article said it hasnt been tested,, not that it wouyldnt work,