Hi Everyone!

This is my first question/post, be easy on me.

I've been using the Suzuki 4-cycle oil for the last 5k miles in my 2011. I live in north Mississippi, where it stays nice and hot. The shop did not have any today. I went to Walmart and bought " Valvoline ATV 10W-40 4 stroke oil". It meets the owners manual requirements with the exception of "JASO T 903", which is a clutch and transmission lubricant.

What do you think, should I use it or not?

Thank you,
Jim396

I have seen the list of the 4 oils, did not see them at Walmart. I made a purchase, but I think I've made a mistake.

I'm going to look again when I take this oil back. If not I will go into Memphis and look. Traffic is horrible up there, alot different than the pastures and cotton fields I'm used to.

Just finished cleaning my bike, (I use Pledge), and I took the plug out of the little tube by the battery vent tube. Nasty oil stuff came out. Thanks for the tip!

Tractor Supply has it. 15/40. About $13.00/ gallon.

Jim, what part of Ms are you in?  I'm ~30-45 minutes N of you.

Like Verslagen said, Rotella T or T6 is the oil of choice around here.  It has close to the proper amount of zinc (ZDDP) already in it.  Check out the ZDDP thread in the tech section.  Zinc lubes your cam and keeps it happy.  There's no bearings around the cam.  It rides on the soft aluminum head.  The zinc will prevent premature wear.

If it has friction modifiers it will slip the clutch.

Jim396 wrote on 07/02/14 at 13:46:02:


You will probably want to add some Redline ZDDP to that oil. The issue is, we have an "old style" engine with flat tappets and "old technology" that requires zinc additive to reduce wear. I was listening to a local car talk show recently with a forensic oil chemistry lab guy and he was talking about how older cars (and bikes) need at least 1200ppm zinc otherwise the tappets and cams wear out prematurely even with the new oils because the new oils aren't designed for older engines. You can get Redline from Amazon.

Check boat shops.