Rotella...

[skiandclimb]

Thoughts on running Rotella?

Discuss!

[backMARKr]

My dad was a big fan of it in his commercial trucks with big ole Cummins diesels.

[vnvbandit]

Alot of west coast peeps run Rotella T. In fact my son has used it in all his bikes for quite a few years now. There Is alot of discussion about Rotella on many forums.

[Super Dave]

Sure, ran it in lots of bikes.  Has had zinc in it, but that's starting to change with the new emissions for current diesels.  I believe that boron or boric acid is the replacement.  The Rotella T Synthetic is good too, but it's only a Group III oil.  It's classified as a "synthetic" for marketing reasons because of a court case years ago, but don't mistake it for something that is an actual synthetic.  But, for the cost, it's really good stuff.

[skiandclimb]

So, is it ok to run in a modern 4 stroke then? I have known many folks who do run it in their bikes, but never knew any official info with regards to it's capabilities vs. high grade racing syn.

The reaosn I ask is a buddy of mine wants to run it in his street bike, and he asked me what I thought.  I told him honestly, that I didn't know all the facts.  His quesitons made me wonder if it would be good to run in my racee bike- hence the post!

Thanks guys!

[Super Dave]

So, is it ok to run in a modern 4 stroke then?

Yes.  The oil pressure of modern diesels is in the thousands of PSI on the high pressure oil side of the pump, and Rotella is recognized as a very good oil for that application.   

[daviid]

ive been using rotella in my SV's for about 2 years now. its great

[Gixxerblade]

Make sure you buy the blue bottle. That's the gooder stuff.

[Sklossmonster]

I ran the synthetic Rotella T in my race and track bikes for several years with no problems whatsoever. I have a friend who's a petroleum engineer and he told me the OLD synthetic Rotella T was perfectly capable of handing our needs, BUT as Dave mentioned there have been some changes.  According to my friend it's time to switch to actual motorcycle oil.  Now I use the Maxima Race oil.

[Mike829]

I can back Skloss up on that, i bought his 750 and continued using the old blue bottle.  after 3 yrs of racing and CR and 5k miles between us it started missing the occasional shift so i had it opened up over the winter and it only had rounding on the dogs, everything else looked great.  i have had an engine failure on silkolene, i thought it was great i won free oil then a fresh engine spun a rod bearing in less than 500mi!  i have a 08 cbr which calls for 10-30 so i think i'll go with honda's own synth stuff unless someone has any good ideas????????????????????? anyone want to buy some silkolene?

[Cowboy 6]

Silkolene is good oil. Maybe the bearing wasn't clearanced correctly...

[Mike829]

What about the new rotella T6? i've seen some internet buzz over its new JASO MA rating which a wetclutch requirement???

[Super Dave]

What about the new rotella T6? i've seen some internet buzz over its new JASO MA rating which a wetclutch requirement???

New T6 should be for the newer diesel stuff to work with the new emissions...reduced zinc and boron as a replacement.  Don't have a perfect answer. 

[Grasshopper]

I can back Skloss up on that, i bought his 750 and continued using the old blue bottle.  after 3 yrs of racing and CR and 5k miles between us it started missing the occasional shift so i had it opened up over the winter and it only had rounding on the dogs, everything else looked great.  i have had an engine failure on silkolene, i thought it was great i won free oil then a fresh engine spun a rod bearing in less than 500mi!  i have a 08 cbr which calls for 10-30 so i think i'll go with honda's own synth stuff unless someone has any good ideas????????????????????? anyone want to buy some silkolene?

Do you really think the trans failed because of the oil? I doubt it.

[Mike829]

Do you really think the trans failed because of the oil? I doubt it.

the rod bearings aren't in the trans.  could've been a clearance issue like cowboy said.  the trans had less than normal wear running on rottela considering the pounding over the years that skloss and then myself put on it.  oh, so to answer your question- no, i don't think the trans failed (it never did fail) because of oil.