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Rotella question

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I’m my experience, riding, racing, doing all my own and more than a few others maintenance along the way…2 stroke/4stroke/lawn equipment/marine/and some light aircraft, the best oil is fresh oil. I do run synthetics mostly, personal choice, no real mechanical reason, and have many, many miles over the years on rotella t6, and mobil 1, and lots of Dino oils in power equipment, and have never had or seen an oil ‘type/weight’ related engine failure/or wear problem in a motorcycle, marine, or power equipment, engine. The wider the viscosity range ie 5w-40 vs15w-40, the more ‘modifiers’ there are in the base oil, and if you’re one of the oil testing guys, you’ll generally notice that the viscosity breaks down faster on the wider range oils, caused by nothing more than what’s commonly referred to as shear, caused by the operation of the wet clutch and transmission gears commonly found in motorcycles. The narrow viscosity range oils, will not show as much viscosity breakdown at the same mileage as wider range oil. Fresh oil is your engines best friend. If you’re using Jaso ma/ma2 oil and your clutch is slipping, your clutch is worn out.
 
Reports. I can not find my latest's one with two additional test . first two 387 , and 27xx are BMW branded oil . Everything else is T6 that did better than BMW branded Shell oil
 

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Oil analysis will tell you everything you need to know about how your lubricant choice is working and how well your motor or gearbox is functioning . When working fleet equipment every oil using component on the machinery was sampled at every service , service intervals were adjusted for maximum life of the lubricant and machines were traded if they had issues that caused excessive wear problems and in 50 years I can probably count the number of engines I overhauled on equipment I maintained . The goal is to make it run as long as it will without overhauls . And almost every new machine we bought was switched to another lubricant choice other than what the manufacture recommended . They are in business to get your money , not give you the best bang for your buck .
 
I've mentioned this on other oil debates about T6 in 5W-40, 15W-40. I did some research on the option of doing a 50/50 mix of the two viscosities of T6. I even emailed Shell on the issue, and I actually received a response that it was totally fine to run a mix of those two oils. The only caveat mentioned was the obvious one of not going too far outside the viscosity range for the specific engine application. I wish I had saved that response to attach to this and other threads about T6...and frankly other similar oil viscosity discussions. However, you can also find a ton of overwhelming evidence that confirms the ability to mix two different viscosities but with one warning...the oils should be the same brand AND version...AND remaining within a reasonable viscosity window for a given engine application. Even though you could get away with mixing different brands and versions, it's not recommended due to different additive packages and base stocks.

Obviously some of the situations already mentioned about using either one of the T6 viscosities in our motorcycles that recommend 10W-40 probably works just fine in Texas and probably most places. However, it's kind of nice to have a blend that introduces 5W for cold starting with the 40 weight additive package present in both. I'm not claiming that doing this mix is some kind of requirement, but it's good to know you can mix them with no issue.

And for some time now, all T6 oil jugs even have a pic of a motorcycle to confirm JASO compatibility. Another point of concern your hear sometimes is that the price of T6 reflects some kind of a lack of quality. That's just not the case. Shell is a huge, global, oil behemoth. Who knows how many tankers worth of lubrication oils they distribute all over the planet. Volume allows more competitive pricing compared to the low production volume and packaging of the more boutique brands of oil.

And while we can joke about the proverbial oil discussion thread pitfalls, I think this one is more focused on what viscosity you can or shouldn't run in our bikes.
 
Before forks had all the knobs and gizmos thats how you tuned your suspension , type F atf is around 5 wt , dexron 2 was 10 wt and the dexron 3 was around 15 . Mix different oils to get the results you wanted , the fish oil comes labeled by viscosity but the atf is a much better quality oil , like use it for years without it degrading while the fish oil needs changed and flushed regularly .
 
I have ran Rotella T6 15-40 in all my bikes it is synthetic and is JASO rated. It even has a picture of a M/C on the container. It shifts smooth without getting clunky longer than other oils I have used.
Screenshot_20260530-174932_Google.png
 
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I left the BMW forum because of this . Provided all lab tests showing T6 outperformed the BMW branded oil . Got every one riled up , and a few called me an idiot.
Thought to my self here it is in black / white with tests from not one bike but two bikes from BMW with totally different riders riding the same 1250 motor.
Called cheap , but I'm spending $45 on a lab test , and $27 on oil that surpasses OEM recommendation in testing. If the OEM BMW branded oil was closer to realistic oil prices I would of never bothered with lab tests. It was a fun project though . Link if anyone wants to bother . However another member shared his oil samples in this link , and it follows my samples.

https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/topic/112574-blackstone-oil-sample/#comment-1215764
 
Bryan L said:
I left the BMW forum because of this . Provided all lab tests showing T6 outperformed the BMW branded oil . Got every one riled up , and a few called me an idiot.
Thought to my self here it is in black / white with tests from not one bike but two bikes from BMW with totally different riders riding the same 1250 motor.
Called cheap , but I'm spending $45 on a lab test , and $27 on oil that surpasses OEM recommendation in testing. If the OEM BMW branded oil was closer to realistic oil prices I would of never bothered with lab tests. It was a fun project though . Link if anyone wants to bother . However another member shared his oil samples in this link , and it follows my samples.

https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/topic/112574-blackstone-oil-sample/#comment-1215764
Click to expand...
I always find oil threads funny (and most other threads about using xx or yy product) because why do others care what I spend my money on for my bike? I don't care what they use, it is their money and their bike.

My sig on the K1600 forum:

2013 K1600GT
Don't listen to me. I'm just an internet idiot. I use car oil (Mobil 1 10w-40 High Mileage) with HiFlo air and oil filters, Super Tech synthetic 75w-90 gear oil, a car tire on the rear (205/50/17 Hankook Kinergy 4S2), a rear tire on the front (130/70/17 Bridgestone BT46), EBC brake pads, Peak European engine coolant, aftermarket coils (RMStator), and fill up with 87 octane fuel.
These are my choices, not my recommendations, and are posted for informational purposes only. I am not asking your permission, nor your opinion. I spend my money as I please, you spend your money as you please. Just go out and ride; don't worry about me. I am out riding, not worrying about you.
 
Bryan L said:
I left the BMW forum because of this . Provided all lab tests showing T6 outperformed the BMW branded oil . Got every one riled up , and a few called me an idiot.
Thought to my self here it is in black / white with tests from not one bike but two bikes from BMW with totally different riders riding the same 1250 motor.
Called cheap , but I'm spending $45 on a lab test , and $27 on oil that surpasses OEM recommendation in testing. If the OEM BMW branded oil was closer to realistic oil prices I would of never bothered with lab tests. It was a fun project though . Link if anyone wants to bother . However another member shared his oil samples in this link , and it follows my samples.

https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/topic/112574-blackstone-oil-sample/#comment-1215764
Click to expand...
Exactly why I make my own decisions on machinery maintaince , based on proven results , not the internet or manufactures recommendations . I have seen way too many failures in factory specifications . They are not always right and experience has showed me to change it as soon as it comes home . Maybe thats why most of my toys are 20 to 30 years old and still just fine . But bmw s are perfect , and they never make mistakes , just ask anybody . Rear ends that burst into flames are normal .
 
I've never jumped in on an oil thread as most folks get too ate up with it. Many moons ago I was at Skull creek for a STORM series scramble. I had always run 20/50 Valvoline in my XR 600, it was right at freezing that morning, couldn't hardly kick the thing to life. Went back to 10/30 for the rest of the winter much easier to kick.
Had a straight 6 in an old truck had very low oil pressure, maybe 5 psi at idle a bit more reved up. went from 10/30 to 20/50 and had significant increase in pressure.

There it is... Real world in the field oil test done by me with real results. I'm now an oil thread guru. And I use Blendzall on the meat when I grill.
 
I think I have pics of the WD40 can on the condiment table at a Gen I Jetting party many years ago with FZ1OA. Scoose Burgers! Great times with those guys!
 
I rebuilt a transmission on a trencher that was lubricated with water last fall also there were no bearings in it . It was extremely hard to shift and made really loud ugly noises and we bought it really cheap . 250 dollars latter it dug a couple thousand feet of trenches this winter . Still shifting fine and working as it should and holding the 85 -140 gear oil I put in it just fine . An old borg warner trans that uses the same gears and bearings as 60s jeeps , dealer parts wernt quite that cheap so I didnt buy them , old jeep stuff works just fine .
 
Cagiva 549 said:
I rebuilt a transmission on a trencher that was lubricated with water last fall also there were no bearings in it . It was extremely hard to shift and made really loud ugly noises and we bought it really cheap . 250 dollars latter it dug a couple thousand feet of trenches this winter . Still shifting fine and working as it should and holding the 85 -140 gear oil I put in it just fine . An old borg warner trans that uses the same gears and bearings as 60s jeeps , dealer parts wernt quite that cheap so I didnt buy them , old jeep stuff works just fine .
Click to expand...
Well if there are no bearings, then nothing needs to be lubricated, right????
 
When I was doing a 100-mile OCI on the Vespa after the water pump replacement, I did a little research and learned the marvels of Walmart's house brand full synthetic oil. In a scooter with a CVT you can just use regular old motor oil so this $3/qt stuff was great for frequent oil changes. The Vespa "requires" some weird viscosity that I can find in only one brand but since it only takes like 1.1 qt it's no big deal, but I decided to use the Walmart stuff for the Stellauto from now on since it's unlikely for it to ever go enough miles to really need another oil change.
 
I used 15w40 T6 in my 08 BMW K1200 and DR650 without issue. Since getting the Triumph, I've gone back to 4T motorcycle oil. I don't ride that many miles, usually just change the oil once a year. I've had my current bike almost 3 years, turned 7,000 miles last week. Never had an issue with T6, now just stocked up on 4T 10w50 when it was on sale. It'll last a couple of years.
 
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