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Valvoline ATV 10W-40 - I can't recommend it

26K views 52 replies 24 participants last post by  70monte 
#1 · (Edited)
Changed the oil before the ride today, and I think it lets the clutches slip too much. First time it's ever had trouble on hills and pulling up rocks. Going back to Honda oil.

EDIT: I have an 04 Rancher 400AT TRX400FA with the Hondamatic. I wanted to point that out because it's probably that the Hondamatic is picky about oil.
 
#2 ·
What year and model ATV do you have? Just curious
 
#6 ·
It's a 2004 TRX400FA (Rancher 400 AT). Having the Hondamatic probably makes it more sensitive than others.

This thing has always been like having cheat mode on hills. Climbs anything. But not yesterday. I got stuck on a rocks going up a hill a few times. It wasn't fun.

I'm assuming it's the oil because I changed it Saturday and it was fine before that.
 
#3 ·
Changed the oil before the ride today, and I think it lets the clutches slip too much. First time it's ever had trouble on hills and pulling up rocks. Going back to Honda oil.
Thanks for the info. I CAN recommend Honda HP4S motor oil. I've used it now for two oil changes in my 2016 Honda Rancher and I'm very impressed. I now have 73 hours and 680 miles on this oil change and the oil still looks as clean as the day I put it in, and I haven't had to add any either. I will change it soon, but I've noticed with HP4S the DCT transmission feels slicker and the engine sounds less labored in below-freezing start ups.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Thanks for the info. I CAN recommend Honda HP4S motor oil. I've used it now for two oil changes in my 2016 Honda Rancher and I'm very impressed. I now have 73 hours and 680 miles on this oil change and the oil still looks as clean as the day I put it in, and I haven't had to add any either. I will change it soon, but I've noticed with HP4S the DCT transmission feels slicker and the engine sounds less labored in below-freezing start ups.
Does that oil cost much, the Mobil 1 4T is $9.80 or so a qt at walmart and was wondering if it will work in any engine like say 300 fourtrax? I know what works VERY well for me but I was curious.

EDIT: I looked online and found that oil was MORE EXPENSIVE than lthe oil I'm running. On Amazon for 1 Qt its like 16.00. And read online reviews Bobs the oil guy I think, but I know they said its really nothing special just over priced. I see why Rusler doesn't recommend Valvoline atv oil. I know Honda contracts them out for their GN4 oil and it's the worst stuff there is, look for reviews and you will see.

Here is the review on the GN4 oil

Honda oil is made of the cheapest stuff on earth...
ByCharles Tateon December 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
Just how bad is brand specific oil? Well for Honda owners this oil is the worst, and perspective buyers should steer clear from it if they enjoy their engine.

I ride a 2001 CBR600 F4i, and I noticed after about 1500 miles on this cheap oil I got a slow leak. I'm not blaming the oil as that could be due to many different factors, but this is a super clean bike, with low mileage(7900) and on the previous oil it never leaked. While searching around the web I found some startling information regarding this "Pro" oil and I just had to rewrite my review based on what I found.

Pro Honda GN4 is made from the cheapest base stocks possible. I can't link the testing but if you look around you can find that this oil was tested against other budget motorcycle oils and against mid to high end motorcycle oils. The testing results revealed that this Pro GN4 oil was the absolute worst performer on about 10 different tests available across 15 different brands of oil. Long story short if you want long life out of your motorcycle you should simply look elsewhere. I'm not saying it won't work, but if you care about the machine you sit on and trust your life with you should do yourself a favor and upgrade to something else for the next oil change.

All of the tests revealed GN4 to be the lowest quality oil period. Honda contracts oil from whoever's willing to sell it to them the cheapest and meet the absolute minimum spec's possible for our bikes. They buy the lowest grade oil for the cheapest price, and throw their name on it and price it out as if it's quality oil you can count on, but in reality it's the riskiest oil you can run in your machine. Being the lowest performer in all tests simply means increase ware, reduced engine life, and more repairs if not replacement.

To add insult to injury I rode about 240 miles on the bike today to meet up with a few buddies. One of them had a CBR1000 with 190,000 miles on it going strong! Now that is why I purchased a Honda! The kicker of course is that he never ran Honda branded oil and he purchased the bike brand new. He's used a variety of different oils, after the initial Honda break in period and recommended a few big name brands.

After some talking he recommended anything that meets the bikes requirement that was sold by anyone other than Honda. Some brands mentioned were Mobil 1, Red Line, and Royal Purple. After looking around I found Red Line sells a 1 Gallon bottle for $60 shipped and decided it was worth it to at least try something high end. I intend to ride from NY to Panama Canal soon and after I put some miles on the Red Line fluid I'll leave a review there as well. It's Red Line 42405. It's a 4,000+ mile trip, and although I like to change my bike around 2,000 miles I might use the Redline for the entire ride there. Ride report coming soon!
I just absolutely don't believe that.

Tests proved it.....what tests? What data?

I understand that you're just repeating what you read, and I certainly understand that Honda is not infallible, but for Honda oil to be THAT bad it would cause all kinds of problems on machines that are still under warranty and Honda would incur the cost of fixing those problems.

I gotta call complete and utter BS on that entire spiel.

And I don't use GN4. I use Rotella. I've seen a lot of guys screech about what crappy oil it is too, but the 40+ year old tractors around here that are way past their serviceable lives, but are still running fine...yeah, those guys are ALL running Rotella.

Oil brands tend to start a lot of purse swinging. Keep it changed and I honestly don't think it matters if you use Supertech from Walmart or Amsoil.
I'm only saying my opinion for not running Honda oil (GN4) now the synthetic HP4S might be good oil, but I cant see paying 16.00 a QT for it on amazon though. That review was from a person on Amazon that ran GN4 oil to. My grandpa's 300 I checked the oil in it it doesn't have probably 5 hours on it from my uncle and its already turning brownish grey, that is also my reason for posting that. I try my best to help everyone the best I know how and I will continue to do so.

Please understand. If you can find proof to the contrary I'm wrong I'll remove my comment.

I found the results. Here they are, and there was another test done I'll try to find it, I specifically remember something said about Honda GN4 had alot of molly.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3762190/Honda_GN4_oil?
 
#4 ·
Interesting- thanks for sharing. I had thought about switching to the Valvoline, because it is easier to get (at Walmart), than going to the nearest Honda dealership. I know that I can order it online, but I hadn't gotten that far, yet. I've always used the Honda oil, so I'll stick with it.
 
#10 ·
Rustler I along with many members can truly tell you that synthetic atv oil is a GREAT CHOICE I run Mobil 1 $T in my 300 and it extended my drain intervals further than 600 miles, if you look around you'll find some good oils out there. Plus a synthetic will flow better when cold and lubricate better so you dont have to worry about anything.
 

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#11 ·
I run Valvoline ATV 10W-40 and it works just fine. My clutches absolutely don't slip. Not recommending it, and not not-recommending it, or whatever, just sayin' that it works fine in the 2016 Rancher AT.
 
#13 ·
I've used it in several manual clutch sport quads over the years, and my ATC 110 and it works fine. Like you say must just be something with the Hondamatic. With it's reputation of being finicky it's probably best to stick with Honda oil.

Rob
 
#16 ·
Changed the oil before the ride today, and I think it lets the clutches slip too much. First time it's ever had trouble on hills and pulling up rocks. Going back to Honda oil.
Hopefully when you switch back it returns to normal. Do let us know how it turns out....
I have some coming. Be here tomorrow. I'll update the thread after I change it out and go play on it a while.
 
#23 ·
My fiancee has a 2005 Honda Rancher 400 AT and it still shifts fine. We use regular Honda GN4 in it.

I tried the synthetic HP4S in my 2014 Rancher and while it seemed to work great, it made the engine tick like crazy and it's crazy expensive. I'm running Rotella T6 5W-40 in it now. It still ticks but not as bad. I may go back to the GN4 in it because the engine was a lot quieter on it.

Wayne
 
#24 ·
I have a 2011 irs 420 and just made the switch from valvaline to rottla t4 I was seeing alot of black clutch material in my oil filter and had some metal very fine at times I'm thinking it was do to the clutches slipping to I switched have also 20hr on those oil and still looks new compared to the valvaline it would be black by now so I would highly recommend the t4
 
#27 · (Edited)
Changed the oil before the ride today, and I think it lets the clutches slip too much. First time it's ever had trouble on hills and pulling up rocks. Going back to Honda oil.
Thanks for the info. I CAN recommend Honda HP4S motor oil. I've used it now for two oil changes in my 2016 Honda Rancher and I'm very impressed. I now have 73 hours and 680 miles on this oil change and the oil still looks as clean as the day I put it in, and I haven't had to add any either. I will change it soon, but I've noticed with HP4S the DCT transmission feels slicker and the engine sounds less labored in below-freezing start ups.
Does that oil cost much, the Mobil 1 4T is $9.80 or so a qt at walmart and was wondering if it will work in any engine like say 300 fourtrax? I know what works VERY well for me but I was curious.

EDIT: I looked online and found that oil was MORE EXPENSIVE than lthe oil I'm running. On Amazon for 1 Qt its like 16.00. And read online reviews Bobs the oil guy I think, but I know they said its really nothing special just over priced. I see why Rusler doesn't recommend Valvoline atv oil. I know Honda contracts them out for their GN4 oil and it's the worst stuff there is, look for reviews and you will see.

Here is the review on the GN4 oil

Honda oil is made of the cheapest stuff on earth...
ByCharles Tateon December 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
Just how bad is brand specific oil? Well for Honda owners this oil is the worst, and perspective buyers should steer clear from it if they enjoy their engine.

I ride a 2001 CBR600 F4i, and I noticed after about 1500 miles on this cheap oil I got a slow leak. I'm not blaming the oil as that could be due to many different factors, but this is a super clean bike, with low mileage(7900) and on the previous oil it never leaked. While searching around the web I found some startling information regarding this "Pro" oil and I just had to rewrite my review based on what I found.

Pro Honda GN4 is made from the cheapest base stocks possible. I can't link the testing but if you look around you can find that this oil was tested against other budget motorcycle oils and against mid to high end motorcycle oils. The testing results revealed that this Pro GN4 oil was the absolute worst performer on about 10 different tests available across 15 different brands of oil. Long story short if you want long life out of your motorcycle you should simply look elsewhere. I'm not saying it won't work, but if you care about the machine you sit on and trust your life with you should do yourself a favor and upgrade to something else for the next oil change.

All of the tests revealed GN4 to be the lowest quality oil period. Honda contracts oil from whoever's willing to sell it to them the cheapest and meet the absolute minimum spec's possible for our bikes. They buy the lowest grade oil for the cheapest price, and throw their name on it and price it out as if it's quality oil you can count on, but in reality it's the riskiest oil you can run in your machine. Being the lowest performer in all tests simply means increase ware, reduced engine life, and more repairs if not replacement.

To add insult to injury I rode about 240 miles on the bike today to meet up with a few buddies. One of them had a CBR1000 with 190,000 miles on it going strong! Now that is why I purchased a Honda! The kicker of course is that he never ran Honda branded oil and he purchased the bike brand new. He's used a variety of different oils, after the initial Honda break in period and recommended a few big name brands.

After some talking he recommended anything that meets the bikes requirement that was sold by anyone other than Honda. Some brands mentioned were Mobil 1, Red Line, and Royal Purple. After looking around I found Red Line sells a 1 Gallon bottle for $60 shipped and decided it was worth it to at least try something high end. I intend to ride from NY to Panama Canal soon and after I put some miles on the Red Line fluid I'll leave a review there as well. It's Red Line 42405. It's a 4,000+ mile trip, and although I like to change my bike around 2,000 miles I might use the Redline for the entire ride there. Ride report coming soon!
 
#32 ·
Now their HP4S synthetic might be good I havent tried it, if you want to pay 16.00 on amazon for it. I'm sure its cheaper other places. :D
 
#29 ·
Changed the oil before the ride today, and I think it lets the clutches slip too much. First time it's ever had trouble on hills and pulling up rocks. Going back to Honda oil.
Thanks for the info. I CAN recommend Honda HP4S motor oil. I've used it now for two oil changes in my 2016 Honda Rancher and I'm very impressed. I now have 73 hours and 680 miles on this oil change and the oil still looks as clean as the day I put it in, and I haven't had to add any either. I will change it soon, but I've noticed with HP4S the DCT transmission feels slicker and the engine sounds less labored in below-freezing start ups.
Does that oil cost much, the Mobil 1 4T is $9.80 or so a qt at walmart and was wondering if it will work in any engine like say 300 fourtrax? I know what works VERY well for me but I was curious.

EDIT: I looked online and found that oil was MORE EXPENSIVE than lthe oil I'm running. On Amazon for 1 Qt its like 16.00. And read online reviews Bobs the oil guy I think, but I know they said its really nothing special just over priced. I see why Rusler doesn't recommend Valvoline atv oil. I know Honda contracts them out for their GN4 oil and it's the worst stuff there is, look for reviews and you will see.

Here is the review on the GN4 oil

Honda oil is made of the cheapest stuff on earth...
ByCharles Tateon December 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
Just how bad is brand specific oil? Well for Honda owners this oil is the worst, and perspective buyers should steer clear from it if they enjoy their engine.

I ride a 2001 CBR600 F4i, and I noticed after about 1500 miles on this cheap oil I got a slow leak. I'm not blaming the oil as that could be due to many different factors, but this is a super clean bike, with low mileage(7900) and on the previous oil it never leaked. While searching around the web I found some startling information regarding this "Pro" oil and I just had to rewrite my review based on what I found.

Pro Honda GN4 is made from the cheapest base stocks possible. I can't link the testing but if you look around you can find that this oil was tested against other budget motorcycle oils and against mid to high end motorcycle oils. The testing results revealed that this Pro GN4 oil was the absolute worst performer on about 10 different tests available across 15 different brands of oil. Long story short if you want long life out of your motorcycle you should simply look elsewhere. I'm not saying it won't work, but if you care about the machine you sit on and trust your life with you should do yourself a favor and upgrade to something else for the next oil change.

All of the tests revealed GN4 to be the lowest quality oil period. Honda contracts oil from whoever's willing to sell it to them the cheapest and meet the absolute minimum spec's possible for our bikes. They buy the lowest grade oil for the cheapest price, and throw their name on it and price it out as if it's quality oil you can count on, but in reality it's the riskiest oil you can run in your machine. Being the lowest performer in all tests simply means increase ware, reduced engine life, and more repairs if not replacement.

To add insult to injury I rode about 240 miles on the bike today to meet up with a few buddies. One of them had a CBR1000 with 190,000 miles on it going strong! Now that is why I purchased a Honda! The kicker of course is that he never ran Honda branded oil and he purchased the bike brand new. He's used a variety of different oils, after the initial Honda break in period and recommended a few big name brands.

After some talking he recommended anything that meets the bikes requirement that was sold by anyone other than Honda. Some brands mentioned were Mobil 1, Red Line, and Royal Purple. After looking around I found Red Line sells a 1 Gallon bottle for $60 shipped and decided it was worth it to at least try something high end. I intend to ride from NY to Panama Canal soon and after I put some miles on the Red Line fluid I'll leave a review there as well. It's Red Line 42405. It's a 4,000+ mile trip, and although I like to change my bike around 2,000 miles I might use the Redline for the entire ride there. Ride report coming soon!
I just absolutely don't believe that.

Tests proved it.....what tests? What data?

I understand that you're just repeating what you read, and I certainly understand that Honda is not infallible, but for Honda oil to be THAT bad it would cause all kinds of problems on machines that are still under warranty and Honda would incur the cost of fixing those problems.

I gotta call complete and utter BS on that entire spiel.

And I don't use GN4. I use Rotella. I've seen a lot of guys screech about what crappy oil it is too, but the 40+ year old tractors around here that are way past their serviceable lives, but are still running fine...yeah, those guys are ALL running Rotella.

Oil brands tend to start a lot of purse swinging. Keep it changed and I honestly don't think it matters if you use Supertech from Walmart or Amsoil.
 
#31 ·
Lol so true :D
 
#34 ·
I get that. I've nosed around quite a big on BITOG and have seen a lot of good info over there, and a lot of just BS that is speculation from guys who would argue that the sky is green just to "I'm right and you're wrong"

I'm sure all oils are not created equally, but let's face it, if you keep it changed as you should and use the correct type, it really doesn't make THAT much difference.

Just doesn't make any sense for Honda to sell "bad" oil under their brand. Their entire business model is "we're reliable". They certainly aren't exciting as a brand. Cheaping out on something so minor could ruin their brand. They aren't that stupid.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Yea I agree. Everywhere in anything can be improved lol.
 
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#36 ·
Honda isn't infallible. Better than most brands, but not infallible.

I think oil would be something they wouldn't scrimp on. It's used in ALL of their products, and if their biggest selling point (reliability) goes by the wayside to save money on something so minor, they would cease to exist as a company.

It's possible. Unlikely IMO, but possible. If nothing else, people need to look at ALL of the information on any given product and the more they can see the better.

Eliminate the extreme good and extreme bad cases on either 10%, and what you have left is probably a good sampling of what you're dealing with.
 
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