[Jeepwm69]

A buddy of mine ran it for a couple of years in his Rubicon with no issues.

We all use Rotella now because it's cheaper, but I used Valvoline for awhile with no issues.

The 400AT's are junk. I think it's much more likely to be an issue with that particular model of machine that an entire line of oil.

 

[Jeepwm69]

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.

 

[Jeepwm69]

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.

 

[Jeepwm69]

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.

 

[Jeepwm69]

I'm still running 5W-40 Rotella T6 in my 14 Rancher and lately I've been getting a lot of ticking sounds from the engine. I installed this oil back in February and have only put 50 miles on it since then. I also checked the valve specs when I changed the oil and they were still good. Oil still looks as clean as it did when I installed it. This thing specs a 10W-30 as the preferred viscosity so I don't know if the heavier weight in this colder weather is causing the increased noise.

Wayne

Valves might need to be adjusted.....