Honda changes oil Spec

[lumi]

anybody hear about this.

seems like honda for 07 has changed the recommened oil from 10w40 to 10w30. plus from gn4 or hp4 to only gn4?


this is all info from the service manual, anyone got a 07 owners manual to tell what it says in there.


also tranny oil side its said to use either in stead of 10w40 or 5w30 now 10w30 and 5w30 but doesnt recommened using honda hp tranny oil anymore.


anybody works at a dealership knows what gives?


thanks

-lumi

[DirtDevilBT]

good find Lumi, I don't know, I'd be inclined not to listen lol.

[RedRacer44]

I work at a dealership and we've steadily been getting shipments end of the new GN4 10W-30. Honda is just pushing for the use of the oil due to several different reasons. The big one they're saying is that with the lighter weight oil....you're actually freeing up more horsepower (yank yank).

The 10w-30 stuff is fine, no worries there...and as far as using the Honda tranny oil, its still OK to use. Thats the only stuff we put in all our 06s and 07s when we service them out. I imagine that will change though due to warranty issues. If you blow up your tranny and you're not using what Honda said is spec...might not fly but I dont really see that being a big issue.

Time will only tell....

[lumi]

its funny how honda in the service manual tells us to use the hn4 stuff now instead of the hp stuff and a diff wieght too, but they send me out a booklety saying hp4m is the best stuff to use in the engine side and the hptranny oil is the best to use on that side????


im just gonna stick with the hp tranny and hp4m 10w40. the less wieght might free up horsepower with the factor of more wear.




-lumi


thanks for the info.

[woodsman250r]

I work at a dealership and for all years 450r's I recommend GN4, HP4, and HP4M in either a 10w40 or 20w50. Majority of people can't use all the power of that motor in stock form so how can they notice a benefit from using a 10w30? I'm sure it works fine but I see no real benefit from stopping use of the 10w40 for the 10w30. Everyone will have their own opinions on oil but I have not had a single oil related problem with using the Honda 10w40 oils.

[RedRacer44]

I completely agree woodsman...I was just stating what Honda was telling us. I think its BS but whatever....

We've religiously used GN4 10W-40 or 20W-50 along with the HP Tranny Oil in all of our service work on 450Rs and we see a lot of them. We're the leading 450R seller in our region (as of last year) plus we're predominately an ATV dealer/shop in the fact that we have a ton of in-house racers along with myself and the owner racing full-time as well.

I've used nothing but GN4 on all my 450Rs (about to have my 3rd one) and, like you, have never had a oil-related problem with motors. I've actually never grenaded or seized a 450R motor yet and I'm an A-class rider.

To simply put it...keep using the Honda stuff :devil:

[KrazyKeith]

I was at a freinds house yesterday and I watched him change his oil in his 04 and he put supertech in it. Yeah you read right supertech. Wal mart welfare oil. Thats what I thought about that oil but he said he's been usin supertech since his quad was new. He never had any problems w/ it but man that **** cant be good.

[red2004 TRX450R]

yes the thinner the oil the more HP you can get. the tighter the tolerances in a engine the thinner oil you have to use. A loose or old engine the thicker you should use. A hot running engine should use a thicker oil because heat thins it down. (air cooled vs water cooled)

also today's oils are better than oils of the past, but some of the additives of the past were grate but are not used any more because of emissions (ie zinc witch is a must for solid lifters)

to days cars (government) all most all run thinner oil to get better gas mileage and better emissions

may be it has to to with emissions or the great RD of Honda or maybe they made the engine tighter.

as for the walmart oil it meets standards so its ok to use but there may be better oil out there, but changing oil is more important than what kind u use. walmart dont make there own oil, u you be supprised who makes it!!!

[E.POWERSPORTS]

'07 owner manual recommends

10w30, gn4, or Honda 4-stroke oil, or an equivalent in engine. Meaning 10w40 is still fine hp4m or gn4 10w40. They even show 10w30 and 10w40 on their heat range chart.

Tranny recommends 10w30. Suggested oil HP trans oil, gn4 4-stroke oil or equivalent.

[lumi]

thanks powersports for that and everyone else. im gonna be switching to hp4M 10w40 i am crrently running hp4 nothing to do with 10w30 i run mostly in the summer and i think 10w40 is perfect. 10w30 might be a bit too thin for my heat range.



-lumi

[buck naked-r]

well heres what i found out>>>>[fact]

we had a kfx-400 line up beside a 06 450r.........the 06 had 10/30 really thin oil in the motor and tranny.........when racing the 400 it could beat it buy 6-bikes easy........later we switched to delo-400 15/40 oil in the motor and rotella 15/40 in the tranny.........well when the same to bikes raced the 06 could only beat the 400 buy about 5-bikes maybe not even that much..........and the only change to the 06 was the oil and green wire mod,and we put the wire back together thinking it was the problem.

so its true that thinner oil makes more power and it's also true that most won't notice the difference unless draging against someone you know you've beaten and how much you can beat them.

i use SUPER slick 10/30 in the engine and it even rev's faster with this oil
think of it like this......putting thick oil in your engine is like pouring honey in your engine........so it's diff. going to slow things down.

thinner oil also flows better threw the smaller passages in the engine

[lumi]

10w30 would be less protective in a higher heat than 10w40, but i think your right buck, 10w30 should with commen sense run better and faster. honda's hp4m with moly is suppose to rev like a lower weight oil but have the properties of 10w40, which it is. so im gonna be trying that out. :D



thanks for info buck.




-lumi

[CHEVYZ]

Just kind of related to some responses, has anyone else tried Royal Purple in their engine? I have been running it in mine for quite some time with impressive results.

[JW450R1]

for the tranny side i've been running gear saver.is that ok to run.

Guys, you make this oil thread more difficult that it needs to be. Just use any JASO MA rated oil in both sides, 10W40 in weight and your done!!