Oil For the 450R!

[reconranger]

I am new to this forum, so I have not done any oil posts before. A few years ago, I realized that I knew nothing about oils, which was an embarassment....seeing I am a biochemist. So, I undertook a study of oil. What I am sharing here is what I have learned, and I will start by posting some links that you can read and evaluate for yourself.....

I know oil is like religion, and lots of folks have different opinions, for lots of different reasons. Please if you wish to disagree with me on some point that's fine, but please start your own oil post and don't clutter up mine...it will just serve to comfuse readers who most likely don't know much about oil to begin with.

Lots of good oil reads:

http://www.thumperfaq.com/oil.htm

http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0308_oil/index.html

http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0310_oil/index.html

http://www.p1-performance.com/pdf/oildoc.pdf

http://www.maximausa.com/technical/lubenews/LubeNews2002.pdf

[reconranger]

Unlike any other quad, our 450's have the engine and transmission oil seperated....God bless Honda! This is a huge advantage, because our oil does not have to do double duty lubing both an engine and transmission.

On the ENGINE SIDE, the best choices are going to be a motorcycle specific API SG/JASO MA or MB oil...run an MB oil if you can find one! Syntheitcs have many advantages over plain old petroleum oil, and the group V ester synthetics have advantages over the other two types of synthetics (group III like Rotella and group IV PAO's like Mobil 1 and Amsoil).

My personal choice is Redline MC oil ( http://www.redlineoil.com/products_motoroil.asp?categoryID=11 ). It is ester synthetic and JASO MB (MB oils usually aren't safe for wet clutches....this one is, but I will explain that later.). With Redline, I am seeing a small increase in horsepower (seat of the pants evaluation), and the motor revs up faster! In the past I have run Maxima Extra, which is an MA oil and not as slippery as Redline. There are also Motul and Klotz ester synthetic oils I would consider running.

On the TRANSMISSION SIDE, you can run one of the transmission specific lubes or a JASO MA motorcycle engine oil. I run Redline ester synthetic 80W MC Gear oil with ShockProof ( http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gearlubricants.asp?productID=112&subCategoryID=16&categoryID=6 ). Other good choices would be Motul Trans Oil or Maxima MTL. If I were to run an engine oil in my trans, it would be Maxima Extra.

[reconranger]

Some more oil reads:

http://www.7thgear.net/7thGear/Default.aspx?tabid=27

http://www.belray.com/scripts/futurearts.dll?CollectBinaryData?loc=belray&coid=55180&moid=20156&fauuid=b6c30da5-6537-41d7-b921-64a4cf6d0144

[reconranger]

Another note, run some extra oil in your transmission. 3rd and 5th gears are lubed by splash, so running 100cc or so extra oil will assure that they get well lubed. Dirt bike guys are running a full quart....

Although I have never heard of a quad having a problem, the dirt bikes sure have! Guys have been riding at 70 mph and had their trannies lock up...not something I ever want to experience! The trans will hold 2 quarts. If you put 2 qts in, it will puke out 1 qt and leave you with 1 qt....that is where the 1 qt comes from. Better safe than sorry!!!

[tfuchs]

Nice Info...thanks for the post

[reconranger]

Forgot to explain the JASO MA/MB thing. MA oils have very low levels of friction modifiers (like molebdenum disulfide), so they will not make a wet clutch slip.

MB oils do contain friction modifiers that make the oil very slick, so you get better performance and better fuel economy. You want to avoid these where the engine and transmission share the same oil (that is everything but the 450R). You can run an MB oil in the ENGINE side of your 450 (I highly recommend it!), but NOT in the TRANSMISSION side.

But, there is one exception. Redline MC is MB and does contain friction modifiers, but THEY ARE SYNTHETIC AND WILL NOT MAKE A WET CLUTCH SLIP. JASO has no system for classifying synthetic modifiers, so they have to call it MB. In the future, there may well be an MC category to account for these atypical modifiers.

Maxima Ultra and 530 contain synthetic modifiers, but they are classified MA. Honda's own HP4M contains moly, and is classified MB. Honda's HP4 does not contain moly, and is MA.