Oil?

[05honda400ex]

whats the best oil to use on your 400ex

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by 05honda400ex
whats the best oil to use on your 400ex i literally just got done changing the oil in my 400ex,if i were you i suggest using GN4 or HN4

[05honda400ex]

alright can you get this at like walmart or auto parts store.

[HondaRacing83]

no way you cant get it at walmart,or an auto parts store,get it at your local atv/dirtbike/motorcycle dealership

[05honda400ex]

alright sounds good. do you know what the cost is of a quart?

[HondaRacing83]

well when i got it today it cost me 16-17+ for 2 quarts of GN4 and a honda oil filter(it cost a little bit more for HN4

[05honda400ex]

alrighty thanks for the info

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by 05honda400ex
alrighty thanks for the info
sure no prob

[JOHNDOE83]

regular auto parts store oil is fine, Ive ran castrol 10w30 for over 5 years and never ever had a issue.....its just as good as the expensive oil.

this is in a 440 big bore, never had a heat issue or a clutch issue.

[3400ben]

Read this before you buy oil. http://www.exriders.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=430932

[honda400ex2003]

i run whatever i can get easy lol. Castrol or valvoline usually. we get 55s of it for the cars and everything so it isnt bad lol. steve

[CJM]

So long as it doesnt say energy conserving its fine.

Personally I use mobil 1 15w-50, but you can use any 10w-40 or 10w-30 oils. I can say that the 400 likes a thicker oil like 40 or 50wt.

But heed the warning-no energy conserving oils (it says it on the back of the bottle) or it can ruin your clutches and cause slippage.

[rooster300ex]

man just goto o'reillys or autozone or something and get the castrol or valvoline atv/motorcycle oil. its like 3.99 or 4.99 a quart. I don't care what anybody says about car oils don't use em people that use car oils must not get there engine very hot. When i was a newb i use to use car oils and was wondering why my clutch started slippin after some hard riding.

[JOHNDOE83]

Dude, I got a 440 that I straight up drag race and ride hard as hell for over 5 years, MX XC trails HARD AS HELL, and never had a clutch slip using car oil.

[guenther]

You are going to get sooo many different answers on this subject just so you know. I prefer Rotella 15W-40. $13 per gallon at parts store and about a buck little less at Wally World. Main thing is to change it often no matter what you use. If you go with synthetic, you don't have to change it quite as often. I change mine about every 10 hours of regular riding or after a 2 hour race. Comes out looking almost as clean as when I put it in and zero clutch slipping.

[CJM]

Originally posted by JOHNDOE83
Dude, I got a 440 that I straight up drag race and ride hard as hell for over 5 years, MX XC trails HARD AS HELL, and never had a clutch slip using car oil.

Must be lucky then, while I have never had an issue myself-I have heard of others. it has to do with all the detergents the energy saving crap has in it. however not all oils have this energy conserving crap either.

[09RappySe]

Originally posted by JOHNDOE83
regular auto parts store oil is fine, Ive ran castrol 10w30 for over 5 years and never ever had a issue.....its just as good as the expensive oil.


No its not.....show me the testing results that show that.

[rynb15]

I ran castrol gtx for years with no problems. Now I run valvoline atv. I have also ran synthetic motorcycle oil but I don't think its worth the price. Just change it often and you will ne fine.

[JOHNDOE83]

Originally posted by 09RappySe
No its not.....show me the testing results that show that.

My quad is living proof....lol....thats all the testing I need, show me testing that proves otherwise.

5 years on a 440 with no issues at all is plenty of proof.

[09RappySe]

Originally posted by JOHNDOE83
My quad is living proof....lol....thats all the testing I need, show me testing that proves otherwise.

5 years on a 440 with no issues at all is plenty of proof.


Just because you have not had any issues does not mean that all oils are alike or that cheap oils perform as exspensive synthetics....and to say that is just plain ignorant, I could show you plenty of REAL proof in lab testing that myself and others have done...but I'm not going to spend all night uploading lab sheets for you to read, assuming you would know how to read it, but you can search in the maintenence section on modded raptor and find plenty if you care to. most oils, including good oils break/shear down in 10-15 hours or less in these quads. But it is your machine...so run what ever oil you "think" provides adequate protection to save a few bucks.

[JOHNDOE83]

Wow you ran lab tests on oil huh....lol.

Raptors would probally need it being that they break so easily and are slow anyway, I could see how a raptor would need the "extra protection"....lol...jk.

Most oils even good oils break down after 10-15 hours?

As a matter of fact, at 60mph in a car, at 15 hours would be 900miles of travel time, if you were on a quad riding a average of 30mph for 15 hours? that would be a 450mile trip....that was kinda "Ignorant" for you to post that....even at a average of 20 mph that would be 300 miles.

In my opinion thats way over due for a oil change....you have proved nothing with your "LAB" test...IMO, 100-150 miles you should change a quads oil.

After 5 riding trips out on my quad, I usually change my oil, if I put 30 miles on each time, at 5 trips thats only 150 miles, After that you need to change the oil.

If you change your oil every 15 hours, I can see why your raptor has problems.

Go ahead and post your lab sheets....lol....they mean nothing here.

Heres food for thought, if I did a average of 30mph, for 15 hours, I live in west palm beach florida, heading north in a straight line, ID BE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AT THE END OF THE TRIP!!!!

Run a lab test on that!!!

[bkelley]

I'm willing to bet if you asked racers what they use most would say conventional oil. It's too expensive to use the factory recommended stuff when you're doing oil changes after every race. I used to use HP4 because I got a deal on it and had to go down to the shop to get a filter anyways. Now that the auto parts store down the street carries Fram filters for my bike, I just grab a few quarts of Castrol 4-Stroke oil while I'm there and change it before every trip.

[a4guy]

People will fight about anything these days. I use what ever I have laying around and change it regularly. Never had any issues in any of my toys due to oil.

[09RappySe]

Look, I was not trying to be an *** hole, you johndoe appear to very good at it, and say what you want I know what I am talking about and most of what you said made no sense what so ever. My raptor runs fine, I will put my raptor against your little 440 whenever you are ready to have your front end sandblasted.

Peace

[99400esex]

I use only HN4

[slightlybent47]

http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/mittelgrosse/medium-smiley-033.gifJust use any conventional oil of your choice and change it often and you should be fine.
Most oils these days are pretty good so just keep fresh oil in it, that’s the key. http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/mittelgrosse/medium-smiley-037.gif

[a4guy]

Originally posted by 09RappySe
Look, I was not trying to be an *** hole, you johndoe appear to very good at it, and say what you want I know what I am talking about and most of what you said made no sense what so ever. My raptor runs fine, I will put my raptor against your little 440 whenever you are ready to have your front end sandblasted.

Peace

Talk about talking $h*t. You need to cool it little guy. And I feel comfortable calling you "Little guy" because that comment was indeed immature.

This is about oil. Everyone will have there opinion and it is up to the OP to decide what is good information and what is pointless bull $h*t.

Oh and don't talk crap about the ex on the ex forum.

[09RappySe]

Originally posted by a4guy
Talk about talking $h*t. You need to cool it little guy. And I feel comfortable calling you "Little guy" because that comment was indeed immature.

This is about oil. Everyone will have there opinion and it is up to the OP to decide what is good information and what is pointless bull $h*t.

Oh and don't talk crap about the ex on the ex forum.

I thought it was about oil too, untill another talked crap...there was nothing wrong with my post, you could have chosen to agree or not...your choice, I really could care less and I did not say anything bad about the ex.......and I got your "little guy" right here.....you got to work for the gravy though.

[JOHNDOE83]

Man, you started talkin crap with your whole prove otherwise post, then you said that you had lab results to prove everyone wrong.

Then I took what you said about, 10-15 hours oil breaks down, and showed you why that means nothing here, by showing how far 10-15 hours of ride time actually is, thats why that statement you made was bull.

If you couldnt understand it, maybe you shouldnt be in a lab testing oil?

Shouldnt you be in the raptor forum anyway?

[TRXRacer1]

Originally posted by guenther
You are going to get sooo many different answers on this subject just so you know. I prefer Rotella 15W-40. $13 per gallon at parts store and about a buck little less at Wally World. Amen! That stuff is liquid gold. The regular rotella 15w-40 and the full syn rotella are both JASO/MA certified too! Everything in my sig is using regular Rotella T and my explorer that I drive 90 miles a day with does 10,000 mile intervals with the T6. It's a damn good family of oil.

[a4guy]

My mothers husband is an engineer. I call him an educated idiot. He knows damn near everything but has absolutely no common sense.

[HondaRacing83]

i,personally only run OEM OIL in my quads such as in honda's i run GN4/HN4,in Yamaha's i run YAMALUBE,in Polaris's i run PURE POLARIS, and ive never had a suzuki/kawasaki so idk what i would run in them.but the one guy said he puts fram oil filters in his quad,i am a very strong believer in not running frams,in anything,ive had bad experience with those!i run OEM oil filters also but i think everyone should do that...

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by 09RappySe
Look, I was not trying to be an *** hole, you johndoe appear to very good at it, and say what you want I know what I am talking about and most of what you said made no sense what so ever. My raptor runs fine, I will put my raptor against your little 440 whenever you are ready to have your front end sandblasted.

Peace
LOOK,this is exriders,a place to be helped out and learn,this is not a place to argue and be a jerk!also dont talk crap on 400ex's in the 400ex forum,Go talk whatever you want in your CRAPTER 700 forum

[a4guy]

Originally posted by HondaRacing83
i,personally only run OEM OIL in my quads such as in honda's i run GN4/HN4,in Yamaha's i run YAMALUBE,in Polaris's i run PURE POLARIS, and ive never had a suzuki/kawasaki so idk what i would run in them.but the one guy said he puts fram oil filters in his quad,i am a very strong believer in not running frams,in anything,ive had bad experience with those!i run OEM oil filters also but i think everyone should do that...

I don't use oil filters. I just wad up some bounty paper towel and shove it in there. Its more absorbent. hahaha

I always use OEM filters in my bikes.

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by a4guy
I don't use oil filters. I just wad up some bounty paper towel and shove it in there. Its more absorbent. hahaha

I always use OEM filters in my bikes. haha you started to scare me there for a sec!

[09RappySe]

Originally posted by JOHNDOE83
Man, you started talkin crap with your whole prove otherwise post, then you said that you had lab results to prove everyone wrong.

Then I took what you said about, 10-15 hours oil breaks down, and showed you why that means nothing here, by showing how far 10-15 hours of ride time actually is, thats why that statement you made was bull.

If you couldnt understand it, maybe you shouldnt be in a lab testing oil?

Shouldnt you be in the raptor forum anyway?

I understood it fine...it just does not mean squat, the distance traveled in any given time means nothing, as the motor does not know how far it has gone, so your example is flawed.

The bottom line is that you said cheap oil is just as good as the expensive oil, which it is not. Now weather it is worth it to you to spend the extra money for better oil is up to you, all I said was do you have any hard proof to your statement, which you don't, and you asked for my proof and I told you where to find it, you could have chosen to read it or ignore it, but you had to come back with some BS smart *** post about a car and whatever, which is irrelevent and threw in how raptors are slow and break, which had nothing to do with the origional post. So it was you that went off on tangent not me. Get over it, I am.

[09RappySe]

Originally posted by HondaRacing83
LOOK,this is exriders,a place to be helped out and learn,this is not a place to argue and be a jerk!also dont talk crap on 400ex's in the 400ex forum,Go talk whatever you want in your CRAPTER 700 forum

Again I was not talking crap about the ex, if you read the post you would know that. But by your craptor comment, I see you think it is ok for you to talk crap, just nobody else....is that it.

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by 09RappySe
Again I was not talking crap about the ex, if you read the post you would know that. But by your craptor comment, I see you think it is ok for you to talk crap, just nobody else....is that it. no i did read the post,its the 400ex forum not the raptor forum,so i did call it a craptor,i have had a raptor (250)and i almost had a 660 raptor,and i really liked them both but i dont like the 700's-its my opinion and you cant change that

[09RappySe]

Originally posted by HondaRacing83
no i did read the post,its the 400ex forum not the raptor forum,so i did call it a craptor,i have had a raptor (250)and i almost had a 660 raptor,and i really liked them both but i dont like the 700's-its my opinion and you cant change that

I never tried to change your opinion.....so whats your point.

[a4guy]

Originally posted by HondaRacing83
haha you started to scare me there for a sec!

haha I always use OEM filters. I have also spent a lot of money on expensive oils in the past. Yes there are tests and proof out there that they last longer and break down slower. So if you only change your oil a few times a year then go for the more expensive oil. I change my oil depending on how much I ride and it is changed often so I go with a little lower grade oil but still works fine.

Basically what JOHNDOE83 is saying is that oil is oil and it all breaks down. Some faster some not so fast. So if you change it often then there is no "real" need to go all out. Again, this is his opinion and I happen to agree.

I used to manage an oil change shop many years ago. I have seen new oils come and go and change there formulas often. Not saying you are wrong for wanting to go with a more expensive oil and telling others that its better. There are tons of reasons why and why not. Lets all agree to disagree.

[bkelley]

Originally posted by 09RappySe
I never tried to change your opinion.....so whats your point. I'm just gonna put this out there. Every time you come into the EX section you talk crap, whether you get provoked or not. It was obvious that John was joking around at first and you took it too serious.

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by 09RappySe
I never tried to change your opinion.....so whats your point. i know you didnt,m just telling you,and why are we argueing about OIL of all things OIL!this poor guy is probabley confused out of his mind,i have my opinions you have yours,same with other people,like i said this is exriders a place to be helped out and to learn,its not a place to argue

[CJM]

The overall bigger question is why your even posting in a forum for a bike you dont even own? I respect your opinion and all but you dont see me going and posting on a raptor forum and giving advice on them-cause I dont have one. Its like a person who thinks brand X jeans are better than brand Y but they wear brand Z and have never worn the other 2.

Anyways: use whatever oil you want, yes some oils are better than others-specially if you dont change it as often. People like john doe probably changes it after ever session at the track-where it would be pointless to use very high grade oil imho too.

I use synthetic mobil 1 15w-50, when its cold its a bit thick so I like to use a 10w-40, but when its hot its great. I like it and havent ever had an issue with it at all. You can use whatever you want so long as you realize its better to use thicker oil in these engines due to the way they are built and operate because a thicker oil coats better. Ever seen that lucas oil setup they got at the parts store where it shows that thick *** lucas additive added to regular oil oil helps the parts stay coated-thick oil itself does basically the same thing.

Honda oil itself imho is a 10w-40 oil (im not 100% sure but its my opinion), its thicker than the average 5w-30 10w-30 I deal with on a daily basis working on cars and such.

In the end use whatever oil you like. However dont go saying other peoples choices are bad-so long as its close to factory or an accepted consensus oil your fine. Would I run 0w in my atv, HELL no, not in my car either. Same as I would never run 15w in my car b/c its to think unless the engine was old and didnt hold oil pressure (old mechanic trick, thicker the oil on a very old worn engine better it holds oil pressure).

[09RappySe]

Originally posted by HondaRacing83
like i said this is exriders a place to be helped out and to learn,its not a place to argue [/B]

Well at least that is a comment I can agree with, believe it or not that is what I tried to do in the first place, someone else turned it ugly......but I am done here.

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by 09RappySe
Well at least that is a comment I can agree with, believe it or not that is what I tried to do in the first place, someone else turned it ugly......but I am done here. your not saying the whole side of the story there.....

[a4guy]

Dude. Enough is enough. He just said he is done and that was basically a "sorry" to the forum and agrees this is a place for help and learning. Quit taunting him.

[HondaRacing83]

Originally posted by a4guy
Dude. Enough is enough. He just said he is done and that was basically a "sorry" to the forum and agrees this is a place for help and learning. Quit taunting him. ahlright,but i just realized i think at first we were agreeing,me and him both disagree with using cheap oil i think haha

[togup]

You cant blame rappy for coming to our forum it moves fast has lots of good info and great topics im sure it boring on the raptor site waiting days for a responce dont believe me check the number of posts the ex forum has against all the other quads, just sayin.

[a4guy]

That is actually true.

[99400esex]

Originally posted by togup
You cant blame rappy for coming to our forum it moves fast has lots of good info and great topics im sure it boring on the raptor site waiting days for a responce dont believe me check the number of posts the ex forum has against all the other quads, just sayin.

hahaha. We love our ex's round here.

[riotact]

I used to run the Honda GN4 oil for years then I switched to Rotella 15W-40 for the first long weekend ride this year.I can tell ya for sure that the Rotella is better just from riding it.It seems not to get as hot and the top end tics way less.This was in the high 80's and low 90's for the outside temps on a stock bore engine.I really wish I had the XR's Only temp dipstick to see what the difference was.If you want get a couple quarts and a filter and give it a shot to see what you think,but for me I'll never go back to the $7 quart GN4.

[rooster300ex]

Originally posted by JOHNDOE83
Dude, I got a 440 that I straight up drag race and ride hard as hell for over 5 years, MX XC trails HARD AS HELL, and never had a clutch slip using car oil.

Dude u must of got the right car oil. Why would u wanna even run stuff like that in such a built engine.:huh

[a4guy]

If car oil is good enough for my 88 325ix and my 03 silverado then it is good enough for my quad. Thats how I look at it.

[JOHNDOE83]

Originally posted by rooster300ex
Dude u must of got the right car oil. Why would u wanna even run stuff like that in such a built engine.:huh

Because its not a big issue like everyone thinks it is, I got a buddy who for some odd reason loves oil and grease, he loves it so much, he subscribes to the magazine lubes and greases and reads it like its the bible...lol.

He said read the labels, they are all the same, they just use different terms and different chemical properties but all do the same thing.

Like buying tylenol, then buying generic tylenol, its the same exact thing with a different mixture of stuff....but still tylenol.

If you want, buy expensive oil then buy cheap oil, both 10w30, then read the labels, compare ingredients, then look them up online and see what the differences are, its like buying water from publix, theres $2 dollar water and theres $1 water, they both taste the same and are both water.

Honda oil is only expensive because it says honda on it, thats how things work. Like buying gas, sunoco has 2.69 a gallon mobile directly across the street has 2.71 a gallon, does that make there gas better, no.

johndoe 83 that mite be true but from what i have found is rp oil dropped the temp on my 440 and went from running 8.60s to 8.40s just from the oil change dont know how but it did.

[JOHNDOE83]

RP is good for that, but they say it will hurt the motor in the long run, It has to do with the lubricating properties I guess, more lubes and less protectives? Kinda like running methynol in a motor, it adds HP but will kill the motor faster.

Good for race cars, bikes, atvs but not good for daily drivers, or so Ive heard? I never looked into it myself, Thats just what I have heard people say, but you know how "hear say" is.

Im gonna take the RP test next time I go to the track.

I wonder if using 5w30 would do the same thing without the cooling feature?

[sc400ex_rider]

A lot of ppl run Rottela. right now i got royal purple. off road equipment and motorcycle oils have more or some phosphates.

[grovesbm]

i use the honda stuff and change it bout every 15 hours!

[400man]

change oil :huh ...........how do you do that?

[grovesbm]

you tell me you got time