Chicago Region BMW Motorcycle Owners Assoccrbmw

Below is a letter from Shell Oil Co to one of the members over at
Adventure Rider.com. It was podsted on 4-6. so it is about as current as you are going to get. It was one of the sources for my post above. There are many more testimonials to Rotella out there, almost all positive. As for me, I've almost always used either Castrol Syntech Blend in my K bikes and Oilheads, and regular old Castrol GTX in my Airheads. In well over 100,000 miles now, I have never had a bearing or oil related failure. I'd probably switch over to Rotella, but the Castrol has always worked just fine, is readily available, moderately priced.....and there is always a few quarts around the garage, either in qt bottlles or the 5 qt value pack.

#31
Cruzin Goose
/^O^\




Joined: Jul 2006
Location: New Underwood, SD
Oddometer: 59 Her's the poop direct from Shell.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Ascrizzi,

Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your inquiry, and thanks for using Shell products.

ROTELLA T SAE 15W-40 and ROTELLA T Synthetic SAE 5W-40 are universal oils, meeting needs of many 4-stroke gasoline as well as most diesel engines. They have performance credentials (API Service Categories SL and CI-4 & CI-4 PLUS) for lubricating both kinds of engines. Consequently, ROTELLA T can be a good choice for four-stroke motorcycle/ATV engines.

It's best to consult your owner's manual for recommended oil quality. If your engine manufacturer recommends oil meeting any of these API Service Categories; CF-4, CG-4, CH-4, CI-4 & CI-4 PLUS, and/or SH, SJ, and SL, or any earlier but obsolete category, then ROTELLA T may be a good choice.

ROTELLA T does not contain friction modifiers that are added to many passenger-car-only-oils, and it does not comply with all requirements of ILSAC GF-1, GF-2 and GF-3 (the ILSAC oil specifications are often recommended by many gasoline passenger car engine manufacturers). That can be good for motorcycle/ATV use. Friction modifiers can upset wet clutch operation. And the ILSAC requirements limit phosphorus content. Diesel engines and other engines with highly loaded valve trains, as well as transmissions, need extra (compared to passenger car engines)
extreme pressure wear protection, which is provided by an additive that contains phosphorus.

One negative might be where the engine manufacturer recommends oil meeting JASO requirements. Part of the JASO requirement limits ashcontent to 1.2%. Ash content of ROTELLA T exceeds this limit. Oil ash contributes to combustion chamber and spark plug deposits.


Best Regards,

Greg Raley=20
Tel: +1 281 544 8621=20
Email: Gregory.Raley@shell.com=20
Internet: www.shell.com
__________________
If you have to work for a living, you're not living.

Thanks to everyone for their input, especially Mike.
This is the type of information I was looking for.

Mike:

I totally agree that it's great oil from a bearing perspective, but, as you say, "Emission regulation" issues. That little emissions problem is that some of those yummy ingredients mess up the Cat. So, for airheads and other bikes with no CAT, I think it's wonderful stuff, but not for new bikes.