Rottela T6 and oil changes
- Thread starter daler
- Start date
RedNigel
0
I change at 3-4K but there are folks here that go much longer with no problem
Warren
2
I change it at the standard HONDA 8,000 mile recommendation. In theory you should be able to go longer for a synthetic but I only ride about 8,000 a year so it seems like a good time to change it.
The farthest I've gone between oil changes on the NT has been a bit over 11,000 miles back in '13. I rode from Denver to Fort Morgan (my home then) to Spearfish, to and around Alaska, down the west coast to San Ysidro, and then from San Diego to Baton Rouge, where Tim Wilke graciously did an oil and filter change for me. Seems like he uses Amsoil. I had had Honda Full Synthetic in the bike when I left on the Epic Post-Retirement Ride.
The farthest I've ever gone with Rotella was over 12,000 miles on a long trip with my 1st '99 Kawasaki Concours. I typically did oil changes at 10,000 miles once I got past about 50,000 miles on the bike. At 115,000 miles the engine was still going strong at 115,000 miles until I wadded the bike up one night in the mountains.
The farthest I've ever gone with Rotella was over 12,000 miles on a long trip with my 1st '99 Kawasaki Concours. I typically did oil changes at 10,000 miles once I got past about 50,000 miles on the bike. At 115,000 miles the engine was still going strong at 115,000 miles until I wadded the bike up one night in the mountains.
I go 5k on everything I own. Very easy to remember when it needs to be done. And I use Rotella T6 on the NT and Mobile 1 on the cars
BigBill
0
I try to keep it under the factory 8k, once in the spring and once in the fall, usually splitting my yearly mileage.
Usually it works out to be somewhere between 5k and 8k
Usually it works out to be somewhere between 5k and 8k
I use the 8k or don't like how it is shifting rule.
At risk of prolonging another oil thread, I think Honda recommends 10w-30 for the NT. Rotella T6 is only in 5w-30 or 5w40. Non-synthetic T4 is available in 10w-30, and it meets JASO MA2 specs. So I am considering T4 for my next oil change. T5 semi-synth is also available in 10w-30 but Shell does not indicate whether it meets JASO MA specs, at least last time I looked. Actually I think any of these oils will work well in the NT. At the end of the day, I don't think any NT owner will have problems or notice any premature wear with any of these oils.
Warren
2
I get the Rotella T6 in 5W40 and it meets JASO MA2. I pay around $21 for a gallon at Walmart.
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It has been a long time since the last time I checked, but I think that T5 is considered "energy-conserving" and is not approved for wet clutches. it would probably cause slipping.
I have used both regular 15w40 rotella and the synthetic T6 5w40 in motorcycles with wet clutches. I only used T6 in the NT. I did try both 15w40 and synthetic t6 5w40 in my suzuki DR650 and it seemed to do fine with both, but the synthetic 5w40 seemed to keep the transmission happier longer. On my big trip on the DR, I gave it a fresh oil change right before the trip. By the time we were in Spearfish two weeks later the oil had 4000 miles on it. Most DR owners change their oil between 2000 and 3000 miles. I had the honda dealership change it out with their standard oil (honda 10w40), just because I had never gone that long on oil on the DR. The T6 was doing so well I didn't notice any difference in shifting between the old T6 and the new honda oil.
I don't have an NT anymore, but I remember it did really well with T6. The viscosity of T6 is listed as acceptable range in the owners manual. I am not worried about the 5w vs 10w. That is only important at cold startups and the 5w should perform better on cold days.