ROTELLA T6, anyone?

Love Rotella

Not only is Rotella T3 15w40 conventional, but Rotella T5 10w30 Semi-
synthetic is also awesome. Then there is T6 5w40, full synthetic....even better. I have run all three of these oils in my bikes from air cool Honda XR650L's to a KTM950Adv, etc....

Just for kicks, I ran T5 10w30 last year in the GS all year and winter...about 5,000 miles. I didn't test the oil, but the "seat of the pants" monitor was very positive. (You might ask why I ran a 10w30??? #1. It is heavy duty oil. #2. My owners manual said I could in milder environments. #3. I bought 6 gallons on a smoking sale at $5 a gallon and needed to use it up.)

Yesterday I just dumped the T5 and poured in some new T6 for the trip to Alaska and back. The mileage will be right at 8,000 miles and I don't want mess with a change on the trip, so went with full synthetic for the extra longevity. (If you search, you will find several 100k-200k+ boxers, where the owners are doing 10k OCI's with Rotella or Mobil 1 and great results.) I have been using T6 for about 6 years now in my bikes.

The oil is meant to last nearly forever in, hard-driven big diesel trucks......From a diesel truck forum....."All our trucks are equipped with by-pass filters and we typically run oil well past 50,000 miles providing oil samples are good and the TBN is still in acceptable ranges."

I use Rotella T6 in my 2013 and have for the last 32k miles with good results (engine still runs).

As far as oil filters go the K&N KN160 is the correct filter for the wethead bikes as is the Hiflofiltro HF-160 and HF-160RC (Racing)
These filters can be found on Amazon and Ebay for in the $10 range.

I cut apart a HF-160RC just for fun, looks like a good quality filter:

There are some downsides to long term use of diesel oils. They contain higher levels of zinc & phosphorous, which slowly poison the catalyst and O2 sensor. Probably be 8-10 years / 80k miles before it's notable. They also have different detergents added and higher levels. I've seen claims that this can cause issues, but never anything validated with actual data or even a scientific explanation of why. Rotalla T6 has zinc levels just about where many older car oils had until the EPA mandated that emission equipment had to remain functional for the typical life of a vehicle.

Regarding using 20W vs lower viscocity oils, 20-50 oils have extremely high viscosity at temperatures below 20C or so when compared to 10 and even 15W multiwieght oil. From 4 to 10x higher. They are a bit thicker at high temperatures, but not that much. At 180C they are only around 2x the thickness of 10W-50. Given the huge range oil viscocity goes through from startup temps to running temps, it's close to irrelevent unless you expect to be idling on summer days in Phoenix.

There is a notable penalty when starting with a 20W oil and it's cold outside. If it's close to freezing and you have a weak battery, it's enough to cause a no-start situation.

The viscosity difference between 20-50 and 5-40 at 180C is only 3.8 to 4.8 cS. Hardly worth mentioning.

CallMeSnake said:

Regarding using 20W vs lower viscocity oils, 20-50 oils have extremely high viscosity at temperatures below 20C or so when compared to 10 and even 15W multiwieght oil. From 4 to 10x higher. They are a bit thicker at high temperatures, but not that much. At 180C they are only around 2x the thickness of 10W-50. Given the huge range oil viscocity goes through from startup temps to running temps, it's close to irrelevent unless you expect to be idling on summer days in Phoenix.

There is a notable penalty when starting with a 20W oil and it's cold outside. If it's close to freezing and you have a weak battery, it's enough to cause a no-start situation.

The viscosity difference between 20-50 and 5-40 at 180C is only 3.8 to 4.8 cS. Hardly worth mentioning.

Click to expand...

Critical to note what R12X0GS you are talking about when discussing viscosity. Generally 20w50 (no JASO needed) on oil cooled and 5w40 JASO required) for liquid cooled, but just follow the manual.

From my 2007 GSA, lots of options depending on ambient temperature:



And if you don’t have a manual: