[Guest]

Sunk my ride the other day so we pulled her back and ran about 5 oil changes thru her and then loaded her with Castrol Syntec Blend 20W-50. Runs great except the es want shift into the upper gears until she seems to warm up. Is this from the oil or could it be a ligering problem from sinking her? Took to the dealer for first service and valve check, he said he couldn't get it to duplicate the missing shift, wouldn't you know it! Anyway, what do you think? Should I just replace the shift module or change oils?

 

[Truegrit]

The 50 weight is pretty thick. I put it (Honda oil 20W-50) in mine for a while and it did the same thing. Once it warmed up it ran fine, but it would not shift into forward gears until the bike was warmed up for a few minutes. And that was in 85-90 deg weather.

I would stick to the Honda 10W30 or 10W40 when its hotter out. It is said that you can use "any" oil as long as it not an "energy conserving oil" (says that on the back of the bottle.) But why do you think it needs synthetic or a blend? Most of the time the oil is not in the machine long enough to break down, it either gets contaminated by water or is dirty.

My advice, use the Honda oil or one of the 4-stroke ATV oils from Castrol or Valvoline that is formulated to be used w/ wet clutches in an ATV.

 

[Railroader]

I have used other oils from time to time. In my experiance with this, the Honda oils do seem to work better. Smoother shifting, smoother engine performance & seems to just run better all around.

 

[coppercow]

I've been using the Valvoline 10w40 4 stroke ATV blend on my foreman and rancher... I have noticed no differance at all between both oils.. Shifting has been the same on both. I like Valvoline I also use it on my cars.