What Oil?

ive got a little over 3000,alot of it was from one week of riding, i went to ocala, went in the woods for a week with 50 gal drum of gas and a couple friends.....probably did close to 500 miles. im not sure, but i think this is when i started haveing problems with my clutch, i was using automotive oil. my friends all had noo problems(except the polaris).....4 of us.....2 were using auto oil other 2 atv oil. the guys with the atv oil had no problems, the other guy that used auto oil had a polaris and would have had problems no matter what oil he was using....lol. im just saying from my expireance is does pay to use atv oil....maybe i have had bad luck, but it is made for a reason and i believe it does work better with our bikes. i just wish i used it before, maybe i wouldnt have to fix my bike like this now....in the last 2 weeks i have had to: rebuild top end of motor, new clutch plates and friction discs, new carb, and bearings in the tranny....forgot what there called. none of my friends have had to do this( 2 of them have the exact same bikes as me just different tires.

i've been using shell rotella t synthetic in both of my atv's without any problems for several years. conventional motor oil has friction modifiers that are designed to prevent friction in automotive engines. with a wet cluth (in your atv), a certain amount of friction is necessary for the clutch to engage. if you have a high mileage engine, i wouldn't advise you to swith to a synthetic because it has additives that keep the crankcase clean. conventional oils build up sludge that eventually erodes the gasket material, but the sludge prevents the oil from seeping out. if you change to a syn, it will clean up the sludge & cause leaks in high mileage engines. i used to work for mobil oil and had this complaint often. it is a good idea to start using synthetics when the engine is still within the first quarter of it's estimated life. i've found that my foreman's cooling fan runs alot less frequently than it did with conventional oil. remember to check the oil level with the dipstick sitting atop the threads, not screwed in. i know that doesn't make sense, but if you check the shop manual, you'll see that's the way honda designed it to be checked.