Mobil 1 4t 10W40 for Super Tenere?

Cycledude

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My 525,000+ mile Goldwing has been run with what many folks would call car oil for 90+ % of its life and it still has the original clutch which still works perfect.
 

EricV

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Mobil1 does not meet JASO MA and tehcnically is not the best for the clutch. That said, it's been used successfully in these bikes since the beginning, and in the FJRs before that.

Personally I use Rotella T6, which does meet the JASO.
Mobile 1 4T, the oil in question, is a motorcycle specific oil and does meet JASA MA standards.

To the OP, go for it. ANY motorcycle specific oil will work fine. The V-twin rated oils are designed for dry clutch systems and the Super Ten is a wet clutch, where the engine oil is lubing the trans and clutch too, so those are best to avoid, and mostly heavier weight 20-50 rated oils.

Rotella T6 has some advantages, being MA rated and synthetic, but does not have as much zinc in it now, which is a gear lubricant, important for engines that share the trans oil with the engine. The Rotella's target audience is diesel engines. For many, many miles I ran Rotella T6 with a half a bottle of Valvoline oil treatment, (mostly 50 wt oil, but has extra zinc in it), w/o issues. When my engine was torn down at 83k on my 2012 Super Tenere due to CCT failure, a lot of sludge and carbon build up was noticed. After that, I changed to only moto specific oils, in part as a test to see if things would improve. I continue to change my oil every 5k miles, as I did before. On the 2012, I used a regular additive of Yamaha Ring Free, (now Ring Free plus for E10), and it does appear to improve resistance to carbon build up when used regularly with fill ups.
 

Checkswrecks

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I missed that he asked about 4T, which definitely meets JASO MA.
 

rab474

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Mobile 1 4T, the oil in question, is a motorcycle specific oil and does meet JASA MA standards.

To the OP, go for it. ANY motorcycle specific oil will work fine. The V-twin rated oils are designed for dry clutch systems and the Super Ten is a wet clutch, where the engine oil is lubing the trans and clutch too, so those are best to avoid, and mostly heavier weight 20-50 rated oils.

Rotella T6 has some advantages, being MA rated and synthetic, but does not have as much zinc in it now, which is a gear lubricant, important for engines that share the trans oil with the engine. The Rotella's target audience is diesel engines. For many, many miles I ran Rotella T6 with a half a bottle of Valvoline oil treatment, (mostly 50 wt oil, but has extra zinc in it), w/o issues. When my engine was torn down at 83k on my 2012 Super Tenere due to CCT failure, a lot of sludge and carbon build up was noticed. After that, I changed to only moto specific oils, in part as a test to see if things would improve. I continue to change my oil every 5k miles, as I did before. On the 2012, I used a regular additive of Yamaha Ring Free, (now Ring Free plus for E10), and it does appear to improve resistance to carbon build up when used regularly with fill ups.
Eric...would say without oil analysis or tear down as you did, it’s all subjective on proper oil and impact from oil. As long as the oil used meets the spec for an engine and is changed on proper intervals, an engine should be ok. Most oil threads seem to be based on hear say or emotion. Enjoy the new scoots ...cheers
 

EricV

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Eric...would say without oil analysis or tear down as you did, it’s all subjective on proper oil and impact from oil. As long as the oil used meets the spec for an engine and is changed on proper intervals, an engine should be ok. Most oil threads seem to be based on hear say or emotion. Enjoy the new scoots ...cheers
I agree with you Roger. At the end of the day, I'll use just about anything as long as it's not "energy conserving" on the label, which means friction modifiers/additives that could potentially mess with the clutch friction disks. The other day I stumbled across gallon jugs of Mobil One full synthetic turbo diesel oil for $13.00 on the close out isle. Should have bought all five at that price. I love Motul for liter plus bikes run hard or extended intervals between changes, but it's $50+ a gallon most of the time I find it. Note the various specs. I did the FZ6 oil change with the Mobil One and it's been happy with it, subjectively, of course. ;)

The Motul is MA2, but both meet/exceed API SN, SM, which exceeds required specs from Yamaha for the Super Ten. The extra zinc in the turbo diesel oil helps with transmission gear wear too, a bonus.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1325.jpg
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1326.jpg

And the Motul
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1327.jpg
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_1328.jpg
 

firstime911

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From what I understand, Those API standard and JASO MA2 is basic grade requirement and for environment standard, just pick what manual says or higher MA2 , SN... but you guys should consider viscosity index higher is better protection and 100c k viscosity lower is more smooth engine (+hp) also base oil syn group 3, Pao, ester. I.e. Motul 7100 is ester base, the best is Motul300v very smooth!!
 

Bitar

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The OP statement statement above did not include all of this info. Agree JASO spec oils are suitable.

For the folks not completely familiar, the term "car oil" could lead them astray. I got burned by not being familiar with what changed when API advanced to SJ.
Hello there. What did you mean by “API advanced to SJ”. The required oil must be SG rated. Does SJ work? Thank you.
 

EricV

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Loosely speaking, API codes are set up so that the second letter indicates if a rating is higher or lower, when compared to other API ratings. So SG is lower than SJ, SN is higher still, etc. It's just normal alphabet progression.

@Bitar - Welcome to the forum. Please take a minute to add your location to your profile. It gives context to your posts and allows others to better answer your questions since there are differences around the world, both in bikes, terms and common use phrases.
 

Bigbore4

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Hello there. What did you mean by “API advanced to SJ”. The required oil must be SG rated. Does SJ work? Thank you.
The API classification was advanced to SJ when the automotive industry increased the requirement for "friction modifiers" to help them meet more stringent EPA CAFE requirements. Friction modifiers (more sliperier) are hell on wet clutches.

Make sure you are using a motorcycle specific oil or the oil you are using meets JASO. Or research new clutch plates. DAMHIK
 

Pdrhound

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While not motorcycle specific, " project farm" on YouTube has the best oil comparison ever. Certainly eye opening on how bad mobile1 is.

I have been using Valvoline full synthetic 4t for awhile now. Valvoline spends more money on research then amsoil makes in a year.

Price on Amazon is good
 
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