NAPA Oil test results Shell Rotella T6 15W-40

[CloverHillCrawler]

Just got it back a few minutes ago, other than some water content which is probably from condensation due to it being cold when I changed the oil and took the sample in late February everything seems normal. Oil was changed at 5000 miles with 35,000 currently on the engine.

 

[Bangorbob]

Glad it came back on a positive note. I run T6.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Seems like it held up good, and it was run pretty hard when I went on my trip to the Back of the Dragon and Raleigh, NC back in October.

 

[BajaRon]

Oil Analysis are very interesting. I'd almost be tempted to ask for a forum page where people could post theirs all in one place.

This is the analysis I got back from my 2008 GS at 3,370 miles. The reason I did such a short run was because I'd put about 2,500 miles on this oil change and then let my Spyder sit for over 4 years! I ran it just short of another 1,000 miles and wanted to see what the analysis looked like. If there was rust build up from moisture contamination my iron number would have been through the roof. Amsoil claims to stay on parts and not allow them to rust. So, I figured this was a good, though unintended, test of that claim.

 

[CrazyCooter]

Looking at both of those UOA's it appears these things are a little hard on oil?

Both samples fall right at the low side of viscosity despite being changed at a shorter than OE recommended interval? Wear rate per 1000 miles is also just above the 5ppm threshold. Could just be the shared oil between the crank case and trans.

I've done 100's of UOA's for myself and clients over the years, but they have all been for automotive/trucks engines.

I changed the oil at the first 3700ish miles on ours, but was planning on dragging this next one out till about 8000-10000 so that we start out 7k mile loop on a fresh oil change. I wasn't planning on sampling, but maybe I should just to see how happy/unhappy things are?

I also run the Amsoil MCF 10w40 as it looks like Ron did in that sample.

 

[BajaRon]

Looking at both of those UOA's it appears these things are a little hard on oil?

Both samples fall right at the low side of viscosity despite being changed at a shorter than OE recommended interval? Wear rate per 1000 miles is also just above the 5ppm threshold. Could just be the shared oil between the crank case and trans.

I've done 100's of UOA's for myself and clients over the years, but they have all been for automotive/trucks engines.

I changed the oil at the first 3700ish miles on ours, but was planning on dragging this next one out till about 8000-10000 so that we start out 7k mile loop on a fresh oil change. I wasn't planning on sampling, but maybe I should just to see how happy/unhappy things are?

I also run the Amsoil MCF 10w40 as it looks like Ron did in that sample.

Any combined engine/transmission power train will be much harder on oil viscosity than engine alone applications. Engines do not produce the crushing force that occurs in a geared transmission. The BRP XPS blended oil will shear down to 20w at around 5,000 miles. We have confirmed this with several oil analysis from various riders. Most of which takes place between 4,500 & 5,000 miles. Which makes me think this is why the original factory recommended Spyder oil change interval was 4,500 miles.

Full synthetics tend to hold up much better.

 

[CrazyCooter]

Any combined engine/transmission power train will be much harder on oil viscosity than engine alone applications. Engines do not produce the crushing force that occurs in a geared transmission. The BRP XPS blended oil will shear down to 20w at around 5,000 miles. We have confirmed this with several oil analysis from various riders. Most of which takes place between 4,500 & 5,000 miles. Which makes me think this is why the original factory recommended Spyder oil change interval was 4,500 miles.

Full synthetics tend to hold up much better.

On bikes like my KTM 1290, we have no issues going 10K+ miles with OUA coming back good for continued use. That is a lighter machine with much less drag, so maybe these pigs just work harder. I think my wife might be a bit more aggressive than average when the OEM tire was wasted right at 5k miles?

Regardless... she has 6,000 miles on it since last service, so I'll rotate it back in and send off for UOA. This way we can get our own baseline and track things from there.

The UOA's look similar between Clover's 1330 and your 998 so it's not an engine thing...

 

[Peter Aawen]

... I think my wife might be a bit more aggressive than average when the OEM tire was wasted right at 5k miles? ...

That's not a sign of being 'aggressive' - in fact, if anything, it's more an indication of being fairly gentle!! It's actually pretty good milage for an OEM tire!

Many still running the OEM tires don't get even that much tire life, wearing a 2" wide strip in the centre down to the tread wear indicators within just a couple of thousand miles... only because the majority of the tread still looks good, many think they're OK to continue riding until they've worn that centre strip out to about 4-5" wide!! Only by then, the very middle of the tire rarely has anything more than a paper thin layer of rubber over the tread belts and even if they don't realise it, they're riding on 2/5th's of 5/8th's of a bee's whisker, and likely within moments of a REALLY catastrophic tire failure!

So I wouldn't think that your wife's riding style has been any harder on the oil than that of anyone else's; rather, given her pretty reasonable OEM tire life, it's probably been a bit gentler than many - but our Spyders are heavy when compared to many motorcycles, and there's no denying that the Spyder's transmission is pretty hard on the oil. It doesn't really seem to matter much what oil it is, they all tend to shear down a fair bit fairly quickly - maybe most of the quality brands aren't quite as quick/shear so low as the XPS Blended stuff, but they all shear down somewhat!

Getting your own baseline is a great idea, I've found the trends in the oil analysis of each machine to be quite revealing, even when there's not anything significant shown in any one result. But then, I do a fair few miles on my 998 powered RT, so I only get an analysis done on every third oil change.

 

[AbNormy]

Between my 2012 RT and my 14RT 1330 I've observed that the twins burned and leaked and oil just looked burnt over 3k miles, while my 1330 doesn't burn or leak a drop between changes and even over 6k looks only brown like I could have just changed the filter. Joes Meyers wife said she got quite a few miles on her machines only changed at factory recommended intervals so I'm inclined to think with the triples its overkill to change before even 9600 miles as BRP recommends at least on the 1330s.

 

[CrazyCooter]

I would guess we will have 7k on this oil change before it actually gets done. If the UOA comes back great, I'll go for the 9600 next time. If it looks kinda roached then we will shoot for 5k next time.

I have run 75K on the same oil with make up added and filters swapped on my trucks and have fleet light trucks that came back with good UOA's at 25K, so I know it can be done. One client drives less than 10k in 3 years, but we figured out 3 years was the point where TBN had fallen to a point where it wouldn't be protecting much longer.