Sticky clutch plates with Rotella T6

[ExTex]

I switched from Rotella T4 to T6 last spring in my Hawk GT at 31k miles.
Recently I have noticed that the clutch plates stick together after a few days sitting.
The T6 had been in the engine for 1k miles and 5 months this year.
Easy enough to break the plates loose by rolling the bike in 2nd gear with the clutch lever pulled.

But I decided to switch back to T4 today. I'll see if the sticking persists.

[bk94si]

I've used both T4 and T6. Never had any problems with either.

[Talon]

The worst shifting bike I have ever ridden was a Hawk (oddly enough) that used Rotella oil (can't remember if it was T4 or T6). For that reason I refuse to use the stuff.

[tian647]

I have found many, especially older, wet-clutch motorcycles do not enjoy synthetic oil like T6. More specifically shifting quality and the ability to find neutral diminishes noticeably.

I am running T4 (dino oil) in my current Hawk and it has been fine for 2 oil changes and ~6k miles although I have noticed the neutral light has become shy even if the transmission itself goes into neutral. Time to clean or replace the switch. Hooray, a winter project!

[BillnOroville]

I have found many, especially older, wet-clutch motorcycles do not enjoy synthetic oil like T6. More specifically shifting quality and the ability to find neutral diminishes noticeably.

I am running T4 (dino oil) in my current Hawk and it has been fine for 2 oil changes and ~6k miles although I have noticed the neutral light has become shy even if the transmission itself goes into neutral. Time to clean or replace the switch. Hooray, a winter project!

I know a cheap bastard who removed the neutral switch and hammered the end to elongate is just a little. It started working again he said. Is that even possible? I actually saw it working.

[Maritime]

MMM I noticed my son's bike that has sat now for about 3 weeks, when I tried N it was hard to find then said f it and pulled the clutch, plates drug. It has Dino Castral 10-40W in it. Not sure why they are sticky but I'm doing the seasonal oil change soon. My experience with synthetics, even Motorcycle spec ones has been the opposite of sticking, it's usually slip and loss of acceleration. Swapping back to dino always fixes it. I'll likely be putting the T4 in as that's the oil I got on sale so we'll see if it gets better.

[riot]

Rotella is Truck Oil. I completely support the use of synthetic oil, it is better in virtually every way, but you need to choose oil that is correct for the application.

That said, if you are using an oil without a JASO certification for motorcycle wet clutches, you're asking for trouble IMO.

[bk94si]

This thread has jogged my memory a bit. Scratch where I said no problems. I did notice the bike was harder to shift. No a huge problem, it wasn't that much worse, but it was a bit worse.

[rpcraft]

I used to use it all the time but it's getting hard to find and really expensive since Shell has some of their plants down so I have been swapping in a valvoline synthetic but I have never had any issues with either across 7 bikes, 5 of them being hawks, one Vstrom 1000, and a 919 Hornet. Might be time to open that clutch cover up and inspect the clutch basket for the wear of the plates cutting into it.

[Maritime]

I used to use it all the time but it's getting hard to find and really expensive since Shell has some of their plants down so I have been swapping in a valvoline synthetic but I have never had any issues with either across 7 bikes, 5 of them being hawks, one Vstrom 1000, and a 919 Hornet. Might be time to open that clutch cover up and inspect the clutch basket for the wear of the plates cutting into it.

Good Idea. I'll do that when I change the oil.

[6]

There is a common factor here among all these issues.

Y'all change your oil.


I never change it. Works fine for whole the life of the engine.

[bk94si]

There is a common factor here among all these issues.

Y'all change your oil.


I never change it. Works fine for whole the life of the engine.

. And the life of the engine is what 3 years?