can I run 5W-40 in my quad

[Clifish]

I have a 2017 Alterra 500 TRV,  manual says 0w-40 oil should be used.  I have read that Rotella T-6 meets all the standards that the OEM oil does but I can only seem to find the 5W-40 unless I buy a 5 Gallon pail...lol.  Can I use the 5w-40?  OR just stop being a cheap SOB and suck it up and spend the $85 for the OEM kit?

[Gwbarm]

I think Rotella is a very good oil and would work fine, I know many people that use it in their quad, don't really know why yours calls for 0w40 maybe cold weather, but the difference between 5 and 0 is minimal.

[Clifish]

It was pointed out by another forum that Arctic cat has changed the recommended oil a few times, seems I will be getting the Rotella T6 for 1/3 the price - thx

[Saskatchewaner]

You probably won't see any difference unless you're running it when it's cold (like -20 below cold) and even then only the short amount of time it takes the engine to come up to heat. Hell, the oil company I deal with at work "stopped making" 5W40 oil because their 5W40 tested good enough to meet 0W40 specs so they just started labeling it as 0W40. That being said I'm not a mechanic.

[mikeexplorer]

The main thing you want to check if the oil is wet clutch safe. I have been using mobil 1 AT racing oil, says right on the bottle wet clutch safe.

 

[Mattshick]

I would run OEM on it I do all mine just so I don't have problems in the long run

[Gwbarm]

I run OEM also , not really that much more, plus it gives me piece of mind. Oil seems to be more specific for certain machines than it used to be.

[Batman]

On 4/26/2023 at 1:28 PM, Clifish said:

It was pointed out by another forum that Arctic cat has changed the recommended oil a few times, seems I will be getting the Rotella T6 for 1/3 the price - thx

That is kind of confusing that they would change the oil recommendation. Did they give a reason for changing it a few times? Were the OEM recommendations bad or something?

[Clifish]

not too sure,  they weren't huge changes in weights

[Big_McLargeHuge]

17 hours ago, Batman said:

That is kind of confusing that they would change the oil recommendation. Did they give a reason for changing it a few times? Were the OEM recommendations bad or something?

It may have been changed to meet emissions requirements.