shell advance ultra 10w 40 fully synthetic

[urbanfireblade]

I know the haynes manual recommends this oil but will it still be fine to use in the 600 with its wet clutch? Im sure it probably is as the 600 doesn't ask too much from its clutch so little chance of any clutch slip.
Im about to order oil and its either this fully syn or silkolene semi syn(super).

[urbanfireblade]

Dont worry, found the answer. Mods can delete thread if they like.

[gary tompkins]

The answer would have been no - stick to semi synthetic

Full synthetic is ok for dry clutch engines but can cause slip in wet clutch monsters

[urbanfireblade]

Yep i went with the semi syn as its a safe bet,
The 'search' option doesn't work using my phone internet??? otherwise i could have searched for the answer, hence i posted this question(i was about to order the oil and needed advice asap!).
Oddly, my engine cover had a sticker saying Shell Advance Ultra, its been there quite a few yrs judging by the pristine paint under it when i removed said sticker so maybe it is ok in mine? Anyway, oils ordered, silkolene super semi syn 10w 40.

[utopia]

Well, there's peculiar........

My 750 bears the same sticker (on the casing that houses its wet clutch)..... "use only shell advance ultra 4".
The Haynes manual recommends it, as you say.
My owners manual also recommends it.
And my genuine Ducati workshop manual also recommends it.
The latter two are both specific to my particular model.

I knew about fully synth oil possibly causing wet clutches to slip, but in the light of all the above recommendations, I've always used Advance ultra 4, believing it to be semi-synth.
I guess that, with so many indicators that it was the correct oil, I never even bothered to check, but sure enough, the can says "fully synthetic".....in smallish but nevertheless fairly noticeable letters.

In 11,000 miles I haven't suffered any clutch slip though....at least not that I've noticed.
So is this a myth, like the one that says if you don't have a full Ducati service history then your engine will blow up....?
Does anyone have personal experience of said wet clutch slip....?

I guess I have to admit to being a little careless up to now, but as I have the next oil-change worth of Advance sitting in the shed, I'm inclined to carry on using it for the next few thousand miles.

[urbanfireblade]

I used castrol power fully synthetic in my 1200 bandit and no clutch slip. Same warnings given on the Suzuki forum. Previous owner used it so i knew it was ok. I tried semi synthetic but it wasnt as easy to change gears so i went back to the fully synthetic. This is on a wet clutch bike with 100bhp and 60-odd lb of torque.

[gary tompkins]

I used shell Ultra advance in my old 600 - Clutch slipped like a bastard

Wasn't too noticable up to 3rd gear round town, but when under load in 4th or 5th it was really bad

Had to drain it and refill with semi synthetic which was £35 down the drain :grump:

[Capo]

I seem to recollect that Shell Advanced is not a true full synthetic, apparently Shell got the goal posts moved so that it could be classified as such.

[Zimbo]

I used to get clutch slip in 5th on my DD bike when I used full synthetic, semi was fine.

I seem to recall that the Shell tie up was for "Marketing" purposes, and that even the Ducati Dealer network were mostly using Rock Oil ...

[BigOz]

If you go fully synthetic look for a JASO-MA or JASO-MA2 marking this indicates it has the correct additives e.t.c. for a wet clutch. I think they are just pushing the premium product but theoretically the full synth will degrade less rapidly in a hot environment like an air cooled lump. Semi synth will work fine especially if changed regularly.

I'm currently running full synth Motul 300v and it seems fine, probably placebo but the engine seems to idle better and feels smoother than when it had Shell Ultra 4T in it.

Andy

[Sirc]

Factory recommend and use semi-synthetic for wet clutches but plates can still get affected as I and several others have found and particularly if bike unused for some time as plates can become saturated. Some oils designed for car use have added friction modifiers so any semi synthetics other than recommended should be avoided.

[jerry]

shell advance 4 is a class 4 synthetic which means its not actually a real synthetic which would be class 5, 2v models best with semi synthetic i use Putoline 20-50w semi V Twin on both my 2v models andMotul technosynthesise 15-50w full synthetic on my S4

[urbanfireblade]

I changed mine last night for silkolene super 10w 40 semi and its much smoother changing gears. Previous owner had changed it just before i bought the bike but no idea what oil was used.

[jorrit112]

I seem to recollect that Shell Advanced is not a true full synthetic, apparently Shell got the goal posts moved so that it could be classified as such.

Maybe Shell advanced ultra 10w40 is not 100% full synthetic but it had the highest API oil rating, API SM. Iam using motul 300v right now in my ducati but iam thinking of trying Shell advance ultra next time. But i dont know wich of the two types I will choose; http://www.gpmotorolie.nl/motorolie/shell-advance-ultra/

[pte1643]

My 796 also has the "Use Only... Ultra 4" sticker on it. (brought from new, so it's always been there)

The Owners Manual also says this.

This may be slightly different for mine though, as it has the pretend "Slipper" (ATPC?) clutch.

[Jayos]

Had to drain it and refill with semi synthetic which was £35 down the drain :grump:

Hope it didn't go down the drain, that wouldn't be environmentally friendly :cool:

[Nickj]

My mate Ollie had his new (to him) 620's oil kindly changed FOC before he picked it up, it was filled with full synth oil and his clutch slipped badly. Spent his first night with the bike cleaning the clutch and flushing the oil out of the motor
I seem to remember quite a few people have posted the same kind of problem here before.

Personally I have used one of the generic semi-synth oils, auto care 10-40 as commended by himself at what was my local garage. The bikes done over 50K on this oil and seems quite happy. Last time I was furtling around in the cases everything was looking shiney and if all goes to plan it'll be happy up to the 100K mark when it's all going to end up as a pile of bits (if it needs that major a rebuild that is).

I used the same generic garage semi in my XR enduro bike but that only did one event per change.

[smiffyraf1]

Yeah had this debate recently. When i did my first oil change a year or so back i put that shell sh*t in and clutch was knackered, took it out rapid and changed for semi and clutch didnt slip anymore. Recently had clutch changed and my duc indy put the shell back in and i asked him to take it straight back out again and put semi in after cleaning all the clutch. In my experience it is definitely not for wet clutch monsters, am sure drys are fine with it tho

[bluestoesonnose]

Put Shell Ultra in the M750 yesterday, the bike has since done 100 miles (50 per day) and no issues. Perhaps the issue is with the clutches and not the oil?

[utopia]

My 750 has done virtually all of its 12000 miles on shell advance ultra 4t, and I've had no problems.
And the bike still has the std "long" gearing, so I do tend to use the clutch a bit around town.

[Mark Shelley]

I use Silkolene semi 10w 40 in all my bikes. Opie Oils do it in 20 litre containers so I always stock up when they have one of their deals on as it works out much cheaper

[MarkJ]

Hmm, was all set to post up my newb question about what oil to top up with in a 2010 plate 696.
My owner manual says use 15w-50 shell ultra 4. I've tried a few local places but can't find it.
Is this oil grade correct? Or are you guys all using 10w-40 for the UK climate?