Is it worth the expense of buying atv dealer or manufacture brands of motor oil, fluids, radiator coolant etc.? Doesn't the Auto Zone, Wal Mart, or other discount distributor brands of motor oil, filters, engine coolant etc. meet the same performance standards set by law as the ridiculously priced manufacture brands sold at the atv dealers. I personally use synthetic oil for my Outlander. BRP sells it for $11.00/quart. Isn't Mobil One Synthetic just as good or better. For all fourstroke engines, is there really any difference between oil advertised for ATV's and oil advertised for automobiles, lawnmower etc etc.
How about other after market oils such as Bel Ray, Lucas others etc.
This really depends on the type of oil your bike recommends. (or car for that matter).
For me, I have virtually no choice than to use Polaris oil. The Polaris engine requires 0w40 synthetic, and nobody carries that weight of oil.
As for filters, be careful. I went to school through Ford Motor Company to become a technician several years back. When discussing parts, we cut open filters from various companies (wix, fram, etc..) You would be suprised at just how bad these things were put together. Not just oil filters, but fuel filters as well.
To add, as a technician I seen many cars and trucks get towed in because it would not start or run. Very often, I ran into these situations.....
almost new aftermarket fuel filters - material inside the filter would disintegrate and quickly find it's way up the fuel lines into the injectors. (expensive repair)
engine knock - Complaints about an engine knocking on cold starts. Aftermarket oil filters (fram best known for this) not having check valves in the filter and letting all the oil drain out of it and back down to the pan. Engine would knock until oil pressure built backup.
air filters (famous on ford trucks using the round air filter) - the cone on the end often not being glued on correctly on aftermarket filters, coming loose and sucking through the filter and plugging up the air entry at the mass air flow sensor. (really pissed owners off to get charged $100 for diagnosis when the first thing we did as a tech was open up the air box an laugh when these got towed in)
Not all aftermarket maintenance parts are bad, and many have improved over recent years (at least I have heard they have), but just be careful which ones you use.
I made a good living for quite a while off of people trying to fix and maintain their cars with aftermarket parts. Guess that made me a little jaded against the practice.
I am curious about this as well. I have only had my bike long enough to change the oil once. I paid almost $50 for what I could have bought @ Auto Zone for $15.
Well, as far as oil, air, and fuel filters go... I order from a company in New York.
I do all my orders online and usually in bulk (I own a business and have alot of different filters) if the order is for 6 or more filters, or $50 or more then the shipping is free.
The filters are WIX, and when I was in the military... WIX had the government contract for nearly every oil, air, and fuel filter. I have so far found them to be every bit as good as the OEM filters, and in most cases they come with the necessary housing gaskets and O-rings that you'll pay extra for from the ATV manufacturer.
The filter for my Brute Force is $9-$11.00 each at the dealer, I can order it from this company for $4.35 with no tax, no shipping, and it's delivered to my door.
So far I'm impressed with this company, and hope that they'll continue to provide their current level of service and pricing for years to come.
The filters are WIX, and when I was in the military... WIX had the government contract for nearly every oil, air, and fuel filter.
That would be enough to scare me away.
Just sort of a joke because I remember when I worked at a machine shop in Mansfield Texas where we had a government contact rebuilding Diesel Engines. We would repair all the visible cracks in the heads, seal off the ports, and then pressure test them. There was so much air coming up in the water that the heads were submerged in that it looked like a pot of water about to boil over, LOL. Those heads got passed as good, sent on to the assembly area, just like the gigantic engine blocks that were in horrilble shape.
I stuck around while this took place for a few months and decided it was time for me to get away from the situation. 6 months later, the business was shut down due to all the engines failing and coming back to them locked up.
Moral to this story - The people in charge of government contracts are not the smartest people in the world. I would say they look at cost, but that can't be it because they will pay thousands of dollars for a coffee pot.
I've yet to find anybody in charge of anything military that had all their cookies in one jar.
But, I do think WIX makes a good filter... I can't see any difference at all between the OEM and these... outside of price.
The original air filter for the Ford 6.0 Power Stroke (that huge conglomeration of honeycomb-lookin plastic that takes three men and eight hours to replace) was actually first manufactured for Ford by WIX. If you go to the dealer that filter is nearly $70, it's well over $100 to have them put it in. I can buy the same filter directly from WIX for around $35.00.
I think the worst luck I ever had with an oil filter was Pennzoil. I don't know if they make their own or if some other bunch of idiots manufacture them... but they SUCK. I have NEVER had a Pennzoil oil filter that didn't leak.
car oil has different specs, Be careful! Car oil goes for gas mileage and uses antifriction additives and other components that are not as well suited for atv's. Especially if your atv uses a wet clutch system, you will end up with slipping and glazing. Filters are as stated above not always the same. I also worked at Ford for years and it is correct that they are sometimes valved to stop oil from backflowing and such. One example of a difference is a Yamaha Big Bear or Warrior 350 uses a Yamaha filter that retails at almost $14.00. Emgo gets 6.95. Yamaha uses a double mesh wire type filter that may be reused once by their reccomendations. The emgo is a paper filter, completely different and not what the manufacturer intended to be used. So in short, Yes there are reasons and differences to stay with oem products.
Worked in the service department of autodealerships for 35 years. If a manufacturer built it then they should know best what to put on it. Stay with factory parts and accessories. Check the warranties on factory vs. after,arket too. Usually factory has a better warranty
