Spyder oil question answered...

[bone crusher]

Today I met with the regional Can-Am rep. and he said there is only ONE oil they are supposed to use right now....oh, in the winter, in colder regions, they can use a winter blend...he said there shouldn't be confusion with the oil...

[Firefly]

Yeah - and nowhere on the bottle does it say what weight it actually is.

I don't see how that can be legal - shouldn't all oils have to list their weight?

I here it's a 10-40 - and the bottle I saw said it was made in the US.

So---- what is it, why did they change and who really makes it?

Switched to Royal Purple this weekend - too early to tell how it's working - got a unique smell right after I started using it.

[effgjamis]

The manual, concerning the waranty etc, and other infomation concerning the use of oil is very specfic. FULL SYNTHETIC.. Now if BRP would send out a notice to all owners about the change to a blend, then that would be ok.. I think they want you to use their Big $$$ oil change service.
Question about the summer blend.. well would it be the same in upstae NY, or MI, as it would be in AZ, NM or Florida??? Climates are a bit different.

[vtrider]

I just changed my oil this weekend in my spyder, and used the XPS summer blend. What I find interesting, is on the back of the oil container it tells about the oil and there is a picture of a tempereature thermometer showing a temperature range from 10C to -40C. So, I guess the summer blend covers a variance in temperatures.

[Roaddog2]

They just want to make money on oil the full synthectic BRP got up to around 13.00 a quart so they dumped castrol and went with this.
Staying with full synthectic bought extra before they ran out after that is gone will switch to Red Line or Spectro

[BLACK WIDOW]

Today I met with the regional Can-Am rep. and he said there is only ONE oil they are supposed to use right now....oh, in the winter, in colder regions, they can use a winter blend...he said there shouldn't be confusion with the oil...

I won't use this stuff----Foams up in my Spyder like dish soap.
I use Mobil 1 Motorcycle oil 10W40 (certified as JASCO MA)

[NancysToy]

Dealers are all saying this, but BRP is silent...especially in writing. Their spec is still very specific, full synthetic 5W-40, non-SM. How does a synthetic blend which doesn't even specify the weight be acceptable? It is ridiculous that BRP would promote this unlabeled, lower quality substitute without a single solitary word in writing. I will continue to search out oil meeting their spec as long as I am able. After that I guess I'll have to switch to a heavier oil like 10W-40. It would be so easy for them to remedy this situation. I am deeply troubled as to why they continue to refuse to do so. Something smells rotten in the apple barrel.
-Scotty

[docdoru]

This is exactly the oil used for the 33,000 miles service in Clearwater.

[Tom in NM]

"Today I met with the regional Can-Am rep. and he said there is only ONE oil they are supposed to use right now....oh, in the winter, in colder regions, they can use a winter blend...he said there shouldn't be confusion with the oil..."

Well, it does not seem to be working that way.

Tom

[bone crusher]

Yeah...well, this is what BRP is sending the dealerships, should they wish to use BRP product. I guess if a dealership wants to use Mobil 1 or something else, they are doing so on their own.

[jwfranklin]

This is what I'm using,

[Firefly]

"Today I met with the regional Can-Am rep. and he said there is only ONE oil they are supposed to use right now....oh, in the winter, in colder regions, they can use a winter blend...he said there shouldn't be confusion with the oil..."

Well, it does not seem to be working that way.

Tom

This becomes more confusing all the time!

[Trickie Dick]

"Something smells rotten in the apple barrel." Speaking of barrels, I wonder what this is going to do to those dealers using barrel oil like mine did a couple of months ago for the 600 mile service. Can they get this stuff by the barrel?

[Some Guy]

My dealer swears by Amsoil full synthetic. So, who has the "right" opinion of what oil to use!

[bone crusher]

The BRP product does NOT come by the barrel! Apparently, they change the bottles a lot, but what I posted is what they are ALL supposed to be using.

My dealer is pretty skinny with following BRP recommendations. The picture I got is from him...on Saturday...

I don't know what others are doing, but this products IS THE OFFICIAL BRP product...

[ataDude]

My one oil post.

BRP cannot force you to use their product... unless they provide it for free... they can only tell you to use a product that meets their specs... Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. There are plenty of oils out there that do meet their specs.

I personally use Amsoil.

.

[Big Arm]

While in Omaha yesterday for the open house at Leisure Life Sports, I had to pick up some oil for my next change. The salesman at the counter showed me the same container that bone crusher posted in the first picture of this thread. I told him I wanted full synthetic 5W-40. He said BRP switched to this blend, and is now recommending it for the Spyder. The price of this oil was $9.49 per qt. plus tax.
Like was stated eariler, nowhere on the bottle is the weight.
I'll use it this time, since I am due for my change now, so we'll see.....

[bone crusher]

I'll use what the manufacturer of Rotax recommends as this makes sense...my dealership uses this oil so I'm sure it's more than good enough for my Spyder...

There's no point in me trying to save a few bucks here and there.

All oils are NOT created equal...then again, most of them are pretty much the same thing...

To each their own...I was only addressing Scotty's original question about which oil BRP/Can-Am is recommending.

It appears that many dealerships are doing their own thing on the oil front...maybe to save a few dollars. Who knows?

[bjt]

I just changed my oil this weekend in my spyder, and used the XPS summer blend. What I find interesting, is on the back of the oil container it tells about the oil and there is a picture of a tempereature thermometer showing a temperature range from 10C to -40C. So, I guess the summer blend covers a variance in temperatures.

Are you sure it wasn't -10C to 40C?
10C = 50F and -40C = -40F, and that seems kind of cold for a summer blend.
-10C = 14F and 40C = 104F

Regardless, its a multi-weight oil, covering a range of temperatures, even though they aren't disclosing what the cold / hot weight is.

[bjt]

The cynic in me says that BRP has done this BRP branded oil switch just to make money or to maintain a certain profit without raising the consumer price. Full synthetic costs more than semi-synthetic. If their cost plus their markup on the full synthetic oil they used to sell brought the end consumer price up to $15 or $20 per liter, they might have figured that was too high and they would lose customers to other motorcycle oil brands selling below $15 per liter. Some places just decrease the size of a product and charge the same price (the old XL is now the Large, the old Large is now the Medium, etc.)but that can't happen with Spyder motor oil as the engine needs a fixed amount (it wouldn't be happy running on 3/4 or 1/2 the amount of oil). So the only choice is to find a cheaper product and sell it at the same price. Just a guess on my part.

[Lamonster]

I use old cooking oil just like my Honda Cub

[NancysToy]

My dealer is pretty skinny with following BRP recommendations. The picture I got is from him...on Saturday...

I don't know what others are doing, but this products IS THE OFFICIAL BRP product...

I'll use what the manufacturer of Rotax recommends as this makes sense...my dealership uses this oil so I'm sure it's more than good enough for my Spyder...

To each their own...I was only addressing Scotty's original question about which oil BRP/Can-Am is recommending...

Unfortunately for the dealers who are sticking to the BRP oil, to the best of my knowledge BRP has still not produced a written service bulletin actually recommending this change, nor have they changed the written oil specification in the Owner's Manual. That leaves a lot of people in limbo. Until the recommendation is in writing, even BRP's own oil doesn't meet their specification. Frankly, it would be virtually impossible to do so, since the weight is not marked on the package anywhere, and it is not a full synthetic oil, as their specs state. This verbal recomendation is not a good practice, no matter how good BRP and their dealers' intentions.
-Scotty

[irish2themax]

Seems like you CAN use other oils without any warranty issues. Page 38 of the Service Manual says “Use BRP XP-S 5W 40 synthetic oil (P/N 293 600 039) or an equivalent motorcycle oil meeting the requirements for API service SL, SJ, SH, or SG classification.”

Seems pretty clear to me

Amsoil, Royal Purple, Castrol, Mobile 1, etc. are all "legal" but keep good records

[NancysToy]

Seems like you CAN use other oils without any warranty issues. Page 38 of the Service Manual says “Use BRP XP-S 5W 40 synthetic oil (P/N 293 600 039) or an equivalent motorcycle oil meeting the requirements for API service SL, SJ, SH, or SG classification.”

Seems pretty clear to me

Amsoil, Royal Purple, Castrol, Mobile 1, etc. are all "legal" but keep good records

All these oils are good products. Please note that some of these oils are not available in the specified weight. The new BRP oil does not even come close to the spec...as written. I personally think that the slightly heavier 10W-40 oils are a better match for the hot running Spyder, and BRP may be leaning this way with their new choice of summer and winter weight oils. Without a revised oil spec, and without an actual viscosity listed on the label, however, who knows?

I fully agree that you need to keep good records. Save your receipts and attach them to a written record of your oil change. A digital picture of the odometer mileage can't even hurt. As much as I prefer to buy oil by the case, an individual purchase close to the time of the oil change, or at the same time as the filter(s) purchase, makes for a more bulletproof record. It is hard to be too careful here.
-Scotty

[Donk45]

The original picture BC posted is what I was sent by an authorized dealer as well. They said you can use Royal Purple or whatever you'd like, but we just use what BRP recommends, so I did too.