Many off-road enthusiasts head west to enjoy open spaces and challenging high-clearance desert and mountain trails. When driving in remote terrain, be sure to prep your ATV or UTV with additional protection and recovery equipment. Also consider that hard driving in harsh environments and extreme temperatures takes a greater toll on your engine.
Modern side-by-sides are often turbocharged for maximum power and performance. Turbos can spin up to 200,000 rpm, creating tremendous friction and additional heat that cause oil to break down faster. Oxidized oil also becomes thicker, making it harder to circulate and impairing its ability to protect against wear and deposits.
The rapid on-and-off throttle needed to navigate tough terrain also creates severe heat cycles that invite deposits, known as turbo coking. Shutting down a hot engine has the same effect, allowing hot oil to bake onto the turbo bearings. These increased deposits can reduce engine performance and life.
It’s up to the oil to cool and lubricate the turbo bearings and shaft to ensure your vehicle is protected. We ran AMSOIL 0W-50 Synthetic ATV/UTV Motor Oil (AUV05) through real-world field testing in a turbocharged Polaris* RZR Pro XP* UTV. Then we turned the intensity up and ran numerous advanced performance-testing profiles on our dyno for a complete 50-hour oil-drain interval.
