This is SYN3 that's been in the engine for about 1000 miles...picture was taken with hot oil right after shutting off the engine...that's a lot of bubbles...normal? What does your oil tank look like when it's hot?

I drained it out and switched to Mobile 1, that's the third picture...which was also taken hot after a good highway run...no more bubbles...what gives with the bubbles?

Anti-foaming agents in the oil worn out at 1000 miles? Seriously?

Oil levels in the tank were both right at the full mark when hot.

Also, manual says 3 qts for an oil change. Service manual says to add 2 quarts, warm engine, perform hot check and fill to full mark...which is what I did...and it only held 2.5 qts...where's that 1/2qt hiding? I did change the filter and leaned the bike left, right, center while it drained and feel confident I got out all the oil willing to come out.

Pic 1 is Hot SYN3 in the tank.
Pic 2 is Hot SYN3 in the drain pan.
Pic 3 is Hot and Fresh Mobile 1 Synthetic.

 

Seriously?

Why not do a taste test too, for more useless research?

Put oil in, check the level once in a while but other than that there is no reason to be looking for problems.

 

Pics 1 and 2, 2 in particular, look like my output after a hard night of drinking Guinness, etc.

 

Research? What research? I've changed a lot of oil over the years; but I've never drained Harley SYN3 from anything. I'm sure folks here have drained gallons of SYN3 and I'd Iike their opinion...So, what I want to know is, is this normal for SYN3?

This reminds me of Pennzoil back in the 70/80's that would foam and sludge up like mad. I took a valve cover off a Camaro back in the early 80's and it was filled with brown whipping cream...aka...Pennzoil.

You are a service shops dream come true;I hope you don't have to pay folks to work on your mechanical equipment.

FYI..."looking for problems" is also known as "preventative maintenance"...and it's how you avoid sitting on the side of the road with a dead engine...or dead yourself; if something fails and causes loss of control of the bike.

 

I have bubbles like that but I'm running HD dino 20/50. Maybe it's normal ?

 

That old story has been around since I was a teenager (50 years ago).

Sometimes it is Pennzoil, sometimes Quaker State, sometimes......

Ease up on the drama, man, it`s just bubbles in the oil...

Put the correct grade oil in and maintain the proper level, that is all you need to do.

 

If it is "normal", that's not good. Bubbles are air, and oil saturated with air is a poor lubricant. That is why oil has anti-foaming agents added and why it's very important not to overfill the case as the crank sitting in oil will turn it into whip cream.

Interestingly, I found some data on how excessive filtering of oil can actually remove the anti-foaming agents...and Harley uses a very fine (5 micron) oil filter compared to 20 micron (and higher) for other brands.

An after-market filter manufacturer responded to criticism that it's filters are more porous than Harleys'...they made a great point....at 5 micron, the filter will plug up (restrict oil flow) much faster resulting in the bypass opening and NO filtering of the oil taking place; allowing engine damaging chunks to freely flow through the engine. This is especially relevant given that people want to go 5k to 15k between oil changes with these new synthetics. So if you're running a Harley filter, it might not be a bad idea to change the filter half way through your extended change cycle.

Harley, like everyone, has a long history of making engineering mistakes; and it's quite possible that in pursuit of profits, they built (and strongly recommend) using only their 5 micron filters (that the competition does not offer)...that in practice plug up fast, remove the anti-foaming agents, and, in the long run, are harmful to the engine...I am NOT claiming that is what has happened and why you and I have bubbly oil; just that it's a possibility and time will tell...as I'm sure someone will scientifically connect the dots IF they are there.

Back to the bubbles, the most common cause of foam is water in the oil. Since the bike is air cooled, moist air is the only source of water. It was humid this summer, but I own multiple oil lubed engines and none of them had foamy oil...only the SYN3 bike. We'll see how the Mobile1 pans out...it should hit the 1000 mile mark in a month or so.

 

Different additives and detergents in oil brands do different things. I wouldn't give it much thought unless it was foaming. A little bubbles is nothing for concern.

 

Anecdotal, but fuel economy for that 1000 miles of SYN3 hovered around 37mpg...I've now run a full tank of gas through the bike with the Mobile 1 and netted 41mpg...we'll see if the 10% mpg improvement holds over next 1000 miles.

 

I read an article where they cut apart an HD filter, an amsoil filter an a few others an the HD was a quality filter with a lot more filtering media than the amsfilter, maybe that's why they don't clog? I change my oil at the beginning of the season an that's my only change since I only ride 5 months out of the year an under 2500 miles...I use HD filters but now I'm thinking about going back to K&N...I used k&n on my v rod but stopped when they moved production off shore.