The owner of a Harley dealer in Richmond Indiana once told me I should change my oil twice as often as the manual recommends, even if it's synthetic. He was pretty adamant about it. So I started changing my synthetic oil myself every 2500 miles on my '07 Ultra. Some people think I'm just wasting my money. What do you all think? Maybe it will last that much longer, but then, maybe that's way longer than I need it to last if I just sell it in another 2-3 years.

 

I change engine oil every 3000 and primary and transmission every 5000. If people think it's a waste of money, it's my bike and my money. The peace of mind is worth it to me.

 

Motor oil every 3000 miles, primary every 5000 miles, gearbox every riding season end using a gl-5 oil.

 

This may cause some heart burn with folks but it is my bike and my money. A very smart man, who has been around Harley's all of his 77 years told me that I should change my oil every 1000 miles. Reason being, it's air cooled and oil breaks down faster. On the primary, I go 2000.

He never uses synthetic. Reason for that, you never know what little town you may ride into and all they have is standard motor oil. Times change with technology but I believe I will always listen to him when he speaks.

Might sound old school but I believe he has forgotten more than I will ever learn.

 

My wrench is the same way, and his ten year old road king looks and runs like new. Because S&S recomends Mobile1 I'll use that in the motor, and change every 2K miles, Trans and primary I'll use Formula Plus and change every other oil change. I carry an extra jug of each in my bags, If I plan on running into oil change milage on a trip, I guess I'll bring a filter and enough fluids to do it, in addition to my headlight bulb, turnsignal/brakelight bulbs, spare passing lamp, and buttload of tools. (Gotta love having a bagger!)

 

FWIW, there are places you can send a sample of your used oil and have it analyzed.

Historically, there's no longer a reason to change modern oils so often...other then piece of mind (exclude rider or mechanically induced problems that can/does damage the oil).

The majority of the data supports the use of modern motor oil for many thousands of miles...gear oils can go tens of thousands of miles and still perform very well...requirements for wet clutch applications are a bit different.

And generally speaking, there's no problem mixing different manufacturers' oils. It's even ok (generally speaking) to mix grades (ie - 10w30 with straight 60wt). Just read the labels and you'll see most every motor oil is compatible with just about every other motor oil.

Bottom line...it's your machine. Do what works best for you!

 

I change the Motor oil and filter every 3000, trans and primary every 5000. couldnt care less howlong oil is capable of lasting, what i care about is knowing its clean. As long as i am able to afford it thats how i will do it, I have never seen an engine go bad from changing oil to often, however i have see a many go bad from not changing oil often enough.

 

[quote=rinja64;6866661] A very smart man, who has been around Harley's all of his 77 years told me that I should change my oil every 1000 miles. Reason being, it's air cooled and oil breaks down faster. On the primary, I go 2000.quote]


LOL, id never get anywhere changing it that often.

 

Have you really? I personally don't go over 5k on my oil but unless you work in a engine shop I'm going to guess that you haven't really seen "many" engines fail from lack of oil changes.

 

Gotta luv oil threads. People tend to err on the side of caution and there's nothing wrong with that. Heck; look how much oil is being wasted in the Gulf right now.

Going by how dark an oil looks isn't the correct way to judge if it needs changing. With dino oil the age or if it ever got over 250 degrees is more important.

With synthetics, because they don't turn acidic like dino does at the same rate, you can go years without changing the oil as long as the engine gets hot enough to off-gas any water built up in it.

Me, using synthetics, change my engine and primary oil every 5k and the trans fluid at 20k just like the book says. I use Mobil 1 V-Twin 20/50 and Redline Shockproof for the trans.