Who does 2500 mile oil change???
I have to agree with the ones that say it is a waste of good oil to change it every 1500 or 2500 miles.
Motor oil is actually good for more than the 3000 miles we give it in our cars and the manual for the bike has a 4000 milegap between the 1000 and the 5000 mile change required and I am sure if the oil was going bad at 2500 the dealer would not pass up that extra money they could make from the changes.
From things I have read the oil actually does not start breaking down and becoming useless until Ibelieve around the 7000 mile mark.
I am not saying wait 7000 miles to change your oil but I think every 1500 or 2500 miles is a little excessive but that is my opinion and if you want to do the changes more often than required go for it, its your bike and your money.
Thanks again and everyone ride safe
Again, remember that TIMEshould also be a factor. With so many putting very low miles on their toys, it really surprizes me that HDdoesn't say 6 months OR XXX miles.
EZ
I agree with big cahunaabout this, however I do change mine at 3,000 miles just because I like too. It gives me peace of mind and I do think the filter does need to be changed. I run Mobile V-Twin so I know it's good for more than 3,000 but the filter I think should be changed .
I always change engine, primary, and transmission before parking it for the winter. If I recall correctly, thats what's recommended in the owners manual as well. Storing an engine with high mileage, not necessarily dirty, oil in it invites corrosion problems from combustion by products such as acids suspended in the oil. Synthetic or dino doesn't matter.
I have to agree with the postings about the frivolity of brand loyalty. If it meets the specs, run it.Believe it,that's all HD does. Their oil is packaged in a suitable HD containerfrom the low bidder, whoever that may be at the time.I use regular HD 360 in my engine and know scads of people who run it as well, some with well over 100k trouble free miles on their bikes who've run nothing but that since day one, and it's cheap,so I can't argue it and I don't worry about which outfit supplied it to HD.
As far as synthetics go, I can't see the point unless you are going to put on 15k milesbetween 3 month oil change intervals,which frankly, not a lot of people do. Sure it suffers less heat breakdown than dino oil over time, but at least in my case, I change every 2500 miles, not because the oil is worn out, but to ensure that I'm ridding my bike of built up combustion deposits and condensation in the oil, so viscosity breakdown is not a factor.
Marketing hype aside, they'd have a long way to go to convince me there's any advantage to synthetics, either engine life or money wise, unless you're putting on some real big miles in a 3 month period where viscosity breakdown could become a factor.
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