I've thought about it before and of course cleaner oil is a good thing, but at the end of the day I don't think it makes any measurable difference in the life of an engine.

If HD could make money off of it they would be trying to push their own version and they don't. Vehicles have been running for zillions of miles and a very small percentage of people do this. If there were tons of oil related failures and this would prevent them everyone would do it.

I don't knock anyone for doing it and if it gives you piece of mind by all means go for it, I just don't think not doing it puts anyone at more risk of an oil related engine failure than the next guy.

 

Just to make a point that I have the scavenger and use it once a year at the end of the season when I know my bike will be laid up for 3 or 4 months just to get all contaminants away from bearings and whatever. If I do an oil change during the season I don't even bother with it

 

I've seen it used to "flush" TC88 engines/pans after the tensioners went down to the metal.

 

Makes good sense, don't think too many folks could argue with that one. I considered doing it when I went to the 120 with high capacity oil pan. There's a lot of oil left in there and that would be good for end of year or after taking out break in oil or switching to synthetic.

 

As a master mechanic, clean oil is a need & by using the scavenger it does make a difference. I wish I could do it to my vehicle. A little contaminates may not hurt, but they don't help either. I change my oil every 5K miles with Amsoil, last year I was able to invest in the scavanger, it took almost 2 qrts to get clean oil out. Last oil change it took 1. My Ultra has 120K miles & have have owned it since 40K miles. I am very pleased with the results & highly recommend it to anyone that is interested.

Toby

 

Rouge Choppers? Women put rouge on their faces.

 

Explain then how some of us put 75-100K on these engine with no issues. It is just another one of those feel good aftermarket deals.
Like 100's of other voodoo products.

 

75k-100k is great but what if getting all the old oil out instead of 80% would bump that to 150k? One master mechanic has already stated he's at 120k. That's 20% better than 100k, coincidence?
You still didn't answer my question. Do you use 4 fresh qts and one old when you change the oil in your car/truck? 20% doesn't matter, right?

 

In my opinion, as an aircraft mechanic with over 42 years experience (more years than that working on motorcycles), yes, it is a silly way to spend money, and it is a silly way to change oil.

Mechanics have been changing oil on dry sump oil systems forever without pumping oil out by cranking the engine.

The factory has determined the proper oil change interval and they were fully aware that a small amount oil remains in the system.

 

Not a voodoo product. There are a lot of things that help performance, longevity, do you think the manufactures don't want their products to wear out? Or have all the performance they can have. 1969 Firebird vs GTO, only difference in the 400 CI engine was a tab bent different than the other causing the Firebird to have 15 HP less. Ford (all of them do, but I knew someone that knew someone that worked at one of their plants that all they did was put miles on vehicles to see what parts failed or lasted too long) engineers parts to fail at a certain mileage. Since Harley's have a sump, there is still oil that you cannot get out by doing a simple oil change. Can they last without it, sure they can. Can they last by going 6K miles between oil changes, yes. May not last as many miles, but how many people hold onto their motorcycles past 100K, so who cares. But at what point do you want to realize that it can last & do something about it. In Japan they don't change their oil, they are forced to replace there engines at 30-40K miles, what a trade off. Now whether that is true, I don't know, that is just hear say on my part from when I was getting Japanese engines years ago. I can sure see the difference in my oil, both after the oil change & when it is time to change the oil. Good luck

Toby