Interesting article on the 3000mile oil change interval myth.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/stop...-your-oil.html

 

I changed the oil in my 09 glide 3 times by the time I hit 1000 miles.
The first change was @100 miles, the second was at 500, and the 3rd was at 1000.
Really wanted to get that break in crap out of there.
The first change had a metalic sheen to it, and it started to lessen after that.

After the 2 K mark though I switched to synthetic, and now go to 5K or once a year there-bouts.

 

Call me old school, but I stick with the 3000 mile change. To me a motor will last for ever as long as you take care of it.

 

Don't listen to this environmentalist hippy crap. I agree that 3k miles is too frequent (HD even says 5k intervals in the service manual) but I wouldn't go more than 5k-6k between changes on my bike. It's REALLY simple. Oil is there to lubricate and cool essential metal parts of your motorcycle. Over time, dirt, metal fragments, and moisture contaminates the oil, and it can't do its job very well. You could change your oil every week with no negative impact on the machine.

IMO, all 3 holes every 5k miles, brakes every 10k keep you and your bike safe and happy. YMMV

 

HD is a money machine. Like any business everything they do is to make money. If they could get away with demanding a 3000 mi interval they'd make millions. Afterall, they sell the oil and have a large customer base for doing the fluid changes. So just the fact alone that HD calls for a 5K interval should be enough to prove that any more often than that is a waste.

 

Then again, you must remember that Harley also sells new motorcycles. It's not really in their best interest that your motorcycle last forever. If it did, how could they sell you a new one?

Oil doesn't just lubricate, it also carries and holds in suspension by-products of combustion, such as carbon particles, moisture and acids, as well as fine metal particles and silica from dust ingested by the engine. There is no way to get rid of these substances except to change the oil.

 

I kind of agree with what he says. Back in the 70's, I worked in communications, and we drove Dodge vans. We ran them 10 to 15,000 miles between oil changes. That was on dino oil. All of our miles were road miles. We would put 100,000 plus on them, and then do only a valve job. Then run them another 100,000 before trading them off. In all that time they never used any oil or had any other problems. We did this 4 times while I worked there with the same results. And, in my estimation, the oil we have now is superior to what we had back then along with engines being much closer fit.

 

when I was a kid I knew an old dude who was a firm believer that the oil change interval was a scam and a myth...he never changed his oil....but he changed his filter evey month and topped up....had three vehicles with over 200k on them..... I have always been of the opinion that the old fella was on to something there so I limit my oil changes to 5-7k miles.

 

I am old school , and I do change engine oil twice a year ..miles dont matter ..

however , I change primary tranny oil only when i have to.
I/E doing any work on primary /tranny .
( sportie went 12 years between tranny/primary change )
my previous HD's changed their own primary ( leaked out , pre-evolution motors)


no combustion in there , no push/pull . only a vent , and if you dont get it underwater nothing can get in and the oil will last forever ( if nothing breaks )

thats for my two HD's , the Honda use's same oil for all three,,(amazing )

 

YMMV, but in my opinion unless it leaked so much that topping it off all the time was as good as an oil change, you still have to consider the metal and other particles suspended in the oil. Just think about gears turning in black clumpy goo vs clean, warm, full synthetic oil.

On that note- the 3k oil change is also from a day when all we had was conventional oil. Syn3 or other synthetic oil is a whole 'nother ball game.