Owners nanual for 01 says to use diesel if you cant but hd. Curious why.

 

Same from my 14 touring bike manual. I take that to mean, the Diesel engine oil is a safe equivalent to HD oil when that’s all to be had when level is low.

 

agree.

 

I have used HD 50wt oil in my old road king... never ran better.

 

A lot of you don't exactly run high rpms either. High detergent oil, diesel or otherwise, WILL foam at higher rpm without a good anti foaming additive in it. I dont see diesel oil having such an additive but I could be wrong and it's not worth my time to research it. Maybe some do.
Come to think of it, the builder that told me this was referring to hdeo but I would think most diesel oil is higher in detergents to some extent even if it's not necessarily an HDEO. He also wouldnt have had a problem running it for break in but he didnt.
Personally there's better oil out there than diesel afaic to even consider or look into the pros and cons of running it. If I had a sludge issue I might consider running it short term but not at higher rpms, high stress conditions. Foaming is not a good thing for oil to be doing. Don't need to research that.
Maybe why Harley says its ok to run diesel in a pinch but change it asap?
And bustert your reference to race oil is one with NO detergents such as NSL. Not the same thing. If I had a dollar for every time I heard an oil like VR1has to be dumped in 500 miles...
I've see the results of running what I run over and over and for $5 and change a quart I'll keep running it.
I've been seeing pics posted here of cams coming out with 30,000 miles on them that make me cringe. What's up with that?

 

less if you used the old HD240 which was replaced with HD 360 ! but yeah, you can apply whatever fuzzy math analogy you want but the 360 hours is stated for lab testing in controlled environment and the results of that.....point being, oils in general are underated by fickle Harley owners and changed more frequently than they really need to be, in general

 

Probably wouldn't think that if you saw how early some of these mc oils are breaking down.
Everything here is nothing but speculation actually because unless you're actually testing your used oil for breakdown, shearing, and wear metals you really have no idea how well it's doing. The wear will happen over time to a greater or lesser degree but if you believe you can run diesel in these motors for 50,000 miles with no adverse effects then have at it. lol
An IH has tolerances loose enough to drive a truck thu when it's brand new and it's getting a fresh quart every 500 miles because they leak and burn that much as bustert full well knows. It's getting an oil change every 1500 miles whether you like it or not. lol Geezus they don't even have valve guide seals.
You might get away with thinking you can run ridiculously long OCIs on a stock motor too. Throw high lift performance cams in and it's another story. That's the first place you'll see wear. Even in a stock motor. Look at the stock cams coming out of these motors. Why are lifters being replaced at 20,000 miles? Bearing? And you think running oil for 20,000 miles isn't going to be a problem?
Just sayin'...
I readily admit however I tend to lean a little further the other direction than probably necessary. Good clean oil is cheap insurance.

 

bottom line is no matter what type vehicle, engine, etc, as long as you follow manufacturers recommendations you really can't go wrong..it really is all that simple

 

Have been using Rotella T4 in my Suzuki Intruder for years and synthetic T6 in my SV1000s as well as my LTZ400 quad. Granted they all call for a 40wt oil. I'm debating on what to use in my Polaris Predator 500 as the Polaris oil is crazy expensive & it's a 5 or 10w-50. I'd be fine using a diesel 50 wt in my Ultra Classic if I could find it.

 

BIG DIFF BETWEEN DIESEL AND GASOLINE
that said,the additive package is way diff. as far as wear, probably tit-for-tat but a big diff in suspension. why?? diesels have a high particulate matter especially the older formulations. but today's diesel is almost like gasoline and burn way cleaner. if you have an older machine especially with mechanical injection, it is imperative to add so lube to it. some say there is no need but i am not going to take the chance on a $$$$$ for rebuild or new one if available.
if you are a sunday school rider, diesel oil is a better choice since it will help keep the system clean, but if you change your oil often then probably does not matter.
my first car was an amoco company car my father had since new. this car had regular oil changes by the amoco service station every 3k miles. it was a dodge 440. amoco's policy was a new car every 50k miles or when the warranty went out so i got the car with 47k on the clock.
the station used amoco auto oil and when you opened the valve cover port, seen sludge, not saying much for 60's engine oil! i started using texaco ursla diesel oil as that was what i was around but i changed brands so i could have been mobile delvac or any other major brand. the thing is by 75k miles, the c/c was clean as a whistle.
as it stands for now, my wife car threw in a wrench. it is a new honda eco-earth green engine and uses a 0-20wt oil which you will not find in a diesel oil. the newer engines are getting more hydraulic in nature with all the new cam adv/retard and 4/6/8 technologies. does the oil get black, well YEP in a few hundred miles, is it dirty, NOPE!
it uses direct injection and turbo and i assume the oil get circulated around quite quickly. for a 4 banger 1500cc and 200 hp, pretty impressive. if i could, i would run a diesel oil if i could find one. it is unreal how they reduced friction and mass in the newer engines so there is less loading on the parts and oil for that matter.
i ran the frantz filter system and i never pulled the drain plug and nary a hint of engine failure and i showed no mercy and ran till the body gave out. the system used to be FAA approved till particle detectors became the norm. and they could not use the system since it would remove the material so the detector was useless.