I've searched and read posts here for off-and-on all afternoon. My owners manual doesn't say anyting about using Syn3? Should I only use what the manual tells me?

 

Syn 3 is made for Harley Davidson by an oil company, don't know which one. It is approved by Harley Davidson for use in ther Motors. However, there are a lot better synthetic oils available. AMSOIL 20W 50 Mobil 1 V Twin 20W 50. As Long as the the synthetic Oil is for Motorcycle use and of the proper weight you are ok. Ultimately the choice is up to you. I use AMSOIL in my 03 Ultra and am quite happy with the results.

 

Syn 3 is made by Citgo to HD's specs. Citgo is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Venezuelan gooberment. You can connect the dots from there.

Any synthetic oil of the proper viscosity, 15w-50, 20w-50, will work. Some are better than others. Plenty of folks on here use Mobil 1, both car and V-Twin versions, Redline, Amsoil, Castrol Syntec, Royal Purple.

 

Thanks for the reply Pococj!

Seems to me that 15/50 Mobil One in the engine and primary; and Mobil One 75/90 in the tranny are good choices?

How about an oil filter? Stay with OEM?

 

bear is right on target. i use the same. in fact i would use hd 360 before syn3.

 

New convert here...just did the Mobil 1 15/50 in the engine and primary and 75/90 in the tranny.

Engine magnet drain plug fuzz was minimal while the tranny and primary were considerable. We'll see how the fuzz is on the next five thousand and ten thousand round.

 

Doing my 1k service this coming Thursday. Stock from the stealer had HD 360. I'm not going with Syn 3 after much research here and other sites, along with guys who I know ride. Was lucky to find an Amsoil dealer literally 1 mile from my house in Chicago who was also willing to break a case of 20/50 for me. Going to go with 20/50 in the engine and 75/90 Sever Gear in the tranny and HD Formula + in the primary. Spoke with the service guy at the stealer and he was upfront when I asked him about his thoughts. He said he knew of guys who were running Amsoil and they swear by it and a guy in the shop who runs HD dino oil and has 100k on his bike. He said they would put whatever I wanted in. When asked if I could bring the Amsoil in, he said no problem, so at least there was no fuss on their part. I'm noticing as I have now almost 1100 on the BOB that it's spitting on start up and coughing a bit here and there. I'm guessing it may be due to the hot weather and needing the 1k service cause I haven't had the bike do this previously. I'll let you folks know how the BOB runs with the Asmoil. [8D]

 

Be aware that HD no longer recommends Syn3 in the primary or tranny of the new 6-speed bikes. They recommend only Formula+ ....

 

Put 90 miles on the new oil change today.

It seemed there was no difference in shifting for about the first 10 miles or so...then it progressively got easier to shift, the familiar "clunk" had changed to a rubbery "thud", it feels much better now.

SYN3 sucks in tranny's and primary's[:@]