| Author | Message | ||
     Wardog3187 |
I have been reading with great interest about what everybody uses for oil in their Buell. My question is, what is your oil change intervals is using synthetic oil such as Mobil 1 15/50? Every 2k, 3k or what? What about the trans if using Mobil 1 75/90?  | ||
| Ingemar |
I do both together, including filter about every 4000 kms. Very recently there was a thread about this too. | ||
| Darthane |
2500 miles, just like the book says, both engine and tranny oil. Oil's cheap insurance. | ||
| Thepup |
My book says replace primary oil every 5000 | ||
| Xb9er |
Every 5,000 mi. is the factory recommended fluid change interval for both engine and primary, not 2,500 mi. Change fluids when they need to be changed or around every 4,000 miles and you should be fine. 2,500 mile intervals are a good idea if you don't use synthetics, although why anyone would not use synthetics in an XB, I don't know. Search and read the oil topics. It's all here somewhere. Mike. | ||
| Evil_twin |
After speaking with the local Harley hop up shop owner, Gary Stroud of Stroud's racing, he suggests different. The guy has been working with H-D and other V-twin companies for 25+ years. With petro-based oil he suggested that I change my oil every 1000 mi. With synthetic, I could do the 2500 mi. change as suggest by the manual. It's got everything to do with the internals. He said he has customers that change as he suggests and get well over 100k miles before their engines need to have any of the major internals replaced. Seeing the source (Gary has won many major titles over the last two decades), I am going to take his advice and switch over to full Syn. Something to think about... Rich  | ||
| Starter |
Cheap insurance is good quality fluids and a minor service at half recommended intervals. Oil filter at the recommended interval. | ||
| Captainkirk |
Oil; every 1000 or 3 months. Period. (Which is why I'm not sold on Synth) Primary; at least before every riding season, or 1000 miles, which ever comes first. | ||
| Blake |
Every 5K and following each race/track day. | ||
| Buells Rule! (Dyna in disguise) |
Every 1000 miles is overkill...doesnt hurt anything except your wallet if you have the $$ to burn. Every 3000 is perfectly acceptable..unless you dont put many miles on & that 1000 miles equates out to 2-3 years of riding. | ||
| Brucelee |
There is an oil engineer over on the VFR forum who tests samples of used MC oil from his and other bikes. He suggests that MC oil gets a bit frazzled at anywhere between 2500 and 3000 miles in NORMAL street use. For what it is worth | ||
| Xb9er |
Switching to full synthetic is definitely good advice. I still don't get why you are saying the manual recommends 2500 mile intervals. Is that for the XB12's?? I rechecked my manual and it says 5,000 mi. for both primary and crankcase. And by the way, that is for dino oils. Mike. | ||
| Darthane |
According to my 2003 owners and service manual, the interval is 2500 for engine and 5000 for primary. As I said before, it's cheap insurance to me. I'm willing to spend the $40 and half hour of quality time with my bike for peace of mind. Unfortunately I haven't gotten to ride all that much lately, so it's looking like the 2500 mile mark will get my 3 months anyways. I use full synthetics, and the oils are always dirty after 2500 miles. If not truly troublesome, enough to make me continue to change them at that interval. | ||
| Xb9er |
My manual says: 1. Change engine oil and filter: I - Inspect, & if necessary correct, clean or Replace: every 2,500 miles. R - Replace: every 5,000 miles. 2. Change transmission/primary chaincase lube and clean drain plug: RI - Replace/Inspect, & if necessary correct, clean or Replace: every 5,000 miles. Mike. | ||
| Xb9rski |
I was changing mine @2500 both engine and primary, since I've switched to Mobile 1 I'm only going to do it @5k. Do what you are comfortable with. "Ride it till it seizes" Ski | ||
| Fullpower |
i dont really worry about miles so much, but looking back in my buell folder, during summer it got an oil and filter change every month except april and october. always use OEM filters. | ||
| Captainkirk |
Dyna(Or, as the Indians call him;himwithnametoolongforoneline);  1000 miles might be overkill, but at less than half the price of synth, who cares! But seriously, folks: With all the debates that have raged on this board about synth v. dino et al, several facts remain; 1) Dirty oil is good! That means the crap in your case is being held in suspension! Change it and get the crap out of your motor! 2) Mineral based oils begin to lose lubricity and the ability to resist thermal breakdown around 3000 miles; hence the recommended change interval in cars. It makes sense to dump it before this point, no? 3) Besides thermal breakdown, the biggest enemy of the piston engine is MOISTURE and the acids it forms when mixing with byproducts of combustion. 3 months is too long to leave this stuff in your case so get rid of it regardless of mileage. | ||
| Xb9er |
I agree with captainkirk on all three points. As for #3, I have rerouted my breather hoses and there is always lots of moisture collected in the catch "can" (which is just clear poly tubing) and only a trace of oil after a long ride. Mike. (Message edited by xb9er on November 02, 2004) | ||
| Spike |
Early on I was manic about oil changes. I changed the oil on that bike seven times in the first 10k miles (500,1k,2500,4k,6500,7500,10k). Now that the bike is fully broken in and has been on good quality synthetic for a while I'm going to switch to 5k intervals with an OEM filter replacement every 2500 miles. For what it's worth, I'm also using the stock air filter. The K&N was letting it far too much dirt for my tastes. I have a whole 'nother year left on my factory warranty and two more years of extended warranty after that, so if something goes wrong I'm covered. <edit> Just for clarification on the service manual's maintenance schedule- Harley eliminated the 2500 mile service for the 2004 model year. If you look at any '04 or newer manual you will see the 2500 mile interval is either not listed or merely states to "inspect" the oil. However, there should be a note somewhere stating that in harsh conditions the oil should be changed more frequently. For what it's worth, the manual on my '01 Accord lists a recommended oil change interval of every 7500 miles. </edit> Mike L. '04 XB12R (12k miles) '99 Z50R (Message edited by spike on November 03, 2004) |
