[sbox]

New to the forum today. I have a question concerning which is the best oil for my HD (1996 Heritage Softtail Classic).

I've been seeing alot on the net about Amsoil and have looked up afew dealers locally.

They recommend different Amsoil Synthetic oil for the engine, tranny, and primary which I can get all three locally but want to see what everyones opinion is on Amsoil.

The bike only has 6000 miles and had the oil changed with reg. HD oils each time.

Thanks in advance..

[voodoochild]

I don't have any experience with different makers of syn oil, but I prefer syn oil in general. For various reasons. I'm sure you will get varying opinions on this subject. My big beef with dyno oil is that most of it comes from those f*ckin arab bastards. (sorry small rant there) JMHO of course.....

Ps. I run syn oil in all 4 of my trucks, and bike

[chucktx]

hi sbox........welcome to the forum!!! glad your here. if you do a search of this place, you will find more info on oil than you can possibley consume in a year!!!!!!

and to save time, check out this site....all oil answers would be found here

Bob Is The Oil Guy

and another....
Synthetic Oil

[VYBR8ER]

Welcome to the best HD forum on the net. Synthetic oil that is made for a V-Twin is IMHO the best route to go for a Harley. The synthetic molecule is smaller than petroleum based oils. So, more of the little buggers allow the oil to carry away more of the heat. The bike runs cooler! Enough said, the bearings don't slip instead of roll or any of those other fables. One thing, the cheapest insurance you can buy is frequent oil changes, every 2500 miles, and are easy to keep track of if you just look at your odometer, every time it passes a 2500 mile point change the oil. Every 10,000 mile point change the trans and primary fluid. From working on police bikes that are used in competitions, I"ve found that Syn 3 stands up to the abuses of clutchs being purposfully slipped to do all of the slow manuvers they put them through. Can't tell you if Amsoil is better than the HD stuff, but everyone that runs Amsoil seems to be VERY proud of it.

[mwelych]

I don't care to respond to these threads on oil, but you mention that you have an EVO engine. EVO's seem to run a hell of a lot better using HD oil rather than a synthetic. That's all I'm gonna say. Your choice of oil is your choice. Talk with your mechanic before you choose.

[bdfin]

I'm not necessarily "proud" of using Amsoil but I am using it because it seems to be a decent product. I'm sure some of the others would be fine too. I am using the 3 different weights for 3 different cases. See no reason not to use it if you can easily find it. As mentioned above there is tons of info already posted on the great oil debate and most feel it has been discussed to the last molecule.
And also being relatively new here, Welcome to the Forum. The bunch here is like a freekin encyclopedia of helpful information.

[ruffrider11]

I use Mobil One Synthetic 20-50 for main box and primary and Mobil one Synthetic 75-90 gear oil in tranny The 20-50 is made especially for big V Twins I am happy with the results It seems to shift smoother and run a bit quieter Just my 2 cents worth

[ridehard95]

I have heard all the stories about syn- oil the good and the bad . All I know is I have been running HD oil for 33 years and it works for me . I have had guys tell me that if I run syn-oil I don't have to change it for 5000 miles . All I got to say about that is if a foot powder company told you if you used there product you can wear your socks for 6 months would you not me . I change my oil every 1200 to 1500 miles dirt is dirt as far as I am concern . Iam not saying anything bad about syn- oil I just trust whats been working for me all these years. The past few years I have been running REV-TECH not the syn oil. But hay each to there own

[ReeseSS]

I use olive oil, extra virgin in the summer and regular in the winter.

[kenfuzed]

Originally Posted by ReeseSS

I use olive oil, extra virgin in the summer and regular in the winter.

Reese

Okay, before people start hurling chairs or someone gets shanked over their oil preference, lets just leave it be. IMO there is no right or wrong so we'll just have to agree to disagree.

SBOX: hopefully you can find enough info here to make an informed decision, most of which will likely be a good choice.

[hotroadking]

The key is to change the oil at the required intervals and to use the correct viscosity oil at that time on evos the oil change interval IIRC was 2500 miles or so, on the new twin cams HD has bumped it to 5K, probably because of the better tolerances in the twin cam motor. Plus the new HD Syn3 oil.

Change the filter with the correct filter for your year bike.

As to brands, use a Vtwin oil because there are additived in that oil designed for air cooled motors. You can use shell rotella, amsoil, redline, hd syn3, I prefer Mobil1 Vtwin all of these run $8 to $9 a qt and can be purchased at bike stores, dealers, and some automotive stores. Advance here carries the M1 for $8 a qt

Just so the dyno oil guys don't get PO'd at me, there is nothing wrong with HD360 dyno oil, it works perfectly and will do the job, your bike will run find and you won't have problems using it in your bike.

Now the advantage to using syn is that the oil will work better over time and stay closer to it's "as new" properties even when exposed to extreme heat we have in the air cooled motors from extended traffic, high temp days, etc. Syn will clean better, longer and act more like the day you put it in over time, whereas dyno deteriorates over time, the syn doesn't deteriorate as quickly.

I run Mobil 1 Vtwin in the motor per S&S instructions
I also run Redline Heavy Shockproof gear syn in the trans - a major improvement and if you have the new whining 6 speed, this will help signficiantly
In the primary I run dextron3 atf per Rivera on my pro clutch but I think I'm changing to Redline MTL Syn, the ATF doesn't seem to do the job as well as I'l like. Although it's cheap stuff.

[stevenh]

Originally Posted by ReeseSS

I use olive oil, extra virgin in the summer and regular in the winter.

Careful with olive oil... Popeye will get pissed...
Sorry, couldn't resist

[skull2007]

i like using a little dog snot with my amsoil

[mwelych]

If olive oil is a virgin, then was there an immaculate reception (I mean conception) when sweet pee came about???

[HDSPORTGOAT]

HELLO!New to this site in regarding oil i have started using amsoil from using hd syn 3 find the motor is running cooler after arun on the highway for an hour to work .I currently have 18k on a 06883c so you the bie is used a lot!Hope to see alot more miles after the 1200 conversion when the warranty runs out.

[fxrsrules]

Amsoil has got to be the most contriversal oil on the market. I've herd a lot of good and bad. When I told my mechanic that I draind the Red Line out of my S&S and put in Amsoil he took me out back and whiped my ass. Scence then I run Mobil 1 V-Twin in both my S&S and my twinkie.

[bdfin]

So during or after the beating did he give you any explanation why he felt it was so bad?

[ringo912]

Originally Posted by fxrsrules

Amsoil has got to be the most contriversal oil on the market. I've herd a lot of good and bad. When I told my mechanic that I draind the Red Line out of my S&S and put in Amsoil he took me out back and whiped my ass. Scence then I run Mobil 1 V-Twin in both my S&S and my twinkie.

There is a lot of good synthetics out there. AMSOIL, Royal Purple, Redline, Mobil, etc. It's a matter of opinion and choice. I have an 02" Heritage with 25K on it and have been running AMSOIL since it had 1000 miles on it. Tried the SYN 3 and found the that the engine runs cooler with AMSOIL. Plus I am not a proponent of using the same oil in all three cases. AMSOIL is the pioneer of synthetics, they have been making them since the earlies 70's. Does that make them better than the others? Who knows!!

What ever oil you decide to use one of the best things I have done was to purchase the Oil Scavenger system form Rogue Choppers. You can check it out at roguechopper.com. This thing totally flushes you engine out when you change oil. You will get anywhere from 28-32 ounces of dirty oil out your engine after your have drain it. So that's 3/4 - 1 quart of dirty oil that would normally get mixed with your clean oil.

When I first used the scavenger I couldn't believe it. I drained my oil and then use the scavenger and got another 28 ounces of dirty oil out of the motor. I have 2500 miles on my last oil change and the oil is still clean. I can still see the dip stick through the oil.

[Cliff]

I like the Red Line Synthetic oils. I use it in both the 96 Sportster and the 05 Road King. My mechanic, who works only on HD's (for 35 plus years) highly recommends it. Both bikes seem to run very well with it. You can check out their website at Red Line Oil

[skull2007]

clean oil is the best oil. the cleaner it is the better it is