I have a 2003 Road King that is one year old today. The manual suggests changing engine, primary & transmission oils every 8,000 K. or 5,000 M. but my dealer suggests changing every 4,000 K or 2,500 M. To me that seems like alot of oil changes and at the price of Harley synthetic oil alot of money. I was wondering what riders here think as to how often to change oil. Thanks for your input.

 

I change my fluids every 5000 miles. I'm running Amsoil synthetics in my FatBoy, a co-worker of mine sells it to me at cost, and I love the stuff.
Anyway, he tells me Amsoil says you can run it for 10,000 no problem, but I can't make myself go that long, I would feel like I was neglecting my scooter !!
Also, if I were running fossil oils I would change every 2500-3000 miles.

FBR

 

For once, I am gonna have to agree with the mechanics at a Harley shop. I change mine every 2500 miles. Oil is the life blood of an air cooled engine, and I wanna keep mine as happy as I can. I figure that the price of oil changes is a lot easier on the wallet than an engine rebuild or a total engine replacement.

 

I'm runnin Mobil 1 Synt I change oil Every 5000. I put alot of miles on my bike and the oil is always clean and the temp is always right. You can tell alot about a oil by the temp of the motor. I went thru the motor last year and after 6 years of runnin syn and 5000 mile oil changes on a stock motor it had hardly any wear. This is good stuff. Amsoil is also good but its expensive. The dealer is geared towards money trowin Yuppies now so do what you got to do for the warrnity and thats it.

 

Through many lengthy discussions, I've discovered I can use (very reliably, I might add) Castrol Syntec 5W50 as if it was the Harley synthetic. I'll be changing it every 5000km or about every 3000 miles.

Many have commented on the cooler engine temperatures, and how smooth the shifting feels.

Besides, if it works and protects as well, the cost difference ($5 vs. almost $15) is quite substantial.

Just my $0.02

 

Thanks all for the advice. Synthetic definately seems to be the way to go and I think I'll go with 5000 Kilometer interval.
thanks again for the help.

 

Additional 2 cents worth here;
Remember to change the oil right away after a hot ride no matter if you have just a few hundred miles on it. Synth oil handles the heat real well but if you damage the oil it looses its slick quality somewhat. So when you get home and you know the bike got hot like in Huston, Texas traffic in summer time. Then as soon as you can, change the oil again. I keep a few cans of moble one on hand for quick change and it only takes about 20 minutes to do it right with a filter change.

Ride safe and ride longer
Rapido