Help from Glider

[glider]

I think these dealers need a few lessons in customer relations.

When I was at the dealer last time, I got into a conversation with the asst service manager. He is a younger know it all type of guy and was trying to convince me that because I changed my bike over to synthetics and changed the filter at 100 miles that I was actually harming the engine.

I asked him for his views as to why this was his opinion. He started by telling me he JUST came back from school and this is what they told him there. Mind you now that HD sends it's CVO bikes out with syn 3 (synthetic) in the engine and in past years in the trans also until they found that it was doing more harm than good in there.
I drew him into a conversation about this and really had him going too. He was double clutching and dribbling all the way, god I loved it.:laugh I asked him the big question about the CVO bikes with the synthetic oil and he was speechless then. I knew I had him now. I asked him a few tech questions about the new bikes and he struggled to come up with answers to them. This was also the same guy that did the steering head adjustment to my bike when the neck bearings were loose after delivery (or so he claimed). I ended up doing it myself after I got the bike back from him.

I have come to the conclusion that the dealers hire people that do not know much about anything and teach them on our bikes. It's a sad day when the owner of the bike knows a bit more than the supposedly schooled techs that are working in the dealerships.:42:

 

[docholliday88]

If you don't mind me asking glider, why was synthetic doing harm to the CVO bikes?

 

[glider]

If you don't mind me asking glider, why was synthetic doing harm to the CVO bikes?

Doc

My point was that he didn't quite grasp what he had learned in school.
He actually told me that the factory fill oil in the engine "changes into a high detergent at 500 miles"
Sure it does !......

I think he must have fallen asleep in class at that point. I would be hard pressed to find any oil that "changes" to something else at any mileage. The conversation eventually ended up by him telling me that I should have waited for the 1000 mile check and have them do it.:laugh Now his reasoning becomes a bit more clear. $$$

Synthetics didn't do harm to the CVO bikes except for the Syn 3 in the trans.There were transmissions coming in with blued shifter forks and bearing problems from the use of syn 3. It's a 20/50 engine oil and not meant to be a lube for the gears. The gears will give better service using a gear oil in the trans. Harley no longer says to use it in the trans after 05 I believe it was. Then they came out with the Formula + a year or two later that can be used in the primary and trans both. I still go with a quality gear lube in the trans like Redline shockproof heavy or Mobil 1 gear lube 75/90 or 75/140 . One oil cannot work right in both the trans and primary and not fall short in one place or the other in performance.

If anyone is running syn 3 in the trans, there's a test they can do to see how effective it is as a trans lube. When they drain the trans for a service, look at the fuzz on the drain plug magnet. That fuzz is gear material. If you switch to a gear lube like mentioned above at this change, the next change will show you very little fuzz on the magnet and the following change will show almost none. This fuzz effects the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) in that it is a magnetic pickup and gets rendered inop because of it. Cleaning will sometimes restore the pickup but replacement will eventually be the only cure at $50+.

This is the fuzz I speak of on the VSS.