Whats wrong with syn 3 ?

[Big Rol]

Now I got it, I'm thinking if I drain 2 holes might as well do 3. Like i read in another post I can use the syn 3 in the ride on. Thanks guys.

 

[dfbales]

harley makes a great bike, but buys low bid oil, and sells it for top price. buy you oil from the oil guys, check out there info

 

[Wayne R]

Before I became a member of this forum I used syn 3 in my RK only because I didnt know , Ive logged over 40k miles using syn 3 Ive since changed to mobil, I wont buy syn 3 anymore but if I was you I would leave it in the motor until the next change is due and get your moneys worth out of it, It certainly wont cause a problem, I also remember last year harley raised their price on syn3 to $15.00 a quart thats when I changed to mobil, by the way harley dropped back down to $10.00 a quart I guess a lot of other people switched then to.

 

[glider]

Even at at $10, it's about $7 more than it's worth.

 

[BUBBIE]

Even at at $10, it's about $7 more than it's worth.

I WOULD ADD ANOTHER OPINION HERE BUT GLIDER HAS GOT A BIG RED POOF! BUTTON

signed....BUBBIE

 

[Chopper]

Personally, I think more Harley's are running syn 3 then any other oil in the world, not because it's necessarily the best, but because it's been tested in Harley's and proven to work by the manufacture. I have installed syn 3 in all three compartments of every bike that came through the door at our dealership since it was released by Harley and not one single problem because of it, except for a clutch issue due to abuse from operating under esteem conditions. I have had customers come in a week after switching to syn 3 and tell me the top end seem to be quieter and shifting was easier, still complaints about 5th gear noise though. I have run it in my own bike, all three compartments, but have switched out for what I believe are better fluids. I don't buy any motorcycle parts because of political reasons, if I did there would not be many American parts on my bike. I want quality, bottom line, price is secondarily, or I would not be riding a Harley. I would like to see some hard facts on syn 3, where do you find out it's made by CITGO or does not perform as well as other syn fluids or even find facts that show it is not a true synthetic? I would welcome any input on where to find facts on syn 3 other then word of mouth, I would like to see some independent studies or something. I already have common sense, I'm looking for facts backed up by a credible source. Not disputting the quality of syn 3 here, just looking for hard facts I can back up my anti-syn 3 statements with besides, because I said so. Can anybody give me any?????

 

[glider]

Who makes or blends this product? SYN3 is a proprietary blend, exclusively custom-blended for Harley-Davidson.

Harley-Davidson | Products | Motor Accessories

According to the "Material Safety Data Sheet" for H-D's SYN3 it is chemically a blend of 60% synthetic and 40% petroleum oils

Syn-3: It's manufactured by Citgo Petroleum.

Composition is as follows:

Component CAS # Concentration
(1) 1-Decene Homopolymer, hydrogenated 68037-01-4 50% - 70%
(2) Proprietary Ingredients Proprietary Mixture 1% - 10%
(3) Polyisobutylene 9003-27-4 1% - 10%
(4) Distillates, Petroleum, Hydrotreated Heavy Paraffinic 64742-54-7 0% - 20%
(5) Distillates, Petroleum, Solvent-Refined Heavy Paraffinic 64741-88-4 0% - 20%
(6) Zinc Alkyldithiophosphate 68649-42-3 0% - 2%

Here's a snip from another source..

Finally got a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) on the SYN-3 after two months of trying. It is in fact manufactured by Citgo Petroleum. Composition section reads like this:

Component
CAS #
Concentration

(1) 1-Decene Homopolymer, hydrogenated
68037-01-4
50% - 70%

(2) Proprietary Ingredients
Proprietary Mixture
1% - 10%

(3) Polyisobutylene
9003-27-4
1% - 10%

(4) Distillates, Petroleum, Hydrotreated Heavy Paraffinic
64742-54-7
0% - 20%

(5) Distillates, Petroleum, Solvent-Refined Heavy Paraffinic
64741-88-4
0% - 20%

(6) Zinc Alkyldithiophosphate
68649-42-3
0% - 2%

Item 1 is a Group IV base oil. I was unable to locate the manufacturer of this base oil. Group IV and V base oils are the only "true" synthetics to the cognoscenti.

Item 2 is probably their additive package (boron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, moly), but it is conceivable there could also be some "secret" synthetic oil, maybe an ester type oil, included in it.

Item 3 is a fancy name for synthetic rubber (or elastomer) but this is probably considered to be "synthetic" oil as well.

However, Item 4 is a Group II base oil, namely Conoco Pure Performance Base Oil, either 110N, 225N or 600N. To my knowledge, no one is calling a Group II oil a synthetic.

Research yielded no information on the group number of Item 5 but it is Conoco's Cit-Con 650N Base Oil. Can't help but presume that it is a Group I oil as it is solvent refined. While they have their place, most quality blenders are not using Group I oils in thier premium motor oils and they certainly are not considered synthetics. However, I stand to be corrected.

(Also got a MSDS for the HD 360 20w50 oil. The major base oil constituients in it are the same ones as are listed in Items 4 & 5 above.)

In any case, here is what Harley-Davidson says about this stuff in their advertising:


quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Developed with a proprietary blend of three synthetic basestocks, ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If there are significant amounts of Group I and II oils in the SYN3, could the MoCo have streached the definition of "synthetic" a bit further than Castrol did when changing Syntec from a PAO Group IV base to a hydrocracked Group III base? Wonder if ExxonMobil will go after them and we will get a new definition for "synthetic?"


Show me something different

 

[Big Rol]

Ask a simple question.....
Heres what I'm gonna do
Leave the crank and base with syn 3 till next change
Put gear oil in the trans. This will give me time to decide on the syn oil I use, probably from what I'm hearing whatever Chopper recommends.
Gonna go try to figure out how to show my scoot in the profile
Thanks guys

 

[McQueen1963]

Here on Mexico, not too many options.Only HD, or ELF . I can´t find Mobil VTwin or other leading brands as in The USA

 

[Chopper]

Thanks Glider, I have tried to find anything I could on the internet but not much out there, the Harley propaganda machine does not let too much information out. I don't want to have to offer it to my customers because I do believe there are better products out there, but you can't say anything with out facts to back it up or people think you just don't want to sell it because you can make more money selling them something else, Human Nature. I have filled a couple of transmissions with spectro and will let word of mouth speak for me, but wish I still had access to HD like I use to, just for hard facts.
Thanks again Glider.

ps: What I feel is best.
I do like mobil 1 VTwin in the engine, mainly because it's easy to find and I believe it's a top of the line synthetic.
I like forumla + or a good primary lube for the primary
I like the spectro 6 speed trans fluid or redline SP for the transmission

But I have to say syn 3 and a lot of other fluids will work in all three compartments, key word being "will work"
I'm like erverybody, I just like to run what I feel is best, and it's hard to choose because there "are so many good products" out today.

Here on Mexico, not too many options.Only HD, or ELF . I can´t find Mobil VTwin or other leading brands as in The USA

Yea, but you have better tequila then we have here, I'd take two shots and run syn 3 you'll be fine.