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[2010blueman]

went to dealer today for 10k took my own oil redline three holes,told me i need to get the oil for air cooled engines,not water cooled is this true,said he would change this time but get the one for air cooled,said the water cooled oil would break down quicker,dealer said redline was good oil.went to stealer close home  $260 for service,need back brakes,plugs,mastercylinder cover,oil filter,seals gaskets  ect.grandtotal $330

[GregKhougaz]

The answer to your question probably depends on whom you ask.  There is some very good information in this thread:  Bringing up the Redline oil discussion again.  There are differences between motorcycle oil and automotive oil.  Weather you need to use motorcycle oil is often debated. 

[SERK3]

20W50 or 20W60 V-Twin Oil, They also have Primary and Tranny oil, I use 20W60 for my 110 seems to work very well. The Tranny oil seems to have helped as well.

[Twolanerider]

Redline offers many different oils.  You don't say if you had their motorcycle oil or some other of their product.  So we don't know if your dealer was just trying to push you to the Harley Syn3 rather than Redline or just to the bike specific Redline product.

If the latter and you didn't have bike specific oil the simplest and easiest answer is don't worry about the the distinction.  Bike specific Redline costs only minimally more than the automotive product per oil change.  So whether you believe there is any real difference or not you can't know there's not.  That being so why waste time worrying about for ten bucks difference per oil change a couple times a year?

[grc]

You need to clarify exactly what oil you were planning to dump into each hole.  If you planned to dump the same 20w50 automotive motor oil into all three holes, that would be a major mistake.  If you planned on using different stuff in each hole, like the MTL in the primary, Shockproof Heavy in the trans, and 20w50 motor oil in the engine, then I don't see a problem.

Automotive motor oils that meet the same SAE and API ratings required by the engine manufacturer should be fine in a Harley Big Twin engine.  But those oils may not be OK for the wet clutch in the primary, and aren't likely to be up to the task in the trans either.  Motorcycle specific oils have different additive packages, and the ones that claim to be OK for all 3 holes have additional extreme pressure and antiwear additives for the gear box, and no friction modifiers to muck up clutch operation.

As for the breaking down quicker story from the guy at the dealership, ask to see his petroleum engineering degree.  Anyone can spout BS, and Harley shops seem to be better at it than most. 


Jerry

[bigdave110]

Agreed Jerry,

I stated earlier in this thread that I love auto oil.
What I should have said is that is only in the engine.
I use 3 dif. oils in the bike.
Automotive syn in the engine, gear oil in trans, and trans fluid in chain case.

Not saying this is better or worse then any one else choice, just what I have much success with.

Big Dave

[2010blueman]

just to clear things up i use 20/50 oil in motor v twin syn ,primary oil redline,trans with shockproofredline,just thought i looked over something,is there a different between air cool engines vs water cool engines,far as the redline product go ?

[Twolanerider]

is there a different between air cool engines vs water cool engines,far as the redline product go ?

Yes, they offer oils with automotive specifications and oils with the air cooled bike specific spec's.  Redline's bike motor oil is easy to distinguish though.  Label on the bottle reads "Motorcycle Oil."