Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Indenial]

I don't know what happened.  First ride of the season I noticed my "tap its" were making noise. Then second ride they were still making noise and I took it to the dealer today.  He said the engine is ruined. Metal all over in the oil. Will need a rebuild with rings, pistons, cams etc.  He said it was from using Amsoil synthetic. They have been against the synthetic from the beginning.  09 Roadglide with 30,000 mi. Oil changed every 5000 mi.  He said it gives no lubrication on startup.  I don't know what to think. I'm just sick.  Anyone heard of this?

[BigLew55]

 

[GregKhougaz]

This thread is going to be fun!    HD was "against" synthetic only before it had its own brand.  Now, CVO bikes come with signs that only synthetics should be used.  Many of us here have used Amsoil and other synthetics for years with no issues.  Whoever made this claim to you at the dealership was downright nuts!  (Or worse.)  I'm hoping for your sake you have the extended warranty.  

GK

[BostonboyDH]

DAMMMMMMM THATS SOME PURE BULLSH_T!!!!!!!!

[willyB]

Total and Unbelieveable BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1st: Call Harely Davidson and Offically report this. Get case numbers etc......

2nd: Officially ask the dealer and Harely to provide you with a written response as to why Harely puts Synthetic in their CVO bikes.

3rd: Officially ask Harely for a scientific comparison on the the two oil brands.

4th: Call Amsoil and get their Official response to their oil causing engine failures.

5th: Document! Document! Document!

Let us know who the dealer is so we can stay as far way as we can from them.

[JCZ]

More likely due to scissored crank.....did they check your crank run out?

I'd be real leary of a dealership that's still singing that song.

[porthole]

I don't use Amsoil - but, that is one on the ball dealer 

[Boatman]

And the mothership wonders why we don't spend more with the local dealers (or any dealer for that matter)..

Good luck, do as the others have said, let us know how it works out.  Definitely make a call to corporate.

[Twolanerider]

All the chest banging is likely irrelevant.  It's an 09 so, unless purchased late, is out of warranty.  Hearing the stupid remarks from the dealer is likely only salt in the wound (and proof it's yet another dealership to avoid). 

[Bearcat1]

Not here to knock Amsoil because I know a lot use it with great success but I too had a bad Amsoil experience on a previous bike I had ('08 EGC w/96 ci).  I was on a trip when my bike started tapping real bad and would not stop.  I was running Amsoil at the time with an Amsoil oil filter.  Was able to take it to the nearest dealer near Hot Springs, Arkansas and they told me the oil had basically broken down.  Changed the oil and luckily all was ok and the engine fine.  I contacted Amsoil when I returned from the trip and explained what happened.  They seemed to think the problem was in the oil filter and not the oil itself.  Maybe it was but I was never able to use Amsoil again and started using Mobil 1 with zero problems to date.

I don't know what happened.  First ride of the season I noticed my "tap its" were making noise. Then second ride they were still making noise and I took it to the dealer today.  He said the engine is ruined. Metal all over in the oil. Will need a rebuild with rings, pistons, cams etc.  He said it was from using Amsoil synthetic. They have been against the synthetic from the beginning.  09 Roadglide with 30,000 mi. Oil changed every 5000 mi.  He said it gives no lubrication on startup.  I don't know what to think. I'm just sick.  Anyone heard of this?

[muddypaws]

Your dealer is full of crap.....I had a ton of problems with my 2009 and they never questioned the use of Amsoil. Harley fixed my bike.

[Sklywag]

So, Like you I guess I could blame Red Line for my 103 CVO Engine failure at 30k miles, however I would never conside that.  Get them (actually another dealer) to find the real problem, it's there waiting to be identified & won't be hard for a competent mechanic to spot.

My problem?  The Rear inner cam bearing failed, came apart 7 went through the motor, not pretty, that HD POS $.50  bearing.  Destroyed the motor.  Luckily I had the extended warranty.  The extended warranty company never blamed the Red Line, they agreed about the POS bearings because thay have had some many claims.  The adjuster was pretty cool, pretty open about the crap they have to cover.

Sissored cranks, POS bearings, Cam Tensioners,   no oil in the world will prevent those failures.  They are poor design & design failures.  Goes right along with running Syn3

[spydglide]

  The adjuster was pretty cool, pretty open about the crap they have to cover.

Sissored cranks, POS bearings, Cam Tensioners,   no oil in the world will prevent those failures.  They are poor design & design failures.  Goes right along with running Syn3

So true and you can add the 'lifters' to that list.  Not the oil brand/type.  spyder

[porthole]

the nearest dealer near Hot Springs, Arkansas and they told me the oil had basically broken down.

Geez, I wish I had a dealer that was capable of testing oil from an engineering side.

[North Georgia Hawg]

AMSOil is the best oil out there - bar NONE. I have used it for years in multiple bikes... with ZERO problems. And I'm not a dealer or anything. I don't make a dime from any AMSOil sale... but based on research I've done, I think it's the best you can get - very closely followed by Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50. Red Line is in the hunt, too. The others all fall well back in the pack. AMSOil will NOT "break down"... actually, that's FAR more likely with Syn3. AMSOil is so far superior to Syn3, it's a joke... I use AMSOil MCV 20W-50 in both of our bikes.

Don't believe anything the dealers say... their "techs" know next to nothing - except what they were taught in MMI school. If it isn't in the "Book", they are clueless...

BTW - the MoCo STILL uses the CRAP INA caged cam bearings. These bearings have a long and well-documented history of failing regularly. It was the same back in the Evo days... ever since the MoCo went to the caged cam bearings. When we took the stock INA cam bearings out of my bike - AT 300 MILES - one of them FELL APART upon removal. This was a nearly brand-new bearing! The one thing I would recommend that ALL Harley owners do immediately is to REPLACE the stock INA cam bearings with full-complement Torrington bearings - whether you are changing cams or not.

Torrington full-complement bearings cost all of $10 APIECE. It doesn't make sense to not replace the crap that comes from the factory with bearings that WON'T fall apart and take out the bottom end of your engine when they do. I insist that all of my riding friends replace their cam bearings with Torringtons... and I'll do it for them, for free. It's that important...

But failures of major H-D engine components usually have little to to with the oil used - because oil only provides lubrication, and all oils can do THAT fairly well. The newer H-D pressed-together crankshafts may have their manufacturing process benefits - but they are not nearly as good as the older style crankshafts that were made to be "tuned" in the field. And the very complex dual-chain camshaft mechanisms of our Twin-cam engines are far more likely to fail than the very simple Evo-style single-cam configurations that were driven via a single pinion gear right off of the crankshaft. The more parts there are - the more things there are that can go WRONG...
 
Like Wally Schirra said about Nasa rockets:

"For several heart-stopping minutes, Capt. Schirra and astronaut Tom Stafford, sitting atop a highly explosive mass of rocket fuel, chose not to pull the ejection handle, which would have scrapped the mission. It was a calculated risk. Capt. Schirra trusted that the booster rocket would not explode and that the first attempt to rendezvous with another spacecraft, Gemini 7, could still occur. The risk paid off, and three days later, the launch was successful.

Asked later what he thought while sitting on the launchpad, Capt. Schirra replied, "This was all put together by the lowest bidder."