Synthetic Oil

I switched to synthetic oil on Wednesday that my dealer stocks. I hadn't heard of it before, but after I called the corporate office in California and spoke to the Product Director, I thought okay. It was easier than riding a 100 mile round trip to buy what I originally wanted, plus I was already a couple of hundred miles past the interval, and if I figured in the cost of gas the price was about the same. So I had the 8000 miles service done Wednesday and yesterday I took a ride to J&P Cycles which is just under 550 miles round trip. Here's the kicker. My gas mileage went down. :bonk: The worst mileage I've ever had was 44.6. That was riding to Sturgis and back last year. I was running 90 to 95 mph all the time, a lot of time over 100, and the temps were way over a 100 degress a lot of the time. On my trip yesterday I got 38.2 miles per gallon.

Has this happened to anyone or anyone that you know of with synthetic oil? I thought my gas mileage would go up when I changed over. It did in my truck.

The oil is made by a company called Maxima. The oil is their Maxum 4 Extra 10W40 100% synthetic. I sent a message to the director I talked to on the phone and asked for my money back and the labor cost of an oil change. I'm getting this crap out of my ride as soon as I can.

There some good examples in this thread... http://www.riderinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27

The general consensus seems to be use a syn formulated for Motorcycles. Hopefully you can get more info from those folks that posted in that thread.

There some good examples in this thread... http://www.riderinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27

The general consensus seems to be use a syn formulated for Motorcycles. Hopefully you can get more info from those folks that posted in that thread.

Oops. sorry I left that out. The Maxum 4 Extra is their motorcycle specific oil, formulated for a wet clutch which I have. I didn't think that any synthetic oil would give bad results. I just thought some would be better than others. It seems I was dead wrong.

I called Maxima corporate headquarters. They have a four day work week. So I won't hear anything until Monday at the earliest. I'll post up what they have to say for themselves.

I switched to synthetic oil on Wednesday that my dealer stocks. I hadn't heard of it before, but after I called the corporate office in California and spoke to the Product Director, I thought okay. It was easier than riding a 100 mile round trip to buy what I originally wanted, plus I was already a couple of hundred miles past the interval, and if I figured in the cost of gas the price was about the same. So I had the 8000 miles service done Wednesday and yesterday I took a ride to J&P Cycles which is just under 550 miles round trip. Here's the kicker. My gas mileage went down. :bonk: The worst mileage I've ever had was 44.6. That was riding to Sturgis and back last year. I was running 90 to 95 mph all the time, a lot of time over 100, and the temps were way over a 100 degress a lot of the time. On my trip yesterday I got 38.2 miles per gallon.

Has this happened to anyone or anyone that you know of with synthetic oil? I thought my gas mileage would go up when I changed over. It did in my truck.

The oil is made by a company called Maxima. The oil is their Maxum 4 Extra 10W40 100% synthetic. I sent a message to the director I talked to on the phone and asked for my money back and the labor cost of an oil change. I'm getting this crap out of my ride as soon as I can.
I have been using the Harley synthetic, on my Ultra, and haven't noticed any change in the mileage. Also haven't noticed it running much cooler ether :(

I heard that if you have any kind of leak it will get worse with synthetic. I'm not so sure I should try it in my pig (lol).

I switched to HD Syn3 about 6500 miles ago , it runs smoother ,shifts better. and I still manage 47-50 mpg . I'm running a realtively stock TC88 , just have an HSR 42 Mikuni , and the SE air cleaner/breather with SE slipons .

I had my bike checked out more than once by the dealer and by the manufacturer district rep. One cracked overflow hose was found. This was corrected with no change to the poor mileage. The end to this story is Maxima paid for an oil and filter change with any oil the dealer sold. Not exactly what I wanted, but close enough. I went with a semi-synthetic and the mileage went back up to where it should be. Next oil change I'm going with Mobil 1 MX4T. I don't expect to have a negative result with Mobil 1.

I use Bel-Ray full synthetic...and the difference in my gearbox is like night and day over conventional oils!

Another horror store for the HD Synth Oil.......

Tomorrow instead of heading to the beach, my baby will getting new head gaskets and rocker box rebuild.....

I recently purchased my 95 Sportster and of course first thing was an oil change - I chose the HD Syn 3. Now 3500 miles later, the head gaskets are leaking. Figured I had blown them with my rough riding. Thankfully it was only the gaskets, but still looking at $350 to get her back into running order. Seems the synthetic oils can find weak spots in older gaskets.

So if you are running an older bike that has been running conventional oil you are better leaving well enough alone or going to a synth blend.

After my 1,000 mile,I switched to Amsoil and have used it in my 04'FXST(now with 10,000 miles)and think it's great. Now it's my wifes bike and I just got my 05'FLHRCI two days ago and put 988 miles on it and I'll be putting Amsoil in that as well on Tuesday.

....So if you are running an older bike that has been running conventional oil you are better leaving well enough alone or going to a synth blend.
Word up ;)