[Iron Butt Bob]

The bike is approaching 1,000 miles and it is time for an oil change. I could take it to the dealership, but at $125.00 per hour labor charge, I'll do it myself.

Pros: I ordered a Pan America oil change kit from Harley. Same price as a dealer and they deliver it at no charge. Fantastic.

Nit picks:
1) Removing the skid plate. 6 bolts.
I had a Royal Enfield Himalayan, The plate would slide into a rear grooved section and held in place with two bolts at the front.. Much better idea.
2) oil drain plug is over the center stand. Every bike that I have owned has it this way. Makes it hard to locate drain pan.
3) Dip stick is black. Hard to see black oil markings on a black dipstick. Would like to see HD go back to a stainless steel color.

I also own a '18 Road Glide. I bought the maintenance VIP package and am happy with it since I put some miles on the bike. 40,000 on it now. But to be honest, I haven't even checked the oil on it in two years. I just take it to the dealer per the maintenance schedule, and let them work on the bike. I miss the getting to know the bike part of owning a bike.

Anything above the simple stuff, the bike will be at the dealer.

 

[ADVHD]

Hey @Iron Butt Bob how long did everything take and how much $ did it cost you?
Any pics of the process if you took any?

 

[Iron Butt Bob]

I went to Harleydavidson.com, Oil change kit for Pan America. $71.95 + tax, free shipping.
it takes about a half hour. Drop the skid plate, remove oil drain plug, remove filter. Button it back up. See owners manual for step by step instructions. Nothing complicated.

 

[roadrash83]

Hi @Iron Butt Bob how much oil did the engine take with filter change?

 

[Iron Butt Bob]

I think the manual shows 3.75 gt with filter. That’s pretty close to what I put in.

 

[roadrash83]

Thanks, I know it was not the 4.75qts that my owners manual calls for. If HD screwed the owners manual that bad I can't wait to see how bad the shop manual is going to be.

 

[Iron Butt Bob]

What I meant to say was that the manual says 4.75, but I put in about 4.00.

 

[PanAmrider]

Roadrash83 and Iron Butt Bob
I recently changed my fluids. I went by the owners manual and ended up overfilling the crankcase. I called HD and talked with the guy in charge of the PA tech. He was confused as well since the instructions are to empty and fill with an initial 3qts. Well given the fact the delta between 4.75 (wet) and the 3qts I would assume like most that there would be some to add. Well half a qt into the fourth qt it started flowing out the fill hole.
The tech said that HD has already rewritten the owners manual to add a service amount of oil in the capacities chart in the owners manual. Also the e-mail I got back two days later was, We have experienced in our test/demo bikes what happened to you due to the fact there is a verying amount of residual amount in the Revolution Max engine (otherwise not stated is they don't exactly know) so add three quarts and then run and check.

Also just took mine in for update to fix the USB-C port and the process wiped the BCM and they were unable to correct right away. Had to leave the bike..hopefully tomorrow will be sorted out.

 

[roadrash83]

Harley is feeding us a line of crap. They screwed up the owners manual, You would think after changing all the test bikes oil they would know exactly how much it takes to fill the engine. No matter if the oil was changed straight up and down or on it's side stand. The only real variable I can think of would be if the oil was changed on the center stand (rear of bike is higher then front) or on a lift where the bike would be level. Good luck and tell them you want a new owners manual with the correct information on the bike. I'm sure screwed, I ordered a shop manual for the bike, I am sure I will be amazed at how screwed up that is.

 

[Panted]

The bike is approaching 1,000 miles and it is time for an oil change. I could take it to the dealership, but at $125.00 per hour labor charge, I'll do it myself.

Pros: I ordered a Pan America oil change kit from Harley. Same price as a dealer and they deliver it at no charge. Fantastic.

Nit picks:
1) Removing the skid plate. 6 bolts.
I had a Royal Enfield Himalayan, The plate would slide into a rear grooved section and held in place with two bolts at the front.. Much better idea.
2) oil drain plug is over the center stand. Every bike that I have owned has it this way. Makes it hard to locate drain pan.
3) Dip stick is black. Hard to see black oil markings on a black dipstick. Would like to see HD go back to a stainless steel color.

I also own a '18 Road Glide. I bought the maintenance VIP package and am happy with it since I put some miles on the bike. 40,000 on it now. But to be honest, I haven't even checked the oil on it in two years. I just take it to the dealer per the maintenance schedule, and let them work on the bike. I miss the getting to know the bike part of owning a bike.

Anything above the simple stuff, the bike will be at the dealer.

Hi IBB totally agree with you about dealer prices and thanks for the additional information as well. Over here in the UK we have a 2 year warranty and as far as I know you need to get the bike serviced by a Harley dealer to maintain your warranty. Is that the same where you are.
Just hoping you give me some positive feedback as I don't need to be paying out loads of money if I don't need to.

 

[Iron Butt Bob]

Hi IBB totally agree with you about dealer prices and thanks for the additional information as well. Over here in the UK we have a 2 year warranty and as far as I know you need to get the bike serviced by a Harley dealer to maintain your warranty. Is that the same where you are.
Just hoping you give me some positive feedback as I don't need to be paying out loads of money if I don't need to.

I believe that if you keep the receipts, HD will honor the warranty. I will buy only HD products, so they can’t complain about inferior aftermarket products. I’m not doing anything but normal maintenance. I should be good to go.

 

[Panted]

I believe that if you keep the receipts, HD will honor the warranty. I will buy only HD products, so they can’t complain about inferior aftermarket products. I’m not doing anything but normal maintenance. I should be good to go.

Thanks Bob You may have saved me some money there.

 

[Tobba611]

I installed the "tactical" skid plate upgrade after I changed my oil BUT, it appears as if the oil filter will be accessible with without unbolting the skid plate now... Having said that, any oil from the filter will end up in the skid plate, but a blast of brake clean would take care of that... I mean, I'll probably take it off anyway but theoretically... As far as the center stand being in the way of draining the oil, I have one of those "basic" round oil drain pans (8.99 at Wal-Mart) and it fits like a glove behind the center stand. Kinda perfect actually. My owners manual stated 3.0 qts initial fill, check to make sure it's at "add 1 qt. mark" (cold), then start, warm the engine and top off. I ended up using about 3.75..

 

[Squid-Boy]

I also ended up with 3.75 qts with filter. That is beginning to look like a good figure to go with.

 

[zhannietan]

May i check what are the alternative engine oil specs i can purchase for subsequent oil change?

 

[Squid-Boy]

May i check what are the alternative engine oil specs i can purchase for subsequent oil change?

It needs to be motorcycle specific. Either synthetic or synthetic blend is a good idea. Harley doesn't have their own oil refinery, so the oil they sell is probably someone like Castrol or Valvoline or ...
I can usually find a decent deal on one-or-the-other on ebay.