I know the manual says whatever comes first.. but I hear more and more people seem to follow hours only.. what do you follow?

I just did the first oil change on my 2016 570.. 330mi/21hr. Manual shows next oil change should be 50hr/500 miles. I will be at 500 miles WAAAAY before 50hr.. so do I wait or change it again right at 500? I just trail ride so no major abuse.

 

If you drive it a lot just go by the hr schedule. If not you'd be changing oil pretty often.

 

I did the first oil change on my machine at 150 miles, then waited until 300 miles and switched to full synthetic. From here on in I will just wait until the oil starts to discolor showing some signs of contamination before changing again. If a full year passes then I will probably change it after that whether discolored or not. First couple of early changes are to get any crap out of the engine that may have been left in there at the factory, be sure you change the filter as well, after that...why change clean oil? Now if you have been riding in deep water or see signs of oil contamination then always change at first sign but otherwise why throw away clean oil.

 

After the break-in oil change my oil gets changed once a year no matter what the hours or mileage are.

 

Typical Polaris guideline is break-in service at 25 hours and then at every 100 after that. If you run all your vent lines up in to the pod and put the one-way valves on them that will keep the contaminants out of diffs and tranny. Depending on how/where you ride will dictate how often you change fluids. I ride a lot of mud/swamps so motor oil and front diff fluid gets changed Spring and Fall. All the fluids are synthetic so they are made to last (unless you swamp it and contaminate). If you're doing pretty much all trail riding as stated and putting on a lot of miles then motor oil should be once or twice a year (once again, depending on miles). Tranny/rear diff will be fine but front diff changes should be more frequent since going in and out of AWD will naturally build up some contaminates in the fluid.

 

Engine every 50 hours regardless of miles.

 

That's what I basically told my customers as I didn't like 100 hr or 1000 mile intervals on oil changes since the machine only holds two quarts. I wouldn't wait that long if it was mine. Oil change and front diff fluid change especially. The gear cases on most of them are more forgiving and could go longer,but since you're already doing the other two..

 

I do my front diff 2-3 times a year, trans/rear diff annually.

Rotella T6 5W40 has been used since first service.

 

That's what's in my Cub Cadet 22 hp Kohler engine and in my Briggs self propelled mower. Both have been chugging along for years now and no oil burning and no having to top off between seasonal changes. I still think it's the best bang for the buck in synthetic oils. A lot of folks are still leery about using diesel oil for atvs,but plenty of street bike guys have been using it for years also.ONLY negative report I've heard is that it can clog up catalytic converters,not to be used on cars or machines equipped with them,but haven't really seen any proof of that yet.Maybe so,maybe not?

 

Rotella is rated for gas and diesel, CJ4/SM. So, cats should not have an issue, right?