Scavenger Total Oil Change System: Dripping the puck

I’m not sure why I put off getting my hands on a Scavenger Total Oil Change System these past several years. Maybe it was because the process required me to pull the oil return line out of my oil bag, or maybe I was just skeptical about how effective the product could really be. After checking out the instruction videos on the website, I finally broke down and called Phil LaFleur, the inventor of the Scavenger and owner of Rogue Choppers, the company that manufactures the handy little gadget. When I noticed that the company was located south of Boston, I let him know that I had been a huge fan of Boston sports teams when I lived there from 1960 through 1986. We hit it off immediately. I recognized the New England accent on the phone as the same one I’d heard emanating from the guy who demonstrated the product on the website videos. Phil admitted that it was indeed his own smilin’ self.

My Scavenger arrived in just a few days. Phil advised me to pick up a two-and-a-half-quart Argee Versa-Tainer plastic measuring bucket ($1.58 at Home Depot) to catch the dirty oil pumped out of the engine. The instructions were easy enough to follow, and I started by riding around town for about 20 minutes to get the oil temperature up to operating level. Then I drained the dirty oil out of the oil bag and replaced the drain plug. Next, I removed the oil filter and replaced it with the Scavenger “puck” (leave it to a guy from hockey-crazy New England to refer to any small, flat-sided, cylindrical object as a puck) and poured two and a half quarts of oil into the filler spout. Then I used the special plastic tool to pull the oil return line out of the oil bag, slipped the clear plastic tube onto the end of the oil return line and let the other end drop down into the bucket. I started the motor and watched it pump out the dirty oil. When the oil began to run clean, it couldn’t have taken more than 10 seconds; I shut off the motor, removed the tube from the oil return line, replaced the oil return line into the oil bag and replaced the Scavenger with a new oil filter. I noted that the oil began to run clean right at about the 28-ounce mark.

I let the motor run until four ounces of clean oil had run into the bucket just to make sure that all the dirty oil had been drained. Next time I might cut the motor off a bit sooner. Then I topped off the oil level until it read about half a quart low. I started up the Deuce and rode around town for about 15 minutes and then I topped off the oil level to the full line.

These devices are CNC machined out of 6160 aircraft aluminum. There’s a special Scavenger model for each Harley engine going back to 1985. If you happen to have more than one bike, you may be able to use the same Scavenger puck for multiple applications by purchasing a supplement kit at a reduced price to adapt the puck to different bikes. The Scavenger works on Indians and on S&S motors, as well. Once you’ve changed your oil with a Scavenger, you’ll never want to go back to the old method.

It would take a couple of pages to go into detail about how the Scavenger works for different model engines. If you go to the website and check out the info available for the engine in question, you’ll find a truly informative instructional video featuring a handsome guy with a charming New England accent who will explain everything far better than I could hope to in the space allowed. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?

Rogue Chopper
$59.95-$119.95 (plus $8.99 for U.S. shipping)
www.roguechopper.com