Morning all,

Close friend suffered a stroke a while back and his 1990 FLHTC has sat for over a year. The check ball in the oil pump is worn and all the oil has drained from the oil tank and is sitting in the bottom end of the motor. It's a bottom breather motor and I have a pan under the breather hose currently.

Needed to run it by you all to get some advice. The battery is all charged up and it's capable of turning over.
Should I add 2 quarts to the oil tank turn it over a bunch and let the breather system just puke it into the pan ?
Should I turn it over without the plugs in it ?
I don't want to damage the cdi or the coil or anything else on the bike in getting the oil out. I'd just like to be able to get the oil out, fill it back up with oil and it get it running.

Plus, I'm sure I will have the carb and fuel line gummed up and have to deal with that as well.

Any help would be much appreciated !

Thanks,

89FLHT

 

I don't worry about it. Put a pan under the bike, crank it until it starts, let it idle. Oil will get pushed out.

 

^^ Yes, and don't add oil to a cold Harley...Only after running until quite warm....

 

Alright, sounds good. Thank you both !

 

Make sure you fill the oil tank to the appropriate level before you do this.

 

This is why you have to love the Internet.

 

What are you talking about???
Every time you start a cold bike the oil is cold.
There is absolutely no reason not to put the correct level of oil in the oil tank before starting any bike.

 

Go Ahead...you'll eventually end up Overfull.....
They all loose a bit thru the Check ball eventually...
Course I don't know about Twinkies...maybe they aint got a Checkball for all I know..Shovels, and Evos...yea...Where do you think that oil went to after ya parked it????


Edit; You need to let that engine recover the oil that has gotten past the checkball, and get the system back to "Dry Sump" status...the way it was engineered...that takes awhile...like till it's warm...Then...go ahead and check the oil...

 

A bunch of that oil in the case will be returned to the oil tank. As long as there's at least a quart in the tank before you start cranking, it will be fine. After it stops puking, check and refill if you need to then.

That's what I've been doing for >30 years. Works for me.

 

No checkball on a twink. Dead simple gerotor pump inside the cam chest, and the oil tank under the trans. Gravity won't let it sump.