I looked in the search area with out finding the answer to a question. What happens if you are on the road and have a radiator leak, does the bike revert back to air cooled to get you home?

 

Check your owners manual, I recall when I got my Limited, that manual sez park it. One would think it could revert to air cooled but that's not what Harley sez in their official manual.

 

I know that the MOCO told dealers you can ride it to service but be gentle. I was told this when I called the nearest dealer (75 miles from where the pump failed). The dealer had no issues going on record saying that it can be operated in an emergency (getting to dealer or off the road) and they were told this by MOCO during a dealers gathering earlier this year.




I know...I know...some will say its an air cooled bike then but im telling you from experience on a 14 ultra limited that had a pump failure on a cool day at rather high altitude that the bike did not operate the same and had severe performance issues. The more I rode it the worse it performed.


I know this sets off a firestorm from riders who insist its air cooled upon losing its cooling feature and im sure it is but my bike sure didn't ride the same w/o coolant circulating.

 

I read Gunnysgt's reply and swore my dealer had told me the same thing that GeneseeGap said. So I looked it up and sure enough the manual says stop immediately. Odd, as I swear that I've heard from more than one dealer/tech that they'll run dry without much trouble if you don't push it. Anyway . . . another one of those we'll say one thing, but have our escape clause to protect our butt.