To All:
I am writing to get an opinion from the members on what the normal consumption of a TC 88/95 should be. I have had my '04 FXDWG for almost 3 years now. I bought it with a TC88, and did performance adjustments. I had a 95" zipper kit installed, S&S gear driven cams installed, a new bearing in the case installed, and aS&S Super G cab with thunder jet installed. I rode this configuration for the last year and a half and accumulated almost 20,000 miles. Yet since the first day I got the bike it used 1/3qt. of oil every 300 miles. I recently felt this was too much and had the engine tore down when I was laid up for surgery. It was a good thing that I did. The piston heads were completely covered in carbon, about 3-4mm thick. There was scoring on the piston skirts and just a slight score on the cylinder, but was told that they could be recovered by reconditioning them. Total work done on the bike, was both cylinders reconditioned, new Westco 95" piston heads installed with what I believe a standard ring size. I also had an inner primary seal leak fixed. I asked about valve guide seals, but the mechanic said he didn't think I needed them. He replaced the oil with natural oil. That all together cost me $1,000. The break in procedure I followed was nothing over 3,000 rpm, nothing over 65 and I varied my speed ridiculously from 55-65 every 10 seconds for 400 miles. I rode 400 miles in one weekend, stopping almost every hour for at least 15 min each time. (how ever long two beers takes) I wentto change the oil and found it was downpast the add a quart level. Now I have been told I am a motorcycle hypochondriac, but that is due to riding a lot and not wanting to be stranded on the side of the road 500 miles away, and I certainly don't want to do evasive maneuvers on the freeway when my back tire locks up. Well I talked to the guy that did my build and he said that strokers use oil and that I should monitor its consumption. Ichanged the oil using Harley Davidson natural 20w-50 and ensuredthat the engine was hot when I checked the level, I meticulously ensured it wasright at the full line.I rode for 200 miles and I am downa 1/4-1/3 of a quart of oil already. I am now at 600 miles on this build and really feel like I spent $1,000 for nothing. Am I justified in this thought or am I just being too overly cautious?

 

Its a funny thing about oil consumption. My 04 Wideglide never burned a drop of oil of any kind. It registered almost the same cold on the stick as it did hot and no noticable consumption at 5K intervals (however ALL Air Cooled engines do consume some oil).

My 06 Roadglide went through a full Quart in the first 1000 miles of dino. I changed to Amsoil (which I ran in the 04 Wideglide from 1K on) and it burned about a qt in the next 3K. Now, having used Redline 20/60 from about 4K to present (about 20K) it burned about 1/3 qt. in the last 4K miles.

One other thing, I have cut the amount I add and let it run a bit under full. This seems to have stopped any oil dripping from the air cleaner which I was getting. Not much but enough to wipe with a rag from the bottom of the open K&N Filter.

That said, IF you continue to burn a qt. in a thousand miles, that seems to be HD's cutoff for what they laughingly consider "normal". IMHO, it is TOO MUCH!

BTW, HD has a tech sheet on diagnosing oil consumption. Seems many don't check correctly and end up constantly overfilling and blowing oil out the breathers. Anything but a hot check, after idling for a minute or two then checking after a few seconds to give it a chance to settle into the pan will net a low reading. Also, different brands and types of oil will behave differently from one another when cold and hot as far as expansion is concerned.

EZ

 

oil consumtion used to make me nuts on my evo. Had the dealer do the reman thing. broke it in nice and easy, but it would always need a little oil when checked at the end of the day. what was funny in the winter(I ride year round) it would use more. I always warmed the motor up before riding. well that bike is gone, and my '03 uses a little in the summer, less then a half a qt in 1k miles. And it's about the same in the cold weather. I guess Harleys just consume oil. who knows , maybe the have too much clearence in the rings and enough vaporised oil gets by and thats enough to lower the level, but not enough to smoke or foul plugs. its almost to the point at least if it was leaking, I'd know where the oils going. lol,,,,

 

My 06 TC88consumes no oil at all. Ifit does consume a little it is barely noticable. You might have wanted to change out the valve guide seals while you were in there. My $.02.

 

I agree 100%, now granted I have an '07 but it has 12K on it already and hasn't used a drop.