The other day after installing the catch can on my stock air box I fired our 2017 up and ran it to temp. After the shut down I noticed about a tea spoon or so of Anti Freeze on the left side lower and the ground. I cleaned it up and tried to get the problem to repeat and it did not. This got me worried so on my day off today I inspected and took things apart. What I found was the upper hose clamp on the left radiator was never crimped in place from the factory. I crimped the clamp and all is good now. This could have let go at anytime and left us broke down or caused engine damage. We are lucky it held so far without out the hose clamp crimped.

Somebody at Harley was sleeping on the job for sure. I know humans make mistakes, we all do. I am glad I found the issue and was able to repair it easily.

I know it's covered under warranty but I do everything possible from having any Harley shop work on my bike. Less scratches and less issues for me this way. Plus I know things are done right when I do it.

See pic's ....

Ride Safe All,
Bill G

 

Bill, that was a good catch for sure.

 

glad it didn't let go at speed! must have been the same guy in charge of crimping my oil cooler hose..oh well, stuff happens but good report to alert others to have a chance of being proactive

 

Definitely a good catch. As you said we all know that things like this can and do happen in the manufacturing process. We would all like to think that what we pay for is going to be 100% correct but as you say humans all make mistakes. You can have as many checks/inspections as you want but something will always get through.

The great thing is we have access to a forum where folks like yourself can post these findings and others who may find themselves in a similar situation will know where to look first

 

Glad you caught that! I know a guy who hit an armadillo and wasn't exactly in a good place to stop and rode about 150 miles with his water cooled system knocked out. The now cooked armadillo was still stuck there and was described as stank foulest stench they'd ever smelled. This was on a twin cam and aside from the armadillo damage the engine wasn't harmed from the coolant system not working. I wonder if the same could be said of the Milwaukee 8?

 

It never hurts to give a new bike a once over before hitting the road. Common practice for me even though you would think you shouldn't have to.

 

I go over all my Harley's day one when new with a fine tooth comb and it seems like I have always found something. I also inspect and look over things when cleaning ( I do a lot of this.. Lol.) A once over would not have caught this. The clamp was hidden away inside the lowers. I am sure you already new that. Thanks for stating a good practice everyone should do and I agree with you 100% on that practice.

Ride Safe,
Bill G

 

I tend to agree it probably would not have done engine damage even though I mentioned could have done engine damage in my posting. Again not sure how touchy the temps are on the new M8 without the cooling system functioning on the new M8 4 valve heads. I tend to think the cooling is not only to cool the engine but more a function of getting EPA emissions compliance with the combustion process on these bigger cu in V twins.

Ride Safe,
Bill G

 

Kudos on pursuing the cause and repair. The moco should be informed although the dealer wasn't involved; it helps in tracking issues on these new motors.

Problem is who to report it to - my first guess would be customer assistance.

 

Just for the hell of it Im going to check mine.
Best/joe