I have a 2015 dyna wide glide. The other night coming from bike night i hit a orange cone in the road with my right foot at 80 mph, it was painful. But, no harm done, so i thought
The next morning i go to right to work and as the bike is warming up, there is a rattle from the right side of the engine. Sounds like the timing cover area.
I checked for damage and seen nothing. No leaks or drips on the garage floor. All fluid levels are normal.
I let the bike sit a week while on vacation and when i got back yesterday. I started it again and watched and listened. Still the slight rattle from the right side. Except, this time after the exhaust heated up, i had something smoking off the exhaust, i could see it.
So, i shut it off and ran a paper towel along the bottom exhaust pipe and the liquid burning was not much. But, it was a bluish green color.

i have no idea what it could be? If you look to the right of the bluish green mess, you will see my engine oil color, because i checked the level on that.

this is my tranny fluid which is purple, because i use Royle Purple tranny fluid.
This has been about 2 hours now and there is nothing on the bottom pipe where i wiped it off before. But, that rattling from the lower right is still there at idle. Its starts then stops back and forth.
The bike idles and runs perfectly besides the rattle and this mystery oil or whatever it is?
Any thoughts? Im baffled.
Thank You

 

If the cone hit your right foot, could it also have hit a pipe? Is there a mount or heat shield anywhere in that area? Could either pipe be slightly loose at the head? Your description of the sound seems like it could be a loose shield. Check the whole right side of the bike for ANYTHING that could possibly be loose after getting whacked by the cone. Hitting anything at 80 is a pretty hard hit. As far as the "mystery fluid" is concerned, maybe it's unrelated. Do you have an air cleaner that gets oiled? Mine will periodically drop some filter oil, pretty much until it's dry...

 

I was just sitting here and thought to go smell the bluish green fluid i had wiped off the exhaust, and it smells like gear oil. But there isnt a drop of a leak anywhere under or on the bike i can find? Im going to go out and tighten all the heat shields down and then see if it still rattles.

 

Sounds like a heat shield to me too. Two things I tried recently to pinpoint a sound: hold the end of a long screwdriver handle to your ear, pressed tight to your skull. Put the tip directly on the engine or whatever you want to test for sound/vibration. The other thing was using an ear-horn made out of paper or whatever. You can use this to determine the location of a noise because it makes the sounds coming from wherever the horn is pointed to be much louder than the ambient noise of everything else.

Oh, and be sure to get so distracted from being focused on the sounds that you accidentally hit the shifter and shift into first, make your bike lurch forward, stall, and nearly fall on you. This step is optional.

The fluid could very easily be coincidental and unrelated. Something I learned about diagnosis (from completely unrelated fields) is to do your best to not build any interpretations whatsoever into your observations. You do all your observations as strictly as possible first without contaminating them with any analysis, and then you do that part after. You may have made the assumption that the fluid indicates a leak because that's normally true, if so you may have contaminated your observation with a conclusion. Maybe it's just some blue stuff that was on the cone.

 

Hey, Gleam. That makes perfect sense. Ill be finished tightening the heat shields in a short while.
Ill be back with what i found.
Thanks y'all for shooting me your thoughts. I hope we can get this figured out. Because there is nothing in this Harley thats that bluish color.

 

Okay, everything from the exhaust flang bolts, (which were about a 1/4 turn loose) to all the mounts holding the heat shields on. (Aftermarket exhaust- Cobra Speeder Slashdown).
Still hear this rattle after the engine gets a little warmed up. Sounds like a marble is bouncing around under the timing cover. No sounds from the primary side.

 

Hmm... possibly brake pedal and rod assembly jarred loose, not securely mounted?
~

 

I have no idea. There isnt anything behind the timing cover that could rattle besides the cam chain, tensioner or cam bearing. All that is new a year ago when i installed the new cams.🤷🏻*♂️

 

Only lube I know of that is green is Spector GL1. Green grease is some times use to lube brake pedal and kick stand. Like others said noise likely heat shield.

 

Everything i can find and think of has been double checked and tightened. Im going to go give it a test run and see what mysteries pop up this time. Ill let you know when i get back.
As it was said before. The bluish green **** on my exhaust pipe up front could have come from the orange cone i hit. Be back in a few.