Sorry for the long history but it's necessary for understanding. Thanks for your help in advance.


Hi Everyone,
I'm new to here as I just purchased my 2003 Road King Classic in Oct 2016 with 17,200 miles @ $10,000. It now has 19,300 miles. I found this forum while searching for a solution to my problem after owning it 6 months and just over 2,000 miles of riding. I could REALLY use everyone's opinions. So here it goes:


Everything seemed to be going well with my bike until a few weeks ago. When I ride my motorcycles to work, I usually wear my earbuds and listen to music. I started hearing what I thought were the valves/lifters starting to click louder as time went on. Finally, last week, my oil pressure light came on. After work, I drove it by the nearest Harley dealer to get oil and have them listen to the engine. Mechanic turned it on, listened for about 1-2 seconds, and turned it off saying that it didn't sound right and recommended I not drive it any further.
The mechanic ended up opening the engine area where the cams and tensioner are to find that the plastic shoe was melted, shaving, and had sliver chunks in the housing. The tensioner was actually fine. He then took of the oil filter, cut it open, and found metal shavings in the oil. Both him and the service manager said that time vs money, it was looking like a new motor and hopefully the cams were still good. They said that the other Harley dealership should have seen the metal flakes if they had done an oil change prior to selling it to me; I don't know if they did or not. They also said that this problem is not "normal" and they usually don't check the cam tensioner until about 20-25,000 miles.
After talking with the general manager at the dealership I purchased it from, I was told they couldn't do anything since I didn't have a warranty and it had been 6 months and 2,000 miles. The best they could do for me is their "Winter Package Deal" of 20% of parts and labor. This blew my mind!! A new motor + labor is around $5,000. That's half of what they sold me the bike for!!


Does anyone have anyone have any experience like this after purchasing a bike? What are your recommendations that I should do? Would it help to contact Harley corporate? This is my 5th bike I've owned and my 1st Harley. This isn't a very good starting experience that I'm having so far.

 

You should be able to pick up a nice used twin-cam engine on the secondary market if you keep your eyes open for somewhere around $2K. Granted you could end up stuck with another motor that needs a rebuild if the seller isn't totally honest but that's the chance you'll have to take. Corporate isn't going to help you at all, it's a 14 year old bike with no warranty.
Besides getting your *** run over, being able to listen to your motor is one of the other good reasons NOT to wear ear buds while riding! Good luck!

 

Crappy deal all around, but things happen and like ^^ said....it's 14 years old. Whether that would have been there 2000 miles ago or not, who knows.

If money is an issue, I'd buy a used motor.

 

What happened to your cam chain tensioner is a known problem and design flaw. There is a replacement for around $2kish installed. It includes a new , better, oil pump.
The other items you mentioned seems working as designed, plastic shoe melted, metal holder shredded, metal in sump , pumped into oil filter, cut open oil filter to find metal trapped in filter like it should be. The oil filter worked. How does this equal a new engine?

Maybe someone here can tell you why this demands a new engine, I didn't need a new engine but I don't wear ear buds and heard the cam chain change frequency.
You need to do some more research, searching Harley twin cam problem should setup you up for a week of reading. I would concentrate on trying to understand why you need a new engine instead of the cam fix with the new oil pump. I suggest finding someone that understands the effect of the failure you experienced and can tell you if the dealer is being less than honest with you.

 

Op,

I had a lifter come apart under extended warranty. the authorized repairs were to replace the cams, lifters and oil pump. no flushing of the engine, nothing else.

obviously i choose to pay for more repair out of pocket than were aithorized.

moral of the story, the extended warranty folks believe if they find metal in tbe oil filter it did its job and metal does not exist in other parts of the engine.

believe what you want, but i would question the need for a full rebuild without further exploring of the engine.

 

Early twincams did suffer a lot from that problem and there were failures with lower mileages than yours, although it is true most survived longer. The first dealer's comment suggests that H-D has adopted a policy of checking at 20-25k miles as a precaution, which unfortunately didn't save your bike. It seems to me that your nearest dealer has done a good job and identified the problem, also confirmed that damage may extend into the rest of the engine.

Dismantling an engine is labour extensive and hence expensive, also the cost of parts is difficult to estimate without first dismantling it. There is the possibility that many other parts will require replacement. I suspect they have suggested a refurbished engine from H-D, from the 'Longblock Engine Program'.

If you decide to take that advice, you have the options of choosing either a stock size TC88, or at a little extra cost upgrading to a TC95, even a TC103. There is a silver lining to every dark thunder cloud......

 

Cam chain tensioner failures are a common and know issue on '06 and earlier twin cams. Some fail at 12k, others at 75k. Pretty random.

It's possible the oil filter caught the shavings, it is also possible it didn't. The only way to tell is pull the motor apart, and then rebuild.

Really unfortunate situation. The selling dealer really should have pulled the cam cover and inspected the tensioners prior to taking the bike in trade/selling it; unfortunately used vehicles are seldom inspected and usually sold as is. I would recommend going back to the selling dealership and see if they will split the cost of a rebuild.

 

Worn thru cam chain shoes, generally as a rule, do not take the entire engine out.
Scott

 

Agreed but, it will be the inevitable death of the engine. if it's making noise, the serious damage is done.

Rebuild is costly. Used replacement is risky but can be an affordable option by taking a look at those wear items first thing when replacing.

Another option but a bit pricey is HDs factory exchange program. The factory replacement takes your old engine in exchange for the new one complete with all the latest upgrades.

Good luck.

 

Not necessarily the "inevitable death" of the motor; the noise was coming from the cam chest.

Unfortunate situation but replacing the tensioner shoes with a set of CYCO shoes, oil and filter change could be all that is required to solve the problem permanently or, worst case, buy the OP some time to scrape up the cash for a rebuild.