Hi, my name is John and I'm a new member. I've got a 2005 Heritage Softail Classic with 54,000 miles on her and have been burning a quart of oil every 1,000 miles. I asked about this while the bike was still under warranty and was told to "hush" and being a new guy I didn't know any better. I'm a little miffed at the factory but she is my motorcycle and I'm at a crossroads. I pulled the heads on Saturday night and it looked pretty ugly (see pic). I turned those in to see if they can be rebuilt and if so that will be the deciding factor of buying new jugs and pistons for her. They don't look so hot either. If the heads can't be rebuilt then the cost of replacing them and everything else will exceed my tolerance for chasing my tail (this includes the teflon cam chain tensioners that are past due for replacement). I like S&S engines but I can't verify if there is an engine they manufacture for this model. So simply put I have 3 options 1) do a rebuild 2) S&S engine or 3) Harley Long Block program? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Did you buy the bike from a dealer? If so, I would take them to task for the oil burning problem which was a well known issue with the '05 models; bad valve guide seals. The MoCo issue a tech bulletin on the problem and many, myself included, had the issue addressed under warranty. I don't have the tech bulletin number but the OP can find it with some Googling. It probably won't make any difference but you never know; maybe the OP can get a discount on labor/parts to make the repair.

Best bet for getting back on the road would be to bore cylinders to 95"/98", fit new pistons, have a "street" port job done on the heads and get back in the saddle. If the dealer doesn't offer any assistance, take the project on as a DIY project. Call our forum sponsors, Scott/Hillside Cycles and Kirby/VeeTwin Performance and chat them up about the various head/cylinder packages the have to offer. Good luck.

 

As djl has pointed out, the 2005 models had valve seal issues.
Happy to help if we can.
Scott

 

The 2005 had bad valve seals (black) and were upgraded to orange. Many 2005's with high oil consumption were repaired simply by changing the seals. Welcome to the forum.

You could simply freshen it up at this point or do a build. If it's documented under warranty, I would push for assistance but at this point in time I highly doubt you will get anywhere.

 

Assistance from the dealer is not likely but worth a shot. When I was experiencing the problem, oil consumption was about a quart every 1000 miles which the MoCo considers "normal". There was a tech bulletin issued to upgrade the OEM black guide seals to the orange ones. The tech bulletin persuaded the dealer to replace the guide seals under warranty. I took advantage of the labor and had a 95" big bore kit and a set of SE204 cams installed at the same time; warranty retained. That was 12 years ago; the motor has seen several different configurations since and that was the last time the dealer touched the bike.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I called S&S today and I don't I explained what I need good enough. I will call Hillside tomorrow and see what they have to offer. Harley wants to sell me a long block rebuild but why make the same mistake twice?

 

Happy to get your wheels rolling.
Scott

 

Just curious, but what 12 year old bike comes with a warranty?

 

Just freshen it up. New valve seals and hit the seat and valves with lapping compound to check for seat area and width.
Inspect piston rings width and OD of piston and ID of cylinder if you have tools.

If OK, crosshatch and new rings. It's a 2005. I would keep it simple. Actually, mine burns a little oil between changes with almost 50k on it. I am not sure if I would have worryed about a quart in 1k if it tan OK.

You really should have did a leakdown test to see what you had before tear down. AutoZone has free loaner tools.

 

If your not looking to increase displacement at this time, in sure the bottom end is fine. A valve job will get you back in the game...