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But the question still londers in my head wanting to wkow why dirty oil does flush out during purging or why if you dont purge.After the warm up cucle the fresh oil is brown insteal of what it looked like when it was in the bottle?
Originally Posted by glidein wide
. Doesn't take much dirty to tint the clean oil.
Put one drop of blue food coloring in a glass of water, and the whole glass turns blue
After I change oil (once in a while) and I've run the bike for a bit, the oil on the dipstick is golden. Does the filthy oil stay in the bottom of the tank or does it get so diluted that you can't see it or does the new filter take it out or all of the above?
Run it for 50 miles then check dip stick. Wipe off then dip the dipstick in a clean bottle of oil, you will see a big difference.
The oil that remains in an engine after draining is called "clingage." It is on every surface that the oil comes in contact with. Case surfaces, bearing and race surfaces, shafts, flywheels, any and all surfaces that come in contact with the oil.
Different engines hold different amounts. (BBC's hold over a quart, for instance.)
Based on the physical size of our engines, I'd guess that there is less than 2 cups remaning, on a properly drained HD engine. This includes leaning the engine both ways to get the best drain. I do this on every drain as it seems to remove add'l oil.
111k. Top end rebuild at 92k. Cases have never been split and still ruining strong. Use Conventional Oil and have NEVER purged oil. Not bashing anyone who wants to do it as I am sure I do lots of stuff that others think is nonsense but if you change your oil when your suppose to you will never have an oil related problem.
Never changed it has 110k and rebuilt top end due to rear cylinder base gasket leaking. Harley Davidson 20-50 Dyno oil and change every 3000, have let it go to 4500 and 5000, however it's pretty black at higher mileage. Mainly feel the oil for viscosity, if it's slick. If it doesn't feel slick, then time to change it.
If you have a liter of oil in your engine after you drain it...you are not doing it correctly.
Many Harleys have the kickstand on the opposite side from the drain...so if you drain it on the kickstand, you will leave a lot of oil in the tank...you have to lean it over to get it all out.
A properly drained engine will only have a couple of ozs left in it .
Never thought about it, but I always stand the bike up level when changing oil. Maybe since your supposed to have bike level and hot to check it. Also change it when it is warm after a ride around for 5 to 10 minutes, getting to running temperature, then change. Also seems to take 3 quarts every time, but I don't put any oil in filter, which draws it down once restarted.
Would be easier to remove the return line to tank, after a oil change to do this, actually thinking about doing this to my bike, since it hasn't ran in awhile. Added two quarts to it, and rode it yesterday, oil level remained the same so there wasn't but a quart of oil in the bike. Also checked when hot, and level, and ran on jiffy stand with dipstick out seems there is a flow with bubbles in tank.
Would be easier to remove the return line to tank, after a oil change to do this, actually thinking about doing this to my bike, since it hasn't ran in awhile. Added two quarts to it, and rode it yesterday, oil level remained the same so there wasn't but a quart of oil in the bike. Also checked when hot, and level, and ran on jiffy stand with dipstick out seems there is a flow with bubbles in tank.
Only addressing bubbles.
Unlike car motors that the oil in the pan is protected from a spinning crank so oil is not whipped up, what you see on a Harley is the returned scavenged oil.
It's going to be bubbly on top.
Pick up in the bottom of bag is relatively not so bubbly going back to pressure side of oil pump and pushed thru filter and thruout engine.
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Aug 2, 2023 at 12:50 PM.
Unlike car motors that the oil in the pan is protected from a spinning crank so oil is not whipped up, what you see on a Harley is the returned scavenged oil.
It's going to be bubbly on top.
Pick up in the bottom of bag is relatively not so bubbly going back to pressure side of oil pump and pushed thru filter and thruout engine.
Mainly running it yesterday, the tank did get hot which is telling me the oil is circulating in the system, doesn't seem to move much but must be circulation. The level didn't change either, so it was almost out of oil, maybe a quart in system total, which turning by hand, then with plugs out with starter, then finally with plugs in must have been enough to pump tappets up. When started no tappet noise and sounded the same when last ran with hot engine.
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