BEWARE! 07 Softail Engine Fire Risk
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BEWARE! 07 Softail Engine Fire Risk
Strangest thing today, and quite scary.
Riding down the road on my 07 Heritage and I was checking the oil temp, as I installed the PCIII last night, and there is oilall over the side of my bike on the right side. So I pull over to take a look and the oil vent tube (chrome tube to the top of the oil tank closest to the fill spout) was blown out at the wire braid bend point. Not only was it blown out, it looked like it had been on FIRE, was totally black and had a 1/4 hole in it.
Totally baffled by this, I poked around and found that when I pushed on tube, it SPARKED as it connected with the engine block. Apparently on a bump, it connected with the block, sparked and ignited hot oil gases going through the tube causing a mini explosion and fire!!!! F******-A!!!
There is a recall for this problem that I knew about, and had taken care of. The recall is that in some cases on these bikes when installing or re-installing the battery, the positive cable can get pinched between the oil tank and the battery, and even though there is insulation there, after a number of bumps, it wears through making the oil tank a positive battery terminal!!!
Because it is insulated from the frame for safety reasons, there is no real action until something grounds it, like the oil tubes to the block. But when it does, it can be very catastrophic as you can imagine. I feel very lucky to have avoided a full on fire.
Here is the issue. I've had the recall done, and they inserted a plastic baffle to further insulate the cables from the oil tank, but damned if it wasn't simple to still install the battery and have the positive cable swing outside the baffle and up against the oil tank, which is what happened to me. So basically, if its that easy to have this happen, the recall fix is a piece of crap.
I urge all of you to check your battery connections to make sure they are not bumping up to the oil tank, and that if you have the recall, the cable is tucked nicely inside the plastic baffle. Maybe you can avoid my nightmare of today.
Eddie
PS. Anyone know how to change this damn oil vent line out? How do I get it disconnected from the oil tank?
Riding down the road on my 07 Heritage and I was checking the oil temp, as I installed the PCIII last night, and there is oilall over the side of my bike on the right side. So I pull over to take a look and the oil vent tube (chrome tube to the top of the oil tank closest to the fill spout) was blown out at the wire braid bend point. Not only was it blown out, it looked like it had been on FIRE, was totally black and had a 1/4 hole in it.
Totally baffled by this, I poked around and found that when I pushed on tube, it SPARKED as it connected with the engine block. Apparently on a bump, it connected with the block, sparked and ignited hot oil gases going through the tube causing a mini explosion and fire!!!! F******-A!!!
There is a recall for this problem that I knew about, and had taken care of. The recall is that in some cases on these bikes when installing or re-installing the battery, the positive cable can get pinched between the oil tank and the battery, and even though there is insulation there, after a number of bumps, it wears through making the oil tank a positive battery terminal!!!
Because it is insulated from the frame for safety reasons, there is no real action until something grounds it, like the oil tubes to the block. But when it does, it can be very catastrophic as you can imagine. I feel very lucky to have avoided a full on fire.
Here is the issue. I've had the recall done, and they inserted a plastic baffle to further insulate the cables from the oil tank, but damned if it wasn't simple to still install the battery and have the positive cable swing outside the baffle and up against the oil tank, which is what happened to me. So basically, if its that easy to have this happen, the recall fix is a piece of crap.
I urge all of you to check your battery connections to make sure they are not bumping up to the oil tank, and that if you have the recall, the cable is tucked nicely inside the plastic baffle. Maybe you can avoid my nightmare of today.
Eddie
PS. Anyone know how to change this damn oil vent line out? How do I get it disconnected from the oil tank?
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,609
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From: Indy area
RE: BEWARE! 07 Softail Engine Fire Risk
I've seen a write-up on this somewhere else. It might have been another forum and/or an on-line magazine article. I'm pretty sure it was a pre-'07 so this is really nothing new.
Road Warrior
Joined: Oct 2006
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RE: BEWARE! 07 Softail Engine Fire Risk
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