I just picked up my first Harley, an 82 XLS, and I have a problem on the rear cylinder. There is oil leaking out of the exhaust port and even blowing out the end of my drag pipes. Needless to say it is not running very well. I checked compression thinking it might be blow bye but that is as far as I have gone. The readings were 120 on the front cylinder and 110 on the rear. I have not worked on any of these motors, so I am trying to get some advice before I start tearing into it. Any help I can get I would be greatly appreciative of..... Thanks

 

Get yourself a Service Manual !!! it pays back a once, if you are familiar to work with engines.
Compression looks good but oil can be coming only from 2 places valve guide or cylinder.
You are sure that it's coming inside of exhaust pipe ? In other hand plenty of oil in cylinder "seals" cylinder and compression looks better.
That isn't so hard remove cylinder heads and check it.
If you are removing cylinders to check if pistonrings are broken make sure that you put some cloth to cover crankcase openings before you pull out piston from cylinder.
Piston ring parts inside crankcase means splitting cases ...not so nice job.

 

The fluid from the exhaust pipe may not be oil; it might be unburned fuel that has mixed with carbon etc. It would be worthwhile to check this out. Also check the condition of the spark plugs: clean, or carbon fouled, or wet with fuel, or ...

If there appears to be a leak at the exhaust port then then exhaust pipe is not sealed well there. I would loosen the clamp and tap the pipe to ensure that it is all the way onto the port. You might also consider removing the pipes, cleaning up, and re-installing with a little Permatex Ultra Copper sealant.

Leaks at the exhaust ports can cause serious engine damage so this is important to be right.

 

could also be a bad intake guide that letting oil be drawn into the rear. if you pull the carb you might see oil in the intake passage. i had a sporty that smoked out of each pipe, broken oil ring on front cylinder and bad guide and seal on rear.

 

dude, i just fixed that exact problem on my panhead. oil coming out my rear exhaust. dragpipes also. i thought it was worn valve guides but it turned out to be a crack in my head gasket right at the oil port. oil was leaking past the gasket and into the rear cyllinder. inspect the gasket ...thats my bet...keep us informed...

 

Pulling the heads will tell you, if it is the rings, the piston tops will be washed clean in the area where the oil is coming up.

 

I had oil pumping out of the speedometer once. Turned out to be a blown seal, but this sounds more serious. If it's an older bike I'd look at those rings first.

 

so did you ever find anything with this?

 

Have a 03 hd electra glide with little of 85 thousand was loading it on a truck but had some issues rode it n today i noticed oil coming from the read exhaust. When i road it there was no differance had same power n did not smoke. And advise thanks