Had service #2 (8000km) done by dealer recently. After getting bike home and looking over it, I found some oil wetness under the lower frame cross brackets behind the oil cooler (and under the oil filter). My inspection could find no leak, so I degreased it and went for ride......just a little amount of wetness returned.

Repeated procedure....all good. Was back at the dealer and told them about it. They took bike in for inspection, all good. Service manager said they the techs are finding it hard to ensure all residue oil after servicing is cleaned up......sounded weird to me but there you go.

Take home message is if you discover oil in this area, it might not be a leak, which is good news.

 

yup, they put it on the lifts straight up and down and just remove the filter and worry about the cleanup afterwards...I've got it down to barely any residual oil spillage..on the jiffy stand, cut up an old bed sheet into squares and slide/stuff the thin square under the oil filter, then slip the HD oil filter drain catcher on..what little bit of wetness there is only makes its way a couple inches down the case and I just stuff a piece in there afterwards to wipe/dry it up.. $50, half an hour, no muss no fuss..

 

I take it you're doing your own servicing?

 

oh hell yes, wife and I each have an M8..it's really basic stuff..all fluids, spare air filters to swap out, tighten and lube what needs it..save boatloads of dough without even having to switch to Geico! found that the belt really only needs adjusting when rear tire is replaced but for $50 have had them do it before..I'll have the dealer do the 20K services to adjust the steering head bearing and replace spark plugs, flush brake and clutch fluids..other than that no need to spend $800 for two bikes every 5000 miles..but even beyond the $$$ it's so much more convenient to do it at my leisure in my own garage without scheduling and coordinating drop offs and pick ups for 2 bikes all the time, plus I'm **** OCD meticulous so know it'll be done right..used to check their work afterwards and end up having to correct things anyway so got tired of it

 

Good work bro. Consumer law in Oz says something like only qualified mechanics can do servicing and maintain factory warranty......any qualified tech, doesn't have to be a dealer. I'll do mine once my 2 years are up.....are full service manuals available online?

 

think you have to purchase a hard copy SM but haven't checked..for the basic stuff I do it's not needed..what 'needs' to be done is in the Owners Manual..I don't worry about the warranty for basic DIY stuff, pretty hard to screw it up and it won't be the cause of any failures..just too easy to do and can literally save thousands of $$ over a few years with low risk or consequences

 

Go here for on line service manuals:
http://https://serviceinfo.harley-da....com/sip/index

Use the Customer VIN Lookup option.

 

Thnxs. Link not working in Safari but will try later with Chrome.

 

Try this link to select proper country:

http://https://serviceinfo.harley-da....com/sip/index

 

Both links give me "server not found" but thnxs for trying to help out.