Any truth to this oil migration rumor?
 

I have been reading the posts about the oil migration issue with the M8's.
I have also read that the oil migration issue only affects the bikes with hydraulic clutches (touring models) but doesn't affect the new 2018 softails M8's, as they have a manual cable operated clutch.
Is this true or rumor. I would like to know this information, as I am looking at purchasing a new 2018 softail lowrider M8.
Thanks for your time.

Nope, you figured it out. It never happened. All the folks claiming it did happen are obviously liars...

Oh, and by the way, the oil sumps, it is the transmission fluid that migrates.... (at least on the small percentage of the bikes that it happens to.)

sheesh...:icon_saywhat:

Now that is interesting....

Well if this is true and it actually happened it could be a financial nightmare for the moco. It would mean replacing cases on all 17&18 M8 bikes. Could be hundreds of million of dollars.
And I'm not so sure I would want dealer tech's tearing my motor apart. I'm sure there are some very good ones but in my area they are rare, certainly none at my selling dealer.

Yall are dreaming. Wake up people! There will be no product program to replace cases, period. What planet are you people living on? Did they offer free upgrades to the hydraulic tensioners? No (and I would argue it was a more pervasive problem). Compensators? No. (again, probably more pervasive than sumping)

Agreed. It simply doesn't work that way.

Well due to all the information I have been reading here on this issue I have decided not to purchase the 2018 softail. It's too bad as the dealer just received the bike from Harley today and I was going to use my $1,500 off coupon to purchase the bike.
I just can't pull the trigger with these issues in mind.
Thanks to everyone who replied to my posts, you may have saved me some headaches.

Odds are you probably lost out on a very enjoyable new bike because of a small percentage of reports on a forum....

You know you might be correct, but i just couldn't take that chance.

From what I understand and have read here, I've yet to hear of a single instance of an M8 Softail transferring; only touring bikes with hydraulic clutches are transferring.

I suspect someday there will be a post about a 17 M8 with cable clutch transferring. I just feel it in my bones,.

Same here and ride this bike hard every single time I take it out. almost 7k miles for me. I use redline trans oil and that pink stuff is EASY to see.

Me either. 11k miles in 9 months. Changed fluids at 10k. Checked earlier. Levels haven't changed. I think I love this bike more than Badcookie loves his. If that's possible:icon_laugh:

Personally, I'm surprised that a class action suit hasn't already been started. It's only a matter of time till folks get fed up with the MoCo's BS and go after 'em, IMO.

Two, going on three, MY's in and still no closer to fixing the problems than they were when they started. People won't put up with that crap forever.

Massive lemon law suits and the resulting buybacks might get their attention, too.

Very few states where lemon laws cover motor sports.

There will be no class action law suite, yall are smoking an enormous Turkish hookah.

My 2018 Softail Slim, although a completely different style of bike than my Street Glide, has one of the best, smoothest and most powerful motor right out of the box that I've ever owned . I've been riding Harleys for 40 + years and this is without a doubt the best motor to date.

No truth to it at all. I was telling the dealership about the first time it happened and they told me I was crazy. The second and third time it happened, I began to question myself, and the dealership told me it was all in my head. I mean, really, I remember checking the level before leaving in the morning, riding all day, and then checking it again the next morning.

Had I really siphoned transmission fluid and put it in the primary in my sleep? Or while riding the day prior? All without tools? I've got an appointment with a shrink tomorrow, so I'll let you know if it was possible for me to do that without remembering, then we can really start to get closer to a real answer to your question. Or maybe someone came by in the still of the night and siphoned the fluid from transmission and placed it in the primary as part of some cruel joke... IDK!

Federal law supersedes any state law. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is a Federal lemon law which applies to all consumer products, including automobile, trucks, motorcycles, RVs, boats, and all other ordinary consumer products including computers and household appliances.

The nice thing about having a warranty and a second bike - you don't care as much about failure. You just ride and enjoy.

I'm sure that the lowlifes at the MoCo are fervently praying that you're right.

Continuing sales of a product with known and documented defects and no fix in sight after going on three model years shouldn't be ignored or tolerated. Surely they can't be allowed to keep getting away with that crap scott-free forever.

I'd still like to see the stats on these reported transfer issues. It's a matter of numbers. Out of X number of bikes sold, how many are documented to have the transfer issue? I know at least 8 RG/SG M8 owners who I ride with who, like myself, haven't had any issues with their bikes. Zero. I'm currently @ 6500 miles and with the last transmission fluid change @ 1K, have had minimal loss of transmission fluid. Not enough to add. If that's as bad as it gets, nothing to see here.

I just think the guys that really do have these problems are the most vocal, and rightfully so. But I would also venture a guess that a small percentage of the whole really have a problem that needs attention to get corrected. If only we could see numbers.

I heard around 12%, which is still too much, but not the doom and gloom we are subjected to on the forum.

Only Harley knows the true truth. We only know what the members here have reported. So, as a summary:
I don't believe there's been a single report on this forum from any Softail M8 owner claiming oil transfer. I don't follow other forums so I don't know if someone else has reported it, but I don't think any Softail owner here on this forum has reported it.

If it truly is 12% that is pretty dang bad! I understand that a lot of people have M8's with zero problems, but how many of those were purchased prior to the issues being known? I wonder how many of those would do it again knowing there was a 12% chance their bike would have problems. It's certainly not hard to understand why a lot of people would pause or even refuse to drop 20k+ on a bike with the current issues.

If 12%, then a free MoCo repair campaign (factory warranty extension) would absolutely be justified. 5% would be a reasonable number. 12% isn't, but how accurate is it?

It's on the internet... must be factual. 112% of what you read on the internet is factual. The other 89% is made up.

The '18 Softail engines 107 and 114 do not seem to have oil related issues. Ridged mounted with dual gear driven counter balancers and cable actuated clutches. Fantastic bikes.

Polls on this forum mean zip. There are thousands of M8 owners that never come to these forums. This tells us percentages based on forum membership that actually participate in the poll, which is a very small piece of the whole.

Study statistics and you'll have a better understanding. These polls only show statistics for the members that belong to this forum, which in no way is in proportion with all HD owners. We don't know what that factor of error is, therefore this data is worthless. Furthermore, if you look and see that many of the membership of this forum are small-scale posters, you'll realize they found this forum because they were seeking answers to a problem. Most trouble-free owners that have no interest in HD discussion aren't going to be here to participate in the poll.

I saw the same things in car-enthusiast forums. When I had late-model mustangs I saw polls like these. The only difference was that I worked for Ford and had access to real warranty data and the forum polls were ALWAYS wrong to the negative side, by a huge margin. It was laughable, and these polls are for entertainment purposes only. Anyone who thinks otherwise is sadly misinformed.

:icon_lolsign:

Dude... 116 folks on a single internet forum are not viable statistics. I took statistics in college... this poll is as worthless as polling Bill O'Reilly's audience on a political question.

All I'm saying is that these polls in no way are an accurate depiction of the percentage of bikes that exhibit the problems. They are over-exaggerated, to say the least.

MoCo DOES hold the responsibility to correct the issues, but here's how that works: Bulletins are issued for tech information when X% of reports have been fielded by the manufacturer. This is simply offering a course of repair for a known issue, for vehicles still within factory warranty. Campaigns are issued to extend factory warranty on a component that has a know history and higher failure rate than deemed normal by the manufacturer. This means that they will cover the component beyond the original factory warranty terms, to whatever extended terms they specify. They will not automatically replace the part unless it fails. Recalls involve having a component inspected and/or replaced regardless of warranty terms. Anything safety-related falls under this category.

The only way the MoCo can be forced to deal with these issues is for owners to take their bikes in and have a warranty claim filed. Many won't do this because the issue isn't big enough yet, and/or they've got some mods they don't want the dealer to see. Therein lies the rub.