I've had many motorcycles over the years... the first one bought used and all the rest bought new.... my current Harley is my 5th Harley i've owned...none have used any noticeable amount of oil between oil changes... I do all service on my own bikes and change oil every 5K miles... I bought my current 2018 fat bob 114 without hesitation... used a little oil up to the 1K oil change then jumped to using half a quart in 200 miles... took it to the dealer to have it checked out... they told me to ride it to the 5K service and not even look at the oil level.... they claimed they spoke to whomever at Harley they talk to and this is what they were told to do... supposedly, they claim they expect the consumption to level off at some point before it runs out of oil.... when I voiced my concern over this, the dealer to me that it's covered under warranty and if the motor blows up Harley will replace it.

They went on to confide that I wasn't the only bike they were watching for this type of oil consumption... all they did was a leak down test and a compression test which they said were well within spec... my fat bob came with synthetic oil as a factory fill... i think they suspect that the synthetic oil is slowing down the break in process...but they don't really have a grasp on why some bikes use oil...

your mileage may vary... best of luck

 

wow, just wow on the first part

you sure it came with SYN3 factory fill? that's a CVO thing and they put stickers on the cases stating such..this would be the first non CVO I ever heard of joining the CVO SYN3 factory fill

 

In addition to the remarkably pathetic 1QT/1500 miles being acceptable per the bulletin, if I'm not mistaken, the other pathetic thing is that leak down of up to 25% is also withing spec, which is profoundly disturbing, and probably linked to the oil consumption

 

So true so true.
Yea people defend the slow or easy "run in" and then complain when it uses oil.

 

Watch this space !
It might turn into sumping special ! ha ha.

 

MJWEBB... page 116 of the 2018 owners manual lists the models that come with syn3 as factory fill.... my FXFBS is one of them.

 

Your dealer is an idiot.

 

I agree on both accounts. Additionally, Harley needs to get a handle on the definition of "acceptable"; ultimately, it's the customer that decides what is "acceptable". Not knowing the difference has hurt more than one companies bottom line.

 

I looked in my service manual where it talks about performing a leak down test, and indeed it says anything less than 25% is acceptable.