I have taken over an Ultra Glide classic from my dad who passed away a few weeks ago. This was his baby and I intend to continue caring for it as he did. You can say it was his second wife (hope my mom never reads this message -- lol). So here we go and please know that I do all the wrenching on my bikes (unless an engine goes which has never happened to me); and by the way, most of my experience is on my Triumph Rocket 3 Roadster.

So I went to my closest Harley dealer and purchased 6 quarts of synthetic oil, oil filter, and gasket kit (3 small o-rings for the plugs and one for the primary cover). I followed the instructions on the manual to the teeth; drained oil, changed filter, and filled the case with 3.5 quarts of oil as stated in the owners manual. When I fired her up, the oil light pressure was on; after a few seconds I turned it off. The oil light scared me for a bit; also, as the engine was about to shut down, I heard some noise from the upper area which might be expected if no oil pressure exists. Cranked her up again, and the light was on for probably a second or two and then it shut off and the engine was much quieter.

I took the bike out for about a 12 mile trip and it seems to be working fine. My question is that if there is another procedure that is more feasible; I don't like the fact that it seems to take some time to have the oil circulate through the engine. It just seems that the engine took too long to have the oil light shut off after the oil change. The other oil changes I have done on my Rocket 3 have never allowed the oil light to be on for more than two seconds or so. The Harley just took too long and am wondering if it is normal. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Dont know if this is your problem or not, but I always fill my oil filter with as much oil as it will hold before I screw it on so the oil pump dosnt have to fill all that empty space before oil starts pumping out to the engine.

 

Thank you for your input; I'll wait for the next oil change and try adding oil to the filter. Thanks again.

 

Filling the filter will help. But it is no concern as long as the light is only on for a few seconds. She will be a little noisy until everything is oiled up again.