I just wanted to share this with everyone here so others can be aware of this issue. I have been reporting on the "Everything Fat Bob" thread about having oil puking out of my air cleaner. After the 1000 mile service and adjusting the oil level to a few dots below the full line, I still had oil coming out of the air cleaner. I took it back in yesterday to have it checked out and the dealer had already ordered a new gasket set thinking it was a gasket for some reason, even though there was no leaking out of any gaskets and I told them I suspected the breathers were bad based on where the oil was leaking out and suggestions on the Fat Bob thread.

Well after doing whatever they did yesterday it still had oil coming out of the air cleaner. The tech called tech services/assistance and apparently was told that this is a known issue with the breathers not working properly and they have an updated breather to fix this issue. They had to order the updated breathers and now it's just a waiting game for them to come in. I will just have to deal with the oil puking until they get the breathers installed. I hope this helps anyone else who experiences this but it seems like I am the only one on the forums who has experienced this problem so far as everyone has said they have no oil dripping out of their air cleaners.

On a side note about other issues I have had.... Still nothing on the front tire hop/shake and the grinding noise I was hearing was an improperly adjusted belt. Also according to tech services, there is a second belt adjustment that the tech didn't know about and when he did the "normal" adjustment it caused the grinding noise I was experiencing. Kinda makes you lose faith in the techs when they don't read the manual enough to get all the details on the work they are supposed to be doing. I am afraid of voiding my warranty by doing my own work on the bike to avoid having these jokers touching it and don't want to void it and end up having major issues later down the road that will not be covered.

Oh well. I guess if they mess anything up they will be responsible for it, though I would rather not have anything messed up due to laziness or lack of knowledge of the new M8 Softails and not actually reading the manual to get every detail on what needs to be done and how. It seem's like these guys think they already know it all and nothing has changed on the new bikes so they don't have to read the manuals to get further details. God I hate having to take my bike to the dealer for anything!

 

 

Thanks for the heads up. I am having just an occasional drop or two. Nothing I want them tearing into it for. But helps to know if it gets worse there is an update.

 

Not at the moment due breaking my phone. I will take out the old camera and take a couple after picking the bike up today and allowing it to puke again while riding. To describe it for now, it is dripping out of the bottom of the air cleaner back plate. It is not saturating the air cleaner just dripping from between the air cleaner element and the back plate. It drips enough to get all over the side of the bike, on the pipes and pools up between the lifter blocks. It then gets pushed by the wind and streaks all over the bottom right side of the engine.


Mine started off as an occasional drip here and there as well and has slowly progressed a small puking almost every ride. It's not dumping out or anything like that but it is coming out in significant amounts. I guess that's my curse haha. I had oil dumping out of my breathers on my 2012 48 88" build as well but that was dumping oil all over the place not just dripping out like the Fat Bob.

 

What I do not understand is why the hoses in the breather feed directly to the air intake? Most of my more modern bikes have had hoses routed down with plugs so you could drain this crap instead of feeding to the engine. My oil level is halfway to full mark and it still oozes out even under easy riding conditions. My stock 2018 114 Fat Bob air filter is beyond disgusting and don't feel like replacing all the time at the tune of 54 bucks. Confederate tipped me off to the by pass mod, but think I've had enough and going to pass this off to someone who really needs a Fat Bob.

 

Link to procedure/info?

 

This is what confederate sent to me via private message.

Saw your thread. External breathers would eliminate the issue of oil getting on your air filter as it would go either to a catch can or breather filter. Some just run the hose down to the bottom of the bike. Best part is that the nasty oil mist and or sludge will not be going back into the motor. Plenty of threads on this if your willing to search. Kits can be ordered complete or you can see what's included in the kit and purchase the needed items from your local auto parts store. Good luck with your decision.

Afterwards I search and found tons of stuff on the by pass ideas/ mods. Basically, it boils down to getting a T connector that joins the two hoses in the breather area. A third hose is put on the down flow nipple with a hole drilled to allow the hose to be routed out of the breather area and lower under the engine and manually drained periodically. Keeps the breather area clean.

 

It bugs me that they route the breathers back to the air cleaner as well but that's how they decided to satisfy the EPA emissions standards. I have modified a SE Heavy Breather back plate to vent externally on my 2012 Sportster 48 and it was a pretty simple modification. I will be doing this on the Fat Bob soon I just need to get the hardware and parts to do so and a service manual. Should be pretty simple I think. I just need to do some research to familiarize myself with the air cleaner assembly on the 2018 Fat Bob 114.

As for the front tire hop/shake, the tech re-balanced the tire and it solved the issue. I took it up to 105 last night and the shake is gone. Glad it was just the tire out of balance.

 

Dunno if this helps:

Here is my air filter at 15K miles. Just a little bit of oil.

You can show this picture to your service guy to illustrate to them that "they all DON'T do that".

 

Thanks for the picture for reference. These guys are not attempting the whole "They all do that" bit with me so that's good. They have definitely given it due process and have been really trying to find the source of the issue. This is the first they have seen on the M'8s and the tech had to use his resources and called Harley Tech Support or Tech Services as they called it. Through that call he found out that they have the updated part number for the breathers and it's an issue Harley knows about. I just hope the new breathers resolve the issue and I don't have to worry about oil coming out of the air cleaner anymore and that's the extent of the issues I see with this new bike.