Bikes been parked for about six month and oil appears to be at the engine sump what’s the best way to fire up. Bike will start right up and run and I don’t want to do any damage any information will be helpful thanks Steve

 

You could pull the plugs out, disconnect the coil and crank it over and keep an eye on your oil tank and oil pressure lite.

 

Forgive me if im really simplifying this but this sounds no different than a winter nap. Just fire her up.. I hope you used Stabil and had the battery on a tender..

 

I agree. If you want to be extra cautious, squirt a bit of Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder and replace the spark plugs since you have them out.

 

I agree with uncle, this shouldn't be an issue... Fire her up...

 

If your bike is known to drain oil from the oil tank to the crankcase, as many do after sitting for a while, you could attach a piece of hose from the vent hose going into the back of your air filter into a milk jug to catch oil that is forced out of the bottom end.

 

They all do that
The 2000 I had & my 03 show a qt low on the stick after sitting for a week
Age old problem
Ride it. Get it hot. I'm sure the oil level will be right up there

 

All good advice, I would ad this one caveat, IMHO....

I would suggest that if your oil tank drained into the sump, overnight, you have a problem worth investigating... Over the course of a few weeks or months, just run it easy until it's warmed up and the oil is circulating as designed...

After setting unused for a time, and the oil doesn't measure (or measures real low) on the dipstick, start the bike..... let it idle for a couple minutes... shut it off and then recheck the oil.. Most, if not all the oil will be pumped backed into the oil tank... If not, let it idle for another couple minutes, stop and recheck the oil.

This will give you an idea of how long it takes for your particular bike to scavenge the oil from the sump, back to the tank... Then in the future, any time you let it set for as period of time, you will want to ride easily, low rpm, for the amount of time it took for your bike to scavenge the oil back to the tank... Then you will know the oil system is functioning as it was designed...

These bikes drain oil into the sump for various reasons that range from; time since last start, to different oil pump tolerances, to worn oil pump, all the way to damaged oil pump/cam plate. Most cases it's the first three...

I can only see running it until it scavenges the oil leading to a problem if you started it up, and within seconds, started to "ride it like you stole it."

That could lead to increased crank case pressures, rotating parts whipping up the oil causing aeration thus poor lubrication/flow, and possibly causing rapid heat build up and power loss like in an active sumping situation...


Quick story:
One time, I hadn't ridden my '03 Heritage for several months (probably 6-7 months) due to an injury. I checked, and it was over a quart low... I put a quart in, and prepared for a ride...

It was idling for about 3-4 minutes as I got ready... When I started to ride away, my dipstick popped off, and the top of my oil tank looked like an oil volcano...!! That's how I learned of this nasty little quirk about softails... Mine hasn't done it since, even after "resting" for up to a month at a time... they will all drain & recover at different rates...

Now I always check my softails' oil level after they are warmed up (per recommendations), and if they haven't been ridden in awhile, I just let it idle for several minutes and ride easy for the first few miles...

Never a problem since..