Hi Forum,

I haven't rode my Harley for quite some time. Today I thought I drive a small round. All Oils (Engine, Gearbox and clutch) have been replaced like 3h before. ( I have a measurement gauge for RPM which tells me the engine run time). So I drove and everything was fine. I drove about 8miles or so. When I came back home I saw an oil trail from my garage down one block. This was from my Harley I thought, I parked the bike, inspected the oil trail and for sure it was some kind of oil most likely from my bike.

Well, I cleaned my bike and the engine. There was a lot dust and dirt on the engine. I used purple cleaner to get the engine clean.

Then I checked all oils on the bike. Gearbox and clutch was fine. Engine oil was low, it wasn't even reaching the stick. But I can see that the oil compartment had still oil. I guess around 1/2in below the stick.

Now the interesting thing is, the bike is not leaking any oil when it's on the side stand. But as soon as I put it vertical it drops from one of the dampers below the oil tank. I just can not see where it's coming from. The oil tubes going to the oil compartment are dry.

Any idea where this could come from?

 

Ok, so I did some more investigation. There is some oil in the damper. As soon as I straigthen up the Harley it drops out, still no clue where its coming from. See the top right arrow on the picutre.

However I topped of the oil and started the engine and now there came a lot oil out of this tube which drops it just below the engine oil compartment in front of the reart wheel tire. The hose is directly connected to the engine. See the bottom and left arrows.

 

My memory is sketchy on this. I sold my '89 Heritage in '93... So it's been awhile since I've worked on an EVO engine softail....... If I remember this incorrectly, someone is sure to correct me ASAP... and I would welcome the correction... besides, nothing gets more responses on a forum more than incomplete or incorrect information.. If my memory is wrong, then I should at least get you more responses.....

As I recall, Harley didn't go to the head breather assembly crankcase venting until 1995ish (maybe later).... I believe the hose you point to in the top left, and bottom pic, is the crankcase breather hose... Yours now vents in front of the rear wheel at one end, and attaches to the the engine case at the other. It used to run from the crankcase to the air cleaner, so the crankcase blow-by can be ingested by the intake, and burned in the engine. Many people routed it away from the intake and to where you now show it "venting"...

Oil will come out that vent hose:

1) If you over filled the engine with oil...

2) If the check valve in the oil pump is faulty and allows oil to puddle in the engine sump. It will then kick out oil when the bike is first started. It usually stops coming out that hose once the excess oil in the sump is reduced to normal levels.

3) If you have a serious engine issue causing severe blow-by, like bad rings, etc

I suspect your problem is #1 or #2... and strongly suspect #2....

If it is #2, that would account for the early trail of oil from your bike, but your bike not losing all its engine oil... It could be a combination of #1 & #2, if you didn't run the engine before changing the oil, and then filled it per the dipstick. That would have left some oil in the engine sump that didn't get drained. You would then have oil in the sump AND an overfilled engine...


As for the pic on the top right, showing an arrow pointing to a hole in the shock (damper) body.... I can think of no reason for oil to leak from there... unless....

You said the fluids were changed a few hours before taking your ride. Did you change the fluids?

Does your bike drain the trans fluid from the the torx plug directly under the clutch cable cover on the side of the transmission, or does it drain from the bottom of the transmission between the shocks...??? I forget exactly when it switched from the side of the trans to the bottom of the trans on softails...

If your bike drains from the bottom of the trans, did you let the oil run over the shocks (damper) as it drained? That could be when oil may have gotten into the shock case hole in the top right picture. Now when you stand up the bike, the oil drains back out of the shock case hole... I can't think of any other way oil could get into that shock case hole.

So there are two guesses about your issue... hopefully someone with current EVO experience will confirm my guesses, or tell me I'm full of crap.. either way you will learn something...

As to how to fix your oil pump check valve if that should be the problem... do a search on this forum. There are a couple ways to fix that, shy of complete replacement...

Good luck with your repair...