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Before doing the oil change, keep in mind that a fair amount (maybe all) of the oil that was in the tank has probably leaked down into the crankcases, so don`t try to fill the tank before starting the engine.
You want to start the engine and scavenge the oil from the crankcases before you change the oil.
Just put a drain pan under the engine and start it up, the oil will scavenge up from the crankcase back to the tank, but some will blow out the breather (don`t panic, it may be messy).
Once you have run the engine for a few minutes the oil should be back in the tank, now you can drain the tank.
The oil drain hose comes from the bottom of the tank, but not all Evo Softails use the same tank.
Early Softail oil tanks had 2 nipples on front of tank (oil return and breather) and another nipple on the rear of tank, this nipple was for oil supply to pump and also oil drain (there was a T fitting).
Later Evo Softail tanks have 3 nipples on front of tank, oil return, oil supply and vent, and one nipple on rear (drain hose).
This is what the plug will look like (the hose may not be this long), just loosen the clamp, pull the plug, and glug glug glug...
Last edited by Dan89FLSTC; Feb 23, 2024 at 02:21 PM.
Thanks Dan for chiming in.... I was totally unaware that the early EVOs had a T-fitting so that the drain and oil supply would share the same nipple on the back of the tank...
Do you have any idea of about when they went away from that "T" set-up.... I don't remember it on my '89 EVO Heritage, but that was many years, and many beers ago...
Here`s the early setup with the T fitting, in `91 the tank changed to the 3 nipple on front, that did away with the need for the T fitting for the drain.
I didn't do a lot of work on my EVO back in 1989, because I didn't have a garage. I just had an 8'x10' aluminum storage shed with very few tools..... so my EVO memory can be vague...
@iviakavelli From your pics I agree, there is no T in the hose coming from the back of the tank.
To drain the tank, disconnect that hose at the oil pump end and the oil will drain from the tank, but remember to start the engine and scavenge the oil back to the tank first.
The company that put the bike together probably used a mis-mash of parts, and the T fitting was probably long obsolete by the time the bike was built.
Last edited by Dan89FLSTC; Feb 24, 2024 at 02:43 PM.
Thanks for the advice, Dan. I think you're right, this seems to be the early model tank. There are two hoses at the front (return and vent) and one at the rear (supply). That rear hose must've had a T-fitting originally, but the previous owner took it out. It all makes sense now.
Lol I haven't even started any work on the bike, bro. This is how it's been the whole time. I'm just now trying to figure the Harley out. You can know what a park is, building is, stop sign is, etc... But you'd still be lost in a new city without a map. That's how it was with me, but over the past few weeks I've been watching videos and figuring the Harley system out so I should be good.
Thanks for the responses, guys. So I think I've figured the gist of things out now... I'm now stuck at removing the air cleaner lol. I'm not sure if I should make a new post or continue asking for help here, so out of laziness I'll go with the latter.
My air cleaner doesn't have a centre bolt (see pictures) like almost all the ones in the Youtube videos do. As you can see, I tried loosening the 2 backplate breather bolts but realized there are still the 3 bolts connecting the air filter to the throttle that I still have to get to... So how do I take this cover off? I'm stumped here..
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