1998 Harley Heritage Softail (28k miles on her)

Went out for a 3 hour ride this past Saturday morning into 30-40mph winds. After getting the crap beat out of me from the winds for an hour and a half I stopped off for some gas. A buddy of mine noticed some oil leaking from one of the top bolts from my front rocker box. Also blow-by oil stain on my leg. Check the oil level, very little drop in oil but need your opinion on what damage I have caused by straining my baby that day. ( I did notice the bike didn't want to go any faster than 65mph, so I back off on the throttle)

After getting to our destination, I wiped off the little leak I had running from the top side of the rocker box and we rode back. Didn't notice any leakage from the rocker box, the air cleaner or any oil consumption from stopping. The ride back was a awesome. No sign of hesitation or smoke. But this is freaking me out a bit.

I should add that I recently installed some quiet baffles to my Vance & Hines Long Shots. I'm thinking that they have have created too much back pressure. Not sure though.

Thx

 

The oil seepage I can see but blow-back all the way to your leg from the front rocker would indicate a MAJOR leak. It sounds like, from your post, that it did NOT leak on the ride back which makes me wonder if it leaked at all to begin with. The oil on your leg was probably from the AC (stock or A/M?) from the added baffles. The added baffles may have caused the loss of HP and throttle (there is a formula for pipe length & diameter but too lazy to search for); sounds like what a stock set of pipes would do. If the leak is gonna cause you grief, change out the gaskets: DIY or about $200-300 for dealer to do both cylinder upper seals.

 

Take it off, put it on a glass top, make sure it isn't warped. If not replace the gasket.

 

Probably leaked on your leg from your air filter. I had that happen before.

 

Thanks for the quick response fellas. The leak was from the air cleaner. Is the gasket replacement pretty simple? (Im pretty confident with general mechanics). And for the warp test, I'm I testing for warpage for the top or the spacer or both?

Thanks again.

 

Took my bike (98 Heritage EVO) into the Harley dealership to replace the rocker box gaskets on both jugs. The bike was fine up to a month and one by one they started leaking again. Took it back and the shop re-did them, no charge. Now one of them is starting to leak again! This will be the third time they will replace these puppies. What are they missing? Should I find another mechanic thats better with older models? Could the head be warped or or something? Thx