I recently did an fluid change on my bike, first one of the season, actually first one since winter storage. Last year the dealer had to do some warranty work of the bike which involved doing a full fluid change on all three holes.it was done near the end of last season so i didnt bother changing the oil befor storage. I had a bad ankle injury in march so i didnt bring the bike out of storage until recently.
Now when i went to change the oil only a few onces of oil came out of the drain plug. there was next to nothing in the oil tank, so i was like WTF. I knew that none had leaked out because of there the bike was stored. i then removed the plug at the bottom of the crankcase and out came all the oil. it seams that all the oil drained from the oil tank into the crankcase.
Is this Normal?
What would cause this?
the bike is 2007 FLSTC
Thanks.

 

It sound like you pulled the plug on the bottom of the engine. The oil drain plus is on the frame under the oil tank. Are you sure the oil tank is empty?

Drew

 

Read that you never remove the crankcase plug.

 

sounds like you did not run the bike before you changed the oil.....after the bike sits for a long period such as in storage....because Harley uses a dry sump oil system...the oil will drain down past the oil pump and into the case. You should always start it for about 15 seconds and then shut off and check that the tank is filling. then start and run another 15-30 seconds to be sure its filling. When satisfied that its filling the tank again. bring up to warm temp. and then change the oil

 

First I followed the manual instructions for an oil change, when i pulled oil drain plug, only a few onces of oil came out. The dipstic wasnt in the oil tank, so there was no chance that there a vacumm on the oil system. Thats when we pulled the plug on the bottom of the engine, thats where all the oil drained from. I have done several oil changes on the bike so it was pretty strange to me that after i followed the procedure there was no oil in the oil tank. I was confident that the oil didnt leak out sometime during storage, thats when we pulled the plug on the bottom of the engine.

 

If you followed the manual instructions for an oil change, step 1. is ride the motorcycle until engine is warmed up and operating temperature.

If you did this and there still was no oil in the tank.....you have a serious problem.

 

thanks tomcat, thats what i was thinking. I didnt run the bike first because the tank was removed for some project that i did to the bike over the last few months since i wasnt able to ride. i guess i should have mentioned that to begin with.