I am a new Harley owner. I bought a basket case and put it all back together. Having never turned a wrench on a Harley, there was a learning curve that I was forced to follow...I thought I would share.

I got everything put back together and got it started. It all sounded good so I decided to go for a short test drive. I got maybe 1/4 mile from the house and it sputtered and died. After a rew mintes it restarted and I was off only to sputter and die again a few hundred yards later. At this point I see a pattern and decided to turn around. I also decided that if it followed this pattern of sputtering and dying AND if it should not happen to restart, it was a long push home. The solution, get going as fast as possible so I could coast as far as possible before the unavoidable die.

To me this was a good plan. When I hit about 60 MPH I heard this loud POP and something hit my leg. I looked down to see LOTS of oil shooting out the right side along with much smoke...I was thinking "hmmm...thats bad". I looked up in time to make a necessary course correction away from the bridge rail then looked behind me where I noticed something chrome rolling around in the road. I thought "I need that!" The predicted sputter and die came just then so I pulled aside.

Being on the shoulder in a curve I couldnt use the kick stand. Fortunately my bike has floorboards and I can lay it over on them withoutit falling over, which I did. I walked back and retrieved my chrome which turned out to be my oil fill cap.

Lesson learned - Do not over fill the oil tank, kids, it will really get your attention. And the sputtering and dying...when the gas gauge says near empty it really means EMPTY.

 

Hats off to you on your forced advanced learning curve.

 

I read something about not over filling in the owner's manual.

 

And don't try starting the bike with the filler cap off either... don't ask...


Good work on the learning though man!

 

I'll keep it in mind.

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

Is it EFI or carburetor? If it's carbureted, you should have a reserve setting on the petcock.

 

Congrats on learning something and not ruining anything in the process

 

 

Had a friend who stayed in Cali for a while back in the 70's. Worked at a gas station.

He Used to laugh at some of the car coming thru, Old one's that used a lot of oil.

He said they'd tell him to "check the gas and fill the oil".

Ur post me remember that.


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