POP goes the oil cap !
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,492
Likes: 19
From: Illinois
Nope but seriously, the hillbilly in me dreamed up my little heated bubble and it works really well. My bike sits there all winter long at 70 degree's. I would love to put heat in my garage but I have to bust up the driveway to do it and I don't know how long I will be here in this house so it's not even on my list of things to do. If I stay I will revisit this issue then.
Road Captain
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 514
Likes: 17
From: SW Mississippi
+1 on the no-run during the winter unless you ride for a good bit. I've proved that to myself, 1st winter that I had my 1st softail, I ran it a few minutes regularly, like I used to do all my gas engine stuff. The amount of moisture the oil picked up was really noticeable and yucky looking. I found out my mistake, and quit running it at all (fuel treatment!), and in the spring my oil looks just like it did in the fall. Funny though, I've never noticed this in anything else, even other Harleys...
Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 705
Likes: 8
From: southern IL
+1 on that. My former boss had a sportster that ran into that! Oil slowly seeps back into the engine... hence the scavenger pump system. Thank the maker that you only sacrificed some pride.... lesson learned and press on!!!
May our Moderator Rest in Peace
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 11,386
Likes: 35
From: Rochester, NY
Have you ever noticed that modern cars seem to spit a lot more water from the exhaust than older carbed engines ever did?
Interstingly enough my old 07 Ranger with a port injected 2.3L 4 banger spit a lot more water out of the exhaust than my new Focus with its direct injected 2.0L engine does.
Wonder if that means direct injection will do more for us than just help reduce detonation problems in higher compression ratios.
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 64
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From: Alaska
Reason to start it up every so often is to oil the cylinders (which are HIGHLY susceptible to corrosion if oil runs off) and getting it hot enough vaporizes every atom of water in the crankcase.
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From: Alaska
Cruiser
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 185
Likes: 0
Man, my softy did this last winter.
I take my bikes for a ride at least once a week in the winter (we can do that here in NC) One cold Tuesday afternoon, I decided to stop at the local biker's "restaurant" establishment for a couple "hamburgers". Well it started getting dark, and even though my "lunch" was still digesting I decided it was time to scoot. I sat on the bike, depressed the pushy button thingy that starts the bike and POW or maybe it was POP the oil pluggy went flying into my leg, oil on the bike.....my pants.... and on the pavement. Standers-by yelled WHOA and HEY MAN and HARLEY SH*TT BRO.......Of course they had nothing else to look at because I was sitting on the only motorcycle in front of the "restaurant" except one moped whose owner probably had too much for "lunch" a time or two.
Anyways, the moral of this story is don't give your softy too much to drink as she might PUKE all over ya!!!
I take my bikes for a ride at least once a week in the winter (we can do that here in NC) One cold Tuesday afternoon, I decided to stop at the local biker's "restaurant" establishment for a couple "hamburgers". Well it started getting dark, and even though my "lunch" was still digesting I decided it was time to scoot. I sat on the bike, depressed the pushy button thingy that starts the bike and POW or maybe it was POP the oil pluggy went flying into my leg, oil on the bike.....my pants.... and on the pavement. Standers-by yelled WHOA and HEY MAN and HARLEY SH*TT BRO.......Of course they had nothing else to look at because I was sitting on the only motorcycle in front of the "restaurant" except one moped whose owner probably had too much for "lunch" a time or two.
Anyways, the moral of this story is don't give your softy too much to drink as she might PUKE all over ya!!!
Cruiser
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 184
Likes: 1
From: Slidell, LA
Wow good to know. Sorry about your spill!
I live where we don't have snow or weather under 30d F. And I have a heated/cooled garage. Got lucky with a house I got that had the garage closed in, seperate HVAC system. All I did was tear the wall down, insert insulated garage door. Its the best in the summer though out here.
I live where we don't have snow or weather under 30d F. And I have a heated/cooled garage. Got lucky with a house I got that had the garage closed in, seperate HVAC system. All I did was tear the wall down, insert insulated garage door. Its the best in the summer though out here.
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,395
Likes: 153
From: Utah
When my bike was brand new I dutifully let the dealer do the first service. I then hopped on it and rode it 1100 miles to Daytona. I ran down I-95 at about 85 mph for quite a ways and stopped at a rest stop in Brunswick to put some of the leather I had taken off in the daylight back on. While sitting in the lot next to a brand new Buick I'm smelling oil while this guy starts to drive off in his Buick. I'm thinking... wow, I need to let this guy know that his brand new car is leaking oil and just as I take a step to catch his eye his headlights pass over the left side of my bike which has this odd glistening look to it. My brain engages and I realize that it's me with the oil leak!
I spend an hour cleaning up the bike with paper towels from the restroom and notice that the oil cap has popped off. I had a bunch of luggage on the bike so I thought that I had kicked the cap with my heal as I was stepping over the saddle to get off.
When I get to Daytona I ask the HD reps from the factory if they had heard of this problem with the new 'dangling' oil caps. Nope... so I think it must have been me kicking the cap. My buddy says that "They have stopped all of the oil leaks on these modern engines so the oil had no place to go. That's what the problem must be. If I were you I would just add an o-ring around the cap's rubber plunger and that will fix it."
Balderdash sez I... I like this new dangling dipstick idea.
It happens two more times on the trip and once more after I returned home so I take it back to the dealer. Their solution, after calling HD, was to put the old style cap back on that has an o-ring instead of a rubber stopper so that it fits tighter. Problem solved.
C#
I spend an hour cleaning up the bike with paper towels from the restroom and notice that the oil cap has popped off. I had a bunch of luggage on the bike so I thought that I had kicked the cap with my heal as I was stepping over the saddle to get off.
When I get to Daytona I ask the HD reps from the factory if they had heard of this problem with the new 'dangling' oil caps. Nope... so I think it must have been me kicking the cap. My buddy says that "They have stopped all of the oil leaks on these modern engines so the oil had no place to go. That's what the problem must be. If I were you I would just add an o-ring around the cap's rubber plunger and that will fix it."
Balderdash sez I... I like this new dangling dipstick idea.
It happens two more times on the trip and once more after I returned home so I take it back to the dealer. Their solution, after calling HD, was to put the old style cap back on that has an o-ring instead of a rubber stopper so that it fits tighter. Problem solved.
C#
