Engine knocking
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 16,320
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From: Boynton Beach, FloriDuh
Lou here;
My mechanic, who is very old school Harley, Mostly old Sportsters says I should stop using full synthetic oil and go back to a good dino oil. he says Harley doesn't recommend synthetic oil in Sportster engines. He says it might be part of the reason for all of the sludge. But everything I read says just the opposite. He also says forget what the book says and start using only premium gas. Which I will do from now on.
The filter I use is the one sold by the dealer for the Sportster. and Mobil 1 does not come in a 20 w 50 only in a 15w 50
The engine also had quite a bit of carbon buildup on the pistons.
Lou
My mechanic, who is very old school Harley, Mostly old Sportsters says I should stop using full synthetic oil and go back to a good dino oil. he says Harley doesn't recommend synthetic oil in Sportster engines. He says it might be part of the reason for all of the sludge. But everything I read says just the opposite. He also says forget what the book says and start using only premium gas. Which I will do from now on.
The filter I use is the one sold by the dealer for the Sportster. and Mobil 1 does not come in a 20 w 50 only in a 15w 50
The engine also had quite a bit of carbon buildup on the pistons.
Lou
FACT:
Synthetic oil does prevent oil sludge buildup in the motor. It will dissolve/breakup sludge that's built up in a motor that previously ran dino oil.
Harley does now recommend the use of synthetic motor oil. They didn't recommend it some years back, only because they didn't have a synthetic with their name on it to sell. Now they have Syn-3.
The factory Owners Manual for your 1200 Sportster lists the required octane as 91+, I don't know what book you're reading.
Mobil-1 does come in 20w-50, It's called Mobil-1 V-Twin 20w-50. However, many old-timers around here have been running regular Mobil-1 15w-50 for years, and hundreds of thousands of trouble free miles, with zero sludge buildup or motor wear issues.
I've got 63,000 miles on my Sporty and it's been fed nothing but Mobil-1 15w-50. The motor is sludge free and runs like a top.
If your engine is loaded with sludge and has the above issues, I'd be worrying about what kind of abuse the bike got before you bought it.
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Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 205
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I've been looking for a new mechanic for a while now. Hard to find a good one in Pensacola. tried several. they all left a lot to be desired. I would like o do the work my self but don' have the place to don"t and more important other than minor thing I am not very mechanically inclined. not even sure which end of a screwdriver to pound with.
As for the oil I have done a lot of research on oils and am sticking with the Mobil 1 15w 50. and thanks for the info on the 20w 50 v-twin oil but I will stick with the 15w 50
Lou
As for the oil I have done a lot of research on oils and am sticking with the Mobil 1 15w 50. and thanks for the info on the 20w 50 v-twin oil but I will stick with the 15w 50
Lou
Lifter Failure in Sportster Engines
Lifter failure is not all that uncommon in Sportster engines; one of mine failed at just over 30,000 miles in my 1997 1200. Unfortunately I thought that the little tapping noise was just one of my lifters not pumping up all the way. The lifters I wanted to upgrade to were on backorder, so I kept riding the bike. Several thousand miles later I found large amounts of metal in the oil. Turned out that the rollers had fallen out of one of the lifters and those hard steel rollers had migrated throughout the engine. What a mess. In the end I bought a new engine and installed Crane lifters (hopefully they're better than the stock ones.) I now have 30,000 miles on the new engine and plan to install new lifters again this winter. Just in case. (BTW the original engine had HD 20W50 changed every 2500 miles. The new engine runs Amsoil 20W50 changed every 5000 miles.)
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UUNetBill
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