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Got the daylights scared out of me yesterday, my bike blew enormous 2 lane covering smoke clouds !!!
Bike is a 2004 with stock cam chest except for cams and inner cam bearings, FYI.
I rarely bomb down the road over 80 mph because I ride back roads and highways.Yesterday I met my Brother and he needed to add a couple hundred miles to his ride to reach the 1k mark in a day so we bombed up the freeway to burn miles.
I suddenly smelled something funny and glanced in the rear view to see a massive billowing smoke cloud !! let off the throttle and it stopped. We pulled over safely and checked it out. I had oil blown over the right side and dripping from the Air cleaner. Motor sounded fine and it was not smoking.
It hit me then that when I recently changed the oil I filled it full or maybe a little over full like an idiot and what I figure is the scavenging system could not keep up or the oil cot aerated because of excess oil?
I also remember that filling them full can cause this to happen right ?
Well we continued on, I ran the RPMs up and down, got on it a few times and no smoke. So we picked it back up to 80-85 and it happened again, slowed down and gone, back up again and it happened but a lot less dense smoke.
Stopped to check oil and it was down to 3/4 full or a bit less and it did not smoke or drip again, ran it through the revs up to 5k a few times and it ran perfectly.
So I need my mind eased a bit here folks, my memory is not what it was but I recall this to be a common problem with the earlier Twin cam motors right ?? My previous 2004 would drip a bit from the air cleaner if I had too much but not lay down a smoke screen but I never filled it to the top of the stick either.
Take a look at #23... It is not unfathomable to think that your filter medium itself hasn't clogged up. Or that the micro orifice on the rocker arm support isn't clogged. A few folks mentioned enlarging the ID. Oil pumps up an into the area and the relief is so damn small. I replaced the entire assy (#23), installed rocker locker inserts, buttoned her back up... then read that people have opened up the small hole and wish I would have done that.
Anyways... You experienced the perfect circumstances. Filling it too full and running your whip at high speeds.
Smoke screen to the point where that much oil is being forced out through the venting bolts... I'd definitely check the hoses (they have been modified since your bike was built and fit more snug) clean it all up... replace the filter at bare minimum.
Take a look at #23... It is not unfathomable to think that your filter medium itself hasn't clogged up. Or that the micro orifice on the rocker arm support isn't clogged. A few folks mentioned enlarging the ID. Oil pumps up an into the area and the relief is so damn small. I replaced the entire assy (#23), installed rocker locker inserts, buttoned her back up... then read that people have opened up the small hole and wish I would have done that.
Anyways... You experienced the perfect circumstances. Filling it too full and running your whip at high speeds.
Smoke screen to the point where that much oil is being forced out through the venting bolts... I'd definitely check the hoses (they have been modified since your bike was built and fit more snug) clean it all up... replace the filter at bare minimum.
Good tips for sure ! I just had the rocker covers off about 1000 miles back to install rocker lockers and new breathers and o rings so they should be good, I have the updated backing plate already but may enlarge holes later.
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Holy Smoke cloud Batman !!!
