2003 Road King Classic with 33K km on it. I change my oil far more often than i should with a filter each time. Since the last change i pulled some of the oil out and it appears black as ever. 1000 km on it. Are the harley filters pi$$ poor or is that normal? Bike runs good, no smoke from the pipes. Just thought that it odd only after 1000 km, its that colour. Using HD 20/50.

randy

 

My oil is always brown......Is it a carb or fuel injection?

 

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One of many reasons for dirtier then normal crankcase oil on your HD is there is approx 1qt or so left in the motor when you drain the oil & filter for an oil change that contaminates the new 3-3.5qts fresh oil right off the bat.

And another thing that causes oil to get dirty is 3k-4k-5k miles of x-amount blowby past rings during combustion process contaminating the oil making it get dirty faster then normal too.

Ensure airfilter is clean @ every oil & filter change too.

The only way to correct that situation (approx 1qt dirty oil still in motor) is to flush the last qt or so of dirty oil from the motor using an oil scavenge kit avail online.

Or by re-installing oil drain plug in motor & adding a couple qts fresh oil to motor post draining old oil along with a new filter .

Then fire up the motor for 2-3 mins or so to circulate the 2 fresh qts oil thru the motor to flush out 1 qt dirty oil.

Then drain the crankcase again along with also draining the oil from new filter too.

Then reinstall crankcase drain plug & re-install same new oil filter post draining it too.

Now install approx 3.25-3.5 qts fresh oil ,then fire up motor & check for good oil pressure & no leaks.

You should be good to go after that.

BTW,guys running an oil cooler (Like my bike has! ) have even more dirty left behind to contaminate a fresh oil change which is why i will be doing 1 of the above things i mentioned to flush out dirty oil in the next oil & filter change @ the end of this yrs riding season.

Scott

 

The statement that there is about one quart of oil left is pure unadulterated BS. That would be one third of the capacity. Two or three ounces in the cam chest is about it. and that amount will always be there so if one puts three quarts in. Then 3 quarts comes out unless your bike burns some oil.

I have had 25 H-D's since 06 with 22 still in the garage. I ride 30 to 40K + per year on them and do about 7 services per year on TC 96's through 120's. I have always put 3 qts into the crankcase and absolutely never had the dipstick read over the full mark ever.


The companies that sell the pumps and claim that they get it all is a scam. They can only get what is in the pan. The amount in the cam chest will only come out by removing the cover.

It is a total waste of time and oil to circulate fresh oil through and then drain it. It would not make one iota difference in 100,000 miles. True concern would be to send a sample in once or twice a year and get real info on the condition of the oil. What it looks like is meaningless. But if it has a gasoline smell you have a problem.

 

Heat is what turns the oil black. Unless you can find a way to dissipate all of the heat, it's gonna turn black in the first few hours of riding.

 

I'm running oil cooler with m1 15-50 change every 2500-3000 miles. On the dip stick and on paper it looks gold right now at 2500. If I dump it in pan it will look dark. I change often do to the almost one quart left in all the spots, cam chest is not the only spot where it stays. With the oil cooler now wouldn't be saprised if it's over a quart left behind. Rebuilt motor and first oil fill took 4 1/2 quarts that was before cooler.

Now it takes 3 1/2 when I change it.

 

i'm with lh4x4. if you like using a scavenger system, and it makes you feel better, then go for it. just don't fall for the over-hype sales.

the total capacity for my bike is 4 qts. if a qt was left behind, then it would only take 3 qts to do a total refill. as it is, I put 3.5 qts in, and that gets me at the middle of the hash marks. the other half qt would put me right at the top (which gives you that great blowby when you run hard).

 

If it's only since the last change, I'd drop the oil and put fresh oil in it. See if it does it again. Like was mentioned, oil turns black from heat, but also from soot. If the bike runs fine and you haven't noticed a drop in power, then I'd say you're probably still okay, engine wise. Maybe pull the plugs and see. If they are sooty then maybe you've got a ring issue. My guess is that if you did have a rings issue, you'd know it by now by other clues. Did you change the oil yourself? Did you keep a close eye on things? I use old oil containers to store the spent oil until I can get it to recycling. Did a change on my lawn mower a couple of weeks back and started to dump used oil into it. Kinda glad I caught that, it's a new mower (first change) and it cost a small fortune. I knwo it's a silly thing, but stupid stuff happens sometimes.

 

"The statement that there is about one quart of oil left is pure unadulterated BS. "

Well i disagree for these reasons.

1st reason is HD states prim case takes 45oz oil to refill post having outer prim cover off for srvc work on my bike but only 38oz for std maint prim oil change.

Get the reason for that?

Well same reasoning is applied to the motor,the fact srvc man for my bike states 4.2 qts oil cap with other HD ref stating 4.1 qts with new filter starting with dry/new or rblt motor for my bike.

When i do an oil change letting all old oil fully drain it takes 3.25-3.30 qts to refill to where oil lvl is 2-3 dots below full cold and at top/full mark when oil/motor are at full op temp.(Thats was prior to installing an oil cooler leaves even more dirty oil behind)

So lets do the math you didnt do before posting what you did.

4.1-4.2 qts is full oil cap for a dry/new or rblt motor for my bike - / minus the approx 3.3 qts is takes to refill my motor when doing a std oil & filter change = approx .7-.9 qt dirty oil left behind which is where i get the approx (meaning not full!) 1qt dirty oil left in motor,crankcase etc.

Those are the facts behind what i posted which are actually true & not BS like you stated.

Thats why i said what i said & it makes no diff how many older diff models hds you owned/srvc'd in the past because some models have slightly diff oil cap over the yrs for various reasons.

Also,more to backup what i said from experts in the fld of HD's that mfg's an oil scavenge system/kit to remove the remaining dirty oil from the motor when doing std maint oil & filter change.

See below for info on dirty oil left behind in an HD motor when doing an oil & filter change from HD techs in the fld & link to that info & oil scavenge kit that backs up what i said though the #'s i posted speak for themselves on my bike.

When you change your oil there's still 24-32 ounces of dirty oil in the sump at the bottom of the engine and up around the cylinders of the engine. Our system is a safe and effective way to remove this contaminated oil with no loss of oil pressure at any time. The Scavenger pushes the dirty oil out of the bike by supplying fresh oil through the engine pump and re-routing the dirty oil so that there's no contamination of dirty oil and clean oil.

http://roguechopper.com/products/twin-cam-a-touring-kit

BTW,there was no need at all for you to be such an A-Hole about it either with your below statement to me,just shows what kind of person you " really are."

" The statement that there is about one quart of oil left is pure unadulterated BS. "

Scott

 

There is NOT 24-32 ounces of dirty oil left in the SUMP of a twincam.

I know this because I take them apart all the time. 4-6 ounces maybe.

Only an ounce or two in the heads. No oil "around the cylinders".

Now the oil cooler...