Hey guys im kinda scratching my head on this and thought id see any thoughts/opinions in here.

I have a 2007 FLHX that has 15K miles on it and ive owned for the last 2 years. I just did an oil change and ive always used Mobil 1 20/50 vtwin on every oil change. Around my local area they were out so i decided to try the castrol 20/50 motorcycle oil. After draining the old oil i put the new stuff in and noticed that the oil seem to pour faster (if that makes any sense) and seemed thinner to me, but i figured it was the same weight so i would be ok for the trip i was gonna take and just change it after i got back.

I took the bike out for about a 100 mile ride and when i got back to town i could hear a metal on metal sound coming from the motor, almost like a bearing failing noise. So i limped it home and dumped the oil....to my surprise there was no shavings at all in the oil or on the magnet. So i waited got a hold of some mobil 1 and put the 20/50 vtwin back in and started it up. No sounds at idle but once i gave it a little rpm the sound came back. So i started listening and it sounded like it was coming from the cam area.

I removed the cam cover and found no shavings either, and the cam chain tension pad at a little wear but nothing that would indicate that it was causing the noise....

at this point im at a loss to what would cause that sound? Im leaning towards oil pump but at $200+ a pop i dont want to just start swapping parts to guess if i can avoid it. So im wondering what other thoughts or opinions would be at this point? Thanks in advance

 

Cut open the oil filter and see what's there? Use shears or a chisel, not sawblade or curring wheel - contamination.

maybe cam bearing? I'd take the cam chest stuff apart and check everything carefully. Bearing damage won't usually be visible, but you can feel them by turning them. I'd change out the inner bearings, the ones in the right case, just because I'm already in that deep and its an easy preventitive measure.

 

I had some chirping metal on metal sounds coming from my cam chest. Lifters were bad.

 

well nothing in the oil filter, i was a little hesitant to yank the cam plate etc out since ive never done it but after some googleing and a forum search ill go ahead and remove all of it and at the check out the bearing and now the lifters and see whats going on.

 

finally got the cam plate off (was waiting on new push rods) and I'm leaning towards oil pump. I'm obviously not a Harley mechanic but the wear on the pump looks abnormal to me. Thoughts??

 

Here is a couple more cause the firsts ones angle looks deeper than it is.

 

Looks a little rough, like maybe the pump wasn't aligned real well. If this just started happening, I'd be worried about crank runout.

 

My tech guy was installing cams & found excessive wear on lifters, old cams, oil pump & chain tensioners. I'm lucky my ESP covered it. I went with new lifters, SE Billet Cam Plate & High volume oil pump, both chain tensioners. Take a close look at everything in there. Good luck. A HD Service Manual & HD Parts Catalog for your year/model bike is your friend.

 

You should post your pics over in the engine mechanical section here,some of the more knowledgeable engine guys don't look at this section that much.I'm no expert,but I would replace that pump,it is important to find out what caused that wear first.

 

do u know if any previous work was done removing the cam plate, crank should be checked for run out with dial indicator, just did mine was .0015 think the unbelievable Harley warranty number is .012 which is ridiculous, I cant see any bearing in the cam plate or gearotors lasting with a numberclose to 12 thousand run out. the cam plate gets bolted on and is doweled so it gets lined up but when the bolts for the oil pump get tightened your supposed to have them finger tight and rotate the back wheel in gear spinning the crankshaft allowing the pump to find its best center to the crank shaft then tighten the 4 oil pump bolts and I think the spec for oil pump change was .004 feeler gauge between the teeth point to point when on the crank shaft. I couldn't even get a .0015 feeler gauge between my teeth was the smallest gauge I had.