New to me 2021 Road King Police with 114 delivered in June. First HD but been collecting vintage german/japanese for a long time. Broke it in per the manual. Took it in for 1k initial service after having to add 3/4 qt oil. Told by dealership “they all do that”. Over the next 3k miles had to add another 2.5 qts oil. Called dealership about it and was told to bring it in so they could check it. After a month of the bike sitting at the dealership they finally got around to looking at it. Called me to say it’s got major problems. Boroscope showed oil sitting in rear cyl, cyl walls scored in both cyls, pistons burned on both cyl’s, crankcase vent improperly installed at factory. They turned it over to HD technical services. I had them pull an oil sample and I sent it to Blackstone thinking it would be full of metal. Surprisingly their analysis showed normal oil conditions with the caviat of having added 2.5 qts over 3k miles possibly skewing the results. After another month of it sitting at the dealership and being told each week “we’re short handed, travelers, other bs” I was starting to get pissed. It had been sitting at the stealership almost longer than the amount of time I had ridden it. Called the HOG liason at the dealership to complain late Tuesday afternoon. Amazingly I got a call around lunch that they had finished tearing it down and found no additional damage other than what I had been previously told. They reported findings/pics to HD technical services who diagnosed defective cyl coating causing rings not to seal properly. Later yesterday got a voicemail that HD technical services has approved new cyls, pistons, rings. Gotta call dealership today to find out appx how long parts and assembly are going to take. Definately going to talk to them about checking the piston squirters while it is apart. Not real comfortable with dealership mechanics making this level of repair.

My big concern is I got a real lemon and will continue to have problems going forward. SC lemon law says 3 repairs for the same issue. I’m thinking of selling it when the repair is completed and making this my first and last HD. I thought that HD was past a lot of their quality issues but not so sure on that now. One thing I am going to request is extending the warranty period but I imagine that conversation will end up not in my favor. Just dumping my bucket as this whole thing has really gotten under my skin.

 

Bummer for sure, but premature to call it a lemon. Let them fix it then decide, but it sounds like you already have.

 

Unfortunate that your first Harley might be your last. Only you can make the choice on how to proceed. That being said, if you decide not to unload it after it's repaired, make a hell of a first story of your early HD experiences.

 

Hi All: same problem with my bike for the last 12k miles. 2020 road glide special with dealer installed stage 2 at 1k miles.

took it in for the 1k service and it was down a quart or so. They did a stage two and in doing this found the oil pump badly scored by metal and replaced it. Soon realized I was losing a quart of oil in less than 1k miles. I had installed an air filter with a window and the filter was saturated, oil was pooling in the body, and the butterfly valve was covered in oil. They “made some adjustments” but the problem has continued.

For example: had the 10k service done and now at 12.5k have added two quarts and down a half quart. Had to take bike in for failed clutch actuator and warped front brake rotor and they are going to look at this again. Was down a half quart when I dropped it off. Oil filter saturated, oil covering butterfly valve and poooled in the body.

thank you for any insights.

 

See if you can apply the cost of repairs to a big bore kit ? Make it a win.

 

j

Wait and see if it runs better after the repair. Had a sumping issue on a earlier tri that never got resolved to my satisfaction the way the engine ran. The same dealer gave me a great trade in value on another bike. Early m8’s had issues with the piston jets, most of the 114’s are solid on that. You could ask them to check it to be on the safe side. That being said also ask them to check the heads and replace the valve stem seals, as a precaution.

 

Wait, what cylinder coating? Honed to a cross hatch patern. Hmmmmmm, not buying it.

 

Yea I think the tech meant the cross hatch was glazed…not coated cylinders. I talked to them about checking the piston squirters while it’s apart and he replied that they always do that before reassembly. Also talked to him about the checking the heads and he said they were ok.

 

I can't say I wouldn't be pissed if I were in your shoes, but these kinds of issues are very few and far between. They make a solid bike and when it comes to machines, they aren't all perfect. I think I'd be discussing options of a big bore or some serious upgrades if they're tearing into the engine already. I'd say it's way too early to call it a lemon, but I've always wanted to upgrade and never just replace parts.

I hope it all works out for you. I'd hate to see someone have a bad experience and swear of Harley over that and miss out on a ton of enjoyment that would otherwise have been had.

 

Let them fix it, then enjoy your bike. "Lemon Law" doesn't apply to motorcycles in your state, so it isn't an option anyway.

https://www.autosafety.org/south-carolina-lemon-law/
https://law.justia.com/codes/south-c...tion-56-3-630/