well, here we go again. i have an 08 road king everything stock except slip ons. @ 29,000 mi. had lifter noise on cold start up. dealer replaced one bad lifter. @ 33,000 still had lifter noise-dealer replaced remaining 3 lifters. thought problem was solved no more noise. now @ 34,000mi. lifter noise returns on cold start up. after riding 3-4 miles it goes away. anyone have a clue what the problem is? I will take it back to the dealer as it is still under warrenty, but i am stumped as to what is cousing the lifter noise.

 

anyone

 

There's smarter wrenches out there than me, but I'll throw some things out...

Sounds like the lifters are not pumping up enough, don't know how cold 'cold' is, but do you have the right viscosity oil? Another thing could be oil pump spring (so you're not getting enough pressure built up).

I'm guessing that if they changed lifters that you now have adjustable pushrods. If so, there may not be enough pre-load on them. I go 3-4 turns down (at 32 TPI) for pre-load.

Just a couple of thoughts...Good to hear that it's warranty covered

 

WildThe problem is the HD lifters are junk. I just went thru the same thing on my 08 Ultra had all 4 lifters replaced under warranty 3 weeks ago. I have 30K miles on the bike and next time they go I'm upgrading to another type of lifter.

 

Almost all lifters are now manufactured "south of the border", rather than in Michigan where the were made for decades. Quality now SUX ~ on a good day.

The ONLY dependable lifters I've come across over the last couple years are the Head-Quarters "Black-Ops" lifters. They are different than HD, fueling, crane, etc, etc. You can SEE the difference when ya look at them.

THey are roughly the same $$ as HD crap, so they go in every motor I build.

 

I take it you're talking about more than the normal sewing machine noises that all twin cam motors make. The top ends of these motors do make some noise, and is considered normal.

 

no, this noise is significantly differant than the swewing machine noise, its like a ball peen hammer pecking on my engine. it does it when the engine is cold (i live in south so cold is not freezing cold) if i let my engine cool down for 30-45 min after a ride it will make the noise for 3-4 min. then quieten down. early morning when it has not been rode it takes longer for it to quit makeing the noise. i will take it back to the dealer but i know they will only replace them with h-d lifters. just hope they can fix it right.

 

Could it be the oil pump?

 

they did not put adj. pushrods. and i am using h-d 20-50 oil. could be the oil pump spring
but they didn't even mention any thing about checking the oil presure (08 roadking has no oil presure gauge just oil light)

 

It doesn't take much pressure to pump-up those lifters. I would say that if your oil light stays off at all times when the engine is running the pressure is okay, as the light on my '96 RK illuminated below 7psi, IIRC, but never did on that bike. Check that the light is off when cold, but regardless of the outcome I would check the pressure with a gauge. Also, make sure the light is working by turning on the ignition with engine not running.