Does your ride burn oil ?
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,999
Likes: 55
From: Bay Area
Are they the ones that built it? If so that dealer has the one in a million claim to fame, who did it by not staggering the rings.
Road Master
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 855
Likes: 6
From: Riverside, Ca.
..some will say they use no oil between changes, but what they mean is they can't see it go down at all on the dip stick, but a small amount is lost no matter what people want to think. It may not be much, if your lucky it could be a teaspoon in 10,000 miles, or a quart. Depends on a lot of factors but it DOES use some oil, otherwise they wouldn't bother giving us dipsticks.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,943
Likes: 3
From: NYC
if you look at the oil analisys section of the forum you will notice almost all oil saple reports show gasoline contamination of the oil. The significance of this is that on one hand the engines burn oil, on the other hand gasoline fumes accumalate and gets added to the oil. So it could seem like your bike is not burning oil, only becuase some of the oil that was burned, is replaced by an increase level resulting from gasoline contamination. So the result is the level looks the same.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,916
Likes: 31
From: earth
Mine burns oil, but not in the tradional sense of sneaking by worn rings, valve guides or a bad head gasket. On the highway, at high RPMs for a long period, my '06 has significant oil carryover through the crank case vent to the air cleaner; that oil gets sucked through the throttle body and burned up in the combustion chamber along with the air fuel charge. I have seen over a quart dissapear between oil changes, chances are you're burning a little oil.
Road Master
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 861
Likes: 136
From: Wisconsin
Mine will use a very little on a long trip. Hardly any otherwise. I've never had to add between 5k changes. Sometimes I'll check about 2500 miles after I change it. Sometimes I don't. The most it ever used was about 7 dots on the stick, however much that is. I haven't seen any smoke.
If your interested, 7 dots is equal to 18.5 onces.
JONNIEROCK
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 13,402
Likes: 941
From: Illinois
I went 10K on my Alaskan trip and no measurable use on the dip stick. The same for the 5K intervals on my other bikes. However the Sporty used 1 qt for the first 1 K and 1/2 qt for the next 1 K. None from then own.
One to two oz. will be discernible on the dipstick. When doing the service, I add three quarts then do 1 oz at a time to get to the full mark.
One to two oz. will be discernible on the dipstick. When doing the service, I add three quarts then do 1 oz at a time to get to the full mark.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,692
Likes: 22
From: Denham Springs, La
Thanks for that info JONNIEROCK. That means I used a little more than half a quart on that oil change which included our 3000 mile trip last year. It usually uses less than that.
1st Gear
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: barnhart, mo
after almost 2 years and motor opened up twice we found the cause of the problem. The cylinders in the big bore kit were out of spec. The cylinders were never checked when installed and never checked at 5,000 miles when engine was torn down the first time. Only after the second engine breakdown did the mechanic ever look at te cylinders as the cause of all the problems. When the stage 3 kit was added at 3000 miles she ran great, but slowly started slowing down. To add to problems Harley Red Flagged warranty and after several call's to Harley did they attempt to help. How? They would pay to put oversize rings and gaskets and a small portion of the labor. So I could have gone through this again somewhere down the road. The owner of the dealership after several talks and me having to remind him that since I bought the cycle from him it had been in his shop over 3 months total, further had to remind him of the damage his service department caused while at his shop(saddle bag lid and tour pack scratched and cracked) did he step up and helped get me out of my 09.The starter had to be replaced, oil in the mufflers and since I am not mechanical was afraid of further unforseen problems. So for a couple grand he took mine in and gave a great buy on an 11 ultra limited.