My 06 Deuce has 30,000 on it and doesn't burn any measurable amount of oil.
Spark plugs are perfect (no oil residue).

 

You could have had some oil carry over and not even known it. You say you just did 3k on a trip. It's pretty common.

 

I don't think it's carry over the level was fine. I mite have been the 3000 mi in 4 days.

 

I have not had to add oil between 5K mile changes on any Harley since my shovelhead. I would not worry about being a little low at 4K miles but a quart low seems excessive.

I am leaving for Alaska in another week and will be running hard. I'll see what happens then.

I'm using Syn 3 in all holes.

 

I change the engine oil every 3500 miles and have not noticed any measurable amount being used.

 

I had a big bore 95 kit installed on my 2000 dyna carborated
The way i was told to break it in was to get on the highway for about 50 miles throtleing between 55 and 60 mph for the first 50 miles in 5 mile intervels i put 20 miles on it bringing it back and forth to the garage before i got a chance to take it on the highway but i put a solid 50 miles going from 55 to 60 mph and then after that i kinda kept it up for a couple hundered miles always on the highway
Does that sound like proper breakin?
i was concerned of the 20 miles of pidily sit before i actualy broke it in.
I also seem to use about 5/8 of a quart every 1200 miles does that sound normal i didnt use any oil before i had the work done
thanks

 

Don't think anyone would have given you a hard time about starting a new thread on this one. Just saying is all.

BTW between 2 current bikes I don't burn any oil (I guess). Has gotten to where I rarely check oil but that's just me. Not my recommendation by any means. Prior bikes I have burned oil. too few miles on current bikes is all.

Good luck!!!

 

After oil change at 5000 miles I have to add a few ounces , like about 4, at about 3000 miles. Ridden hard in hot weather just standard oil cooler ,Mobile one full syn. 74,000 miles latest reading but it has done that since new.

 

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In general 1qt oil in 4k miles on a 45k mile HD isnt anything to be overly concerned about.

Yes some HD's use little to no oil in 4k miles but some do even when they dont leak a drop with no oil seen in airfilter/air cleaner assembly too.

I have an 09 with stock TC-96" with 27k miles on it i installed a DK kit to relocate crankcase breather from air filter to external/to atmosphere to no more over heated crankcase fumes laden with hot oil mist is ingested by the motor anymore that will use approx a 1/4-1/2 qt oil in 3k miles depending on what type riding i have been doing & uses 3/4qt oil or so if/when i push oil & filter change to 4k miles approx same as your HD.

My bike has used this same amount of oil since i bought it used from original owner approx 2.5yrs ago with only 9,700miles on it @ the time

You say you dont remember oil lvl being 1qt low when you changed oil 4wks ago which says you dont know for sure if oil lvl was in fact low at last 4k mile oil change so thats not a good ref point.

Few questions:

1) Did you happen to use a diff mfg's oil , diff grade/viscosity oil & or diff type (std dino/semi-blend/full syn) in this change vs other prior oil changes?

2) When the bike/motor used 1qt oil in 4k miles was it under somewhat diff riding cond then the bike nromally see's like for example had you been out touring @ higher speeds then normal in hot summer heat that can stress the oil and sheer its viscosity thinning it out leading to more oil use?

It's quite a diff on motor & oil putting around locally at 50-60mph on wk ends for 150-200miles @ a pop for 4k miles vs going 300-400-500 miles daily at 75-80+ mph in summer heat with bike fully loaded for 3k-4k miles.

Those are cond's where a motor that normally used little to no oil in 3k-4k mles could all the sudden use 1qt oil like your bike did.

Scott

 

Just a thought,you didnt by any chance forget to screw the motor oil dipstick all the way in while checking motor oil lvl which would show approx a 1 qt low if you forgot to that.

Sometimes people forget to do that because they remember when checking trans your not supposed to screw in dipstick while checking trans oil and are just supposed to place dipstick into top of threads (but not thread in!) on oil fill hole on top of trans case to chk trans oil lvl whereas when checking motor lvl your supposed to do the opposite by screwing in motor oil dipstick prior to checking it with bike on sidestand.

scott