I'm trying to help a friend out with his 2003 Heritage. We were riding down the highway and his bike backfired and the oil light came on. After we pulled over we checked the oil and it was fine. I started it briefly and the rear lifter was chattering. We were on a trip so we got the bike hauled to the hotel. The next morning the oil tank was empty. No oil leaked out!

We got the bike back home and I drained the oil. It was all in the motor, none in the oil tank. The oil looked good.

I then checked front and rear push rods by spinning the rear tire to see if I had a collapsed lifter. At zero lash and I have pressure, no slop but I can spin the push rods with my fingers.

My guess is the spring and check ball in the cam plate are stuck?? causing the loss of oil pressure.

Am I thinking right? I don't have the cam plate off yet but what else could have caused the oil to drain out of the tank?

 

Oil pump failed - the oil didnt drain out of the tank, the scavenge side of the oil pump failed first and as a result the oil wasnt scavenged out.

Are you familiar with the oiling system on the twin cams? Have you got a shop manual?

 

I'm not real familiar with the oiling system and I don't have a manual.

The first time the oil light came on we stopped and checked the oil and the level was normal. Then in the morning the tank was dry. Thinking maybe we didn't read the stick right we added 1 1/2 quarts and started the bike. No change in sound and the light stayed on.

When I pulled the dip stick out oil spilled out of the tank. Then we knew we were done and called for a truck to haul the bike home.

Once it sat on my bike lift for a few hours I pulled the dip stick again and the tank was dry again.

What keeps the oil in the tank when the bike isn't running?

 

I would bet the cam chain tensioners took out the pump, and cam bearings.

 

I'll be removing the cam plate tonight to take a better look. Is there anything that will tell me the oil pump is bad by looking at it. We found no signs a metal shavings in the oil or on the bottom of the cam chest.

 

OH yeah if you pull the pump out it would be chewed up pretty bad, or maybe even broken.

 

The oil pump outer gears were broken. Good thing is the gears were in tact but broken in a few places.

I managed to get the two outer gears out of the oil pump and the large gear in the rear out but the small rear gear won't slide off the crank. I feel a little marring on the end of the crank so I will gently try a puller to get it off. Not sure what else I can do?

The only other damage I found what the brass pilot bushing for the crank in the cam plate.

The lifters look great and the lifter bores are perfect. The push rods had plenty of oil on them as well as the cam and bearings so as long as the crank will clean up and we can install a new oil pump and pilot bushing in the cam plate hopefully the bike will be fine.

Any other advice?

 

I'm guessing that it still has the spring cam tensioners, they need to be replaced. The SE kit includes the new style hydraulic cam tensioners & an updated high volume oil pump. How many miles on the bike & what condition were the tensioners in?

 

The bike has 32,000 miles and you're right about the tensioners. They do need replaced. This isn't my bike but I'm helping my friend do the work. We discussed the SE set up. I don't think he wants to spend $440 for the kit plus he still needs the adjustable push rods. I'm going to price out the oil pump, gaskets, push rods and tensioners tomorrow.

If we can fix the bike and save him some money that is the direction he wants to go.

 

new plate def way to go unless he wants to pull apart the cam plate every 20k and replace the tensionors at $50 bucks a piece + new cam bearings and gaskets another $100 not to mention labor. the new pump scavenges20% better and pumps 10% more also.