I bought a used 2008 Ultra Classic from my local dealer, not the first time buying one from this dealer. The bike had 8k and I was told that they did what they call the 5k service. Which checks the bike out completly and changes all of the fluids, oil, tranny and primary and checks everything else etc. I changed out the tranny and primary the week before did not notice anything out of the normal. I had 4500 on the bike since my purchase and decided to change the oil. I did the normal warn up and drain routine. I was shocked when I saw the oil coming out. It was pitch black and very thick, when it finished draining, filter oil and all it was not much oil. I poured it into an empty quart oil can and it filled it up...that was all that was in the motor, one quart. I did not have my oil light come on, not sure if it is designed to work that way with low oil, showed oil preasure on gauage.

I called the sales person and explained the situation to her and she agreed that that did not sound right. She told me she would talk to the srevice manager and give me a call back. I recived a call within an hour. The service manager told her that since the bikes are used and are only started and rode from the back to the front that it is not unusual for the oil to be black. In addition, this can also cause them to use oil when they return back to normal riding conditions. I told her that was not a reasonable answer and them she added that the service manager said, that if I wanted to bring it in and have them check it out to make sure it is ok they would at no charge.

I feel that no 5k service was done at the dealership and that maybe the oil has never been changed in the bike since its purchase. My questions to you guys is what would you do? If I have them check it out I am pretty sure they will say everthing is ok, on problems, don't worry. I did not buy an extended warranty (maybe a big mistake now). Should I preasure them to split the cost of an extended warranty base on the situation. Everything appears to be ok on the bike as far as running sounding etc. Am I over reacting or could I have issues coming soon on the internals, burning oil or bearings issues or who knows what. Please give me some advice as to how I should handle this situation or if you have ever faced it yourself the outcome.

 

wow....go for broke and get what you can,that sucks welcome to hdf.........

 

Have you never checked the oil level in that first 4500 miles? Never once looked at the dipstick since you'd purchased the bike until it was due for a change?

Welcome to the forum.

 

HAven't you checked the oil before now...???

 

What would I do? I would check the oil before I rode a bike 4500 miles...It may just be me though...This is not the dealers fault. It's YOUR fault for not performing simple operator maintenance...I bet that oil was black...

 

At about 800 miles, I had the dealer do my first (AND LAST EVER) service. As soon as I got home from my 20 minute ride from the dealer, I installed a stage II billet sucker A/C unit.

When I removed the stock filter assembly, I was shocked at what I saw...the service guy actually signed his name on the outside of the stock air filter with a sharpie pen when he checked the filter as part of the 1,000 mile service. Sadly, he failed to remove a really nice sized clump of dried grass that was 2" away from his signature, which was probably originally from MoCoville!

I was less surprised to find that the engine oil was down by a full quart, I refused to move the bike and insisted that the dealer come to my house and fill it as if did not register on the stick!

I bought the PitBull lift the following week...

 

If I'm doing the math correctly and if the dealer did the 5K service at 5000 miles,that means you have about 7500 miles since the last service!

Yes the oil will look black.

!0,000 miles would have been the next service.

 

Any record of the 1000 mile service being done? I bet that got skipped too.

 

No, I did not check the oil, my bad. However, when I buy what I consider a Harley certified bike from the dealer and was told it had been checked over from top to bottom, I bought with confidence that the bike was in top shape. One is the reason I buy from the dealer. I consider a bike with only 8k on it at as new and with out leaks or obvious problems can not see why it can not go 4 to 5k with out checking the oil. If it is burning that much oil there is a problem in my mind to begin with. I have had many harleys and have not had any leak or burn much oil at all even with 30k or more miles.

 

Wow. The FIRST thing I would have done is changed all the fluids myself no matter what they said they did. That way I know what was in there. I also would have checked the oil level at every ride until I determined the amount of oil loss if any. Sorry man, but it looks like you dropped the ball on this one.