09 SGlide, bought it with 20,000 miles. At 25k had the 5000 mile service completed. Went on a trip cpl weeks ago and before I left, topped off the oil and the mileage was 27000. By the time I got to Dallas the mileage was 28500. Checked the oil and it was almost two quarts low. Talked to a mechanic in Dallas and said it was normal. A few days later I was at another dealer and asked and he said, not normal. Well, went to my dealer today to schedule the 5000 mile service for 30k and asked him. He said it was indeed normal.

Can anyone provide me the truth on this. Seems like a hell of a lot of oil. By the way, it does not leak, and it does not blow smoke at all. Very weird. My dealer said he will pull the plugs, can't remember what he said that may show.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

My 07 SG w/ 29K miles on it, maybe uses 3/4 qt in 5000 miles. So using 2 qts in 1500 mi isnt right. Pull the plugs & check to see if you are burning it there. Burning two qts of oil should be easy to see behind you. If not & there are no oil spots under it, Id guess you may have a sumping problem...not sure.

 

oil will escape by only a few avenues:

1.) leak it'll be all over the floor or the bike

2.) leaking into the primary case- bad bearing/seal or porous case ---check the see if level in primary is higher than it should be- this requires immediate action if this is the problem!

3. ) blow by into the intake from the heads- may show as deposits on the sparkplugs- shows either exceptional build up of pressure in the motor ( mis timed breather valve?) or bad umbrella valves in the heads

4.) burning
a.) white smoke from tail pipe on accel= bad piston ring seal
b.) white smoke from tailpipe on decel = bad valve seals

my normal oil consumption on my various Harleys is less than a pint over 3000 miles which is my usual change interval

YOU need to check your own oil every day when travelling--- IF you are loosing oil at a high rate YOU can burn up your motor.
Check the level as in the manual and top it off when you need to.

mike

 

No 2 quarts of oil missing after a 1,500 mile trip is not right, or normal.

You may have an issue called "sumping" where the valve in the oil pump that prevents oil from flowing backward into the crankcase is stuck open. Usually it causes big issues to have way too much oil overflowing in your crankcase. Sluggish motor response, motor overheating, and worst of all bad pressure causing leaking from the venting system.

Some have an intermittent issue and you'll "loose" the oil, filling the crankcase, so you start adding more than there should be in circulation and the "bag".

That's about the only place the oil could be if you have zero leaks!

 

To check that carefully pull the plug at the bottom of the case and if 2 quarts come out then it is sumping.

 

add to MK's list valve guides themselves, still smoke under decel, thats a lot of oil, I'd bet on valve guides, but could be any of the above

 

If that trip was all highway, it'not impossible you lost that much out the breathers throught the air cleaner. If you ain't blowin smoke then you aint burning oil, you're losing it somewhere. If I do a lot of highway miles its not uncommon to have to add up to 2 qts total between 5k oil changes.

 

Also depends if you have recently switched to Synthetic like Amsoil, when I switched over on my metric, I was using about 3/4 to 1 quart every 2000 miles. I went in with some concerns and said it was 'normal' because the oil was soaking into the metal and would take a few more thousand to be fully absorbed.

 

I think the BFUYS is using it to oil up.

 

What?