OIL Slobering sob

[rhino 2]

FWIW a buddy serviced his Evo before heading down I95 from Richmond to Daytona. He forgot to replace the oil. He made it all the way to Georgia before it began smoking! Then he poured in several quarts of gas station oil and rode to Daytona then home. I dunno if the 2-cam and 8V motors are that forgiving but it gives an idea of how little oil one can get away with. I don't recommend "no oil" but a half quart down is unlikely to hurt anything.

I'v been running a half quart less than recommended with my 08 ex Spyder 11 ex Tri, 13 ex Sporty, And now my 17 Tri...Me, I found out that if you try to keep the oil at the full mark at all times, The oil will seek its own level, Especially at high RPM's and will blow-by...Till its a half quart down..Never had to do that with any Japanese bike i had...

Now That doesn't make them any better ' Just different...

And you notice i don't use the word LOW....The Low word makes some people ascared...

[Jack Klarich]

I'v been running a half quart less than recommended with my 08 ex Spyder 11 ex Tri, 13 ex Sporty, And now my 17 Tri...Me, I found out that if you try to keep the oil at the full mark at all times, The oil will seek its own level, Especially at high RPM's and will blow-by...Till its a half quart down..Never had to do that with any Japanese bike i had...

Now That doesn't make them any better ' Just different...

And you notice i don't use the word LOW....The Low word makes some people ascared...

I figure there is always some oil hiding in the case and oil galleries, I do not follow the owners manual EVER, I dump in 3 1/2 qarts start it and ccheck it jmo

[Jack Klarich]

FWIW a buddy serviced his Evo before heading down I95 from Richmond to Daytona. He forgot to replace the oil. He made it all the way to Georgia before it began smoking! Then he poured in several quarts of gas station oil and rode to Daytona then home. I dunno if the 2-cam and 8V motors are that forgiving but it gives an idea of how little oil one can get away with. I don't recommend "no oil" but a half quart down is unlikely to hurt anything.

I dunno if I want to be the first to find out how forgiving an M8 is

I do know the 4 speed trannys can go about 200 miles with No lube

[Phu Cat]

my107 likes at least a half quart less oil than the manual calls out for​

As does my 2012 103 incher. Been riding it this way for 10 years.

[Jack Klarich]

I am running my 2021 M8 114 1/2 quart lower, so far so good

I have a catch can on the head breathers and find very little oil or water vapor

[Mykneesbehurtin]

Every twin cam I have owned would slobber oil if I ran it on the full mark as my M8. so I always run them a half a quart low plus I run a breather vent on my 02 Road King and my 17 trike.

[DK Custom Products]

Like Jack, I ignore how many quarts the manual says to put in the engine. Never seen it be accurate...one of the reasons is that there is no way to know how much oil is still in the engine and tank.

Instead I go by the other instructions in the manual...filling it all the way up to where HD says to...which as you can see below, FULL is halfway between the Add Qt and Full Hot mark. Yes, according to Harley it is full when it is below the full mark. HD sometimes does not make sense.

Their "full" mark is for checking when the bike is completely heat soaked (1 hour or more of riding)...very few folks check this way, and even if they do...it is not nearly as accurate as a cold check.



Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

Here's a video where we talk about this-

https://youtu.be/gJ0vYAitUqU?t=209

Kevin

[rhino 2]

Here's a video where we talk about this-

https://youtu.be/gJ0vYAitUqU?t=209

Kevin

When i was on the first Spyder Forum in 2008...The nimrods who never had a bike/trike before would check their oil twice a day...And would add even as little as an Oz or two to keep it at the top of the full mark....And they couldn't figure out why the air box was filling with oil...The running joke was at the time that the air box was an oil box....

When i mention to them that they were over filling..And jokingly/sarcastically said that by checking the oil too much every time they wiped off the dip stick they were removing oil and they could never keep it at the very top..That didn't go over too well'

Nimrods have no sense of humor....

[DK Custom Products]

When i was on the first Spyder Forum in 2008...The nimrods who never had a bike/trike before would check their oil twice a day...And would add even as little as an Oz or two to keep it at the top of the full mark....And they couldn't figure out why the air box was filling with oil...The running joke was at the time that the air box was an oil box....

When i mention to them that they were over filling..And jokingly/sarcastically said that by checking the oil too much every time they wiped off the dip stick they were removing oil and they could never keep it at the very top..That didn't go over too well'

Nimrods have no sense of humor....

[Mykneesbehurtin]

When i was on the first Spyder Forum in 2008...The nimrods who never had a bike/trike before would check their oil twice a day...And would add even as little as an Oz or two to keep it at the top of the full mark....And they couldn't figure out why the air box was filling with oil...The running joke was at the time that the air box was an oil box....

When i mention to them that they were over filling..And jokingly/sarcastically said that by checking the oil too much every time they wiped off the dip stick they were removing oil and they could never keep it at the very top..That didn't go over too well'

Nimrods have no sense of humor....

Because somebodies, somebodies somebody told them how to check it lol. It's amazing how much misinformation is out there on forums. Most of us grey hairs that started riding before the interweb remember it was trial and error, or was lucky enough to know a bike wrench.

[Phu Cat]

​Lightnin, I too would find another service manager. He doesn't know enough about oil to know engine and tranny oils have completely different jobs.

PC