Early this year I got in a rut where for a couple of months I was only riding to and from work. The trip one way is less than 5 minutes. I probably did 30+ round trips without going for any out of town rides. In early April I started noticing some lifter noise. Keep in mind Kerrville was coming up. I took it into my Indy shop and they discovered what looked to be evidence of water in the oil. I had just done a 3 hole oil change so they did another engine oil and filter change. A few days later it started having lifter noise again. At this point I decided to change the lifters and bought a set from the Harley dealer in Phoenix. The photos below show what I found when I pulled the rocker covers.
I went ahead and replaced the lifters and put it back together. After reassembly things got interesting. It would only run on one cylinder and was blowing air out of the throttle body. This is when I learned some very important information. Exhaust side push rods are slightly longer than Intake rods. I had reversed one cylinder causing this problem. Once I got things put together correctly everything smoothed out.
After much discussion with Kevin of DK Custom Products we decided that Condensation had accumulated over time from so many short trips. Since I live in a desert I had never given it any thought. February and March were fairly wet months but still a desert.
If this can happen here, just think how fast this could happen in wet climates. I am now making absolutely certain that a ride of at least 100 miles will happen every month.
Hope this helps someone avoid this condition.
Kurt