over filled oil

[feni]

I've been enjoying my new triglide (blue-black) and haven't posted lately. Thanks to those who asnswered my questions when I was getting ready to buy. Wife and I are having a ball on our new trike. Now need advice on two issues. 1st, my air shocks loose 3 to 5lbs of air per week and I need to know if this is normal because I feel like my dealer might be not takeing it serious. 2nd, at my 1000mi service, the dealer over filled my oil by at least 1/2 qt causing an oil leak they have fixed. (retaped two pluges behind oil filter and tighted oil cooler hose ) I'm concerned about other damage showing up in the future to gaskets and bearing due to the increased pressure and possible oil foaming causing poor lubrication. Dealer said oil could only be over filled by 2ounces and the 103 engine has a pressure release valve. This doen't add up because of how much oil I took took out to leave at full mark and the presure oviously causeing the leak. I drove about 300mi after service before finding oil was overfilled.(i'll check oil emmidiately after service from now on) CAN ANY WRENCH TURNERS GIVE ME SOME INSIGHT !!!!

 

[wonderment]

Our trike also loses air from the shocks. Normally have to repump it every other day or so to keep it at the pressure we set it.

 

[msocko3]

I've been enjoying my new triglide (blue-black) and haven't posted lately. Thanks to those who asnswered my questions when I was getting ready to buy. Wife and I are having a ball on our new trike. Now need advice on two issues. 1st, my air shocks loose 3 to 5lbs of air per week and I need to know if this is normal because I feel like my dealer might be not takeing it serious. 2nd, at my 1000mi service, the dealer over filled my oil by at least 1/2 qt causing an oil leak they have fixed. (retaped two pluges behind oil filter and tighted oil cooler hose ) I'm concerned about other damage showing up in the future to gaskets and bearing due to the increased pressure and possible oil foaming causing poor lubrication. Dealer said oil could only be over filled by 2ounces and the 103 engine has a pressure release valve. This doen't add up because of how much oil I took took out to leave at full mark and the presure oviously causeing the leak. I drove about 300mi after service before finding oil was overfilled.(i'll check oil emmidiately after service from now on) CAN ANY WRENCH TURNERS GIVE ME SOME INSIGHT !!!!

My 2010 looses a little air, about a couple pounds every couple months. Don't sweat the oil overfill, it didn't hurt anything. The worse that could have happened would be oil coming out of the air filter until the level was lowered. Now I do have to say your dealer is BS'ing you about only being able to over fill by 2 oz and a pressure release valve. You can over fill by more than half a quart and it sounds like they don't understand how a Twin Cam vents.

 

[Oldmsocko]

My shocks also loose about 2 to 3 lbs every couple months.

 

[JohnC]

I just got my TriGlide back from it's 1000 service Friday. While going over the bike tonight, I noticed a few drops of oil on the garage floor underneath the tranny area. At first I thought it was the brake light switch but upon closer inspection the oil appears to have come from a small tube that exits below the frame just aft of the rear cross-member.

Not sure if the drops resulted from over-filling or some other reason but it's something I'll watch for a little while to see if it happens again.

 

[Hawkeye]

JohnC -

I'd bet the little tube you saw is the tranny vent. Not unusual to get drops out of there occasionally but it shouldn't be a regular thing.

 

[msocko3]

JohnC -

I'd bet the little tube you saw is the tranny vent. Not unusual to get drops out of there occasionally but it shouldn't be a regular thing.

Tranny doesn't vent to underside, I've never gotten any oil out of the trans vent which vents up top. The only hose I can think of is the fuel overflow which goes from the console to the underside of the trike.

 

[JohnC]

Hmmm, thanks guys. Maybe the tech was sloppy when adding oil back to the bike and spilled some down the outside of the filler spout. I would guess it would collect on the frame cross member underneath and finally drip off onto the ground. The filler spout area itself is clean.

There was absolutely no leaking / oil drops prior to the 1000 mile service. Like I said, I'll just watch it for a few days and see if it happens again.

 

[Loner]

As mentioned above, a sure sign of overfilling is when your right pant leg is oil-soaked after a ride. The first time it happens is quite shocking - oil coming out the breather, oh my! But lower the level and clean things up and all is OK.

 

[Hawkeye]

@M3 -

At my last service the dealer noticed the vent hose missing from the tranny on my '07 UC/Champion. They replaced the hose. You are correct that the tranny doesn't vent from underneath but the vent hose they put on my bike is connected to a vent on top of the tranny and routed out the bottom as JohnC described.

 

[msocko3]

@M3 -

At my last service the dealer noticed the vent hose missing from the tranny on my '07 UC/Champion. They replaced the hose. You are correct that the tranny doesn't vent from underneath but the vent hose they put on my bike is connected to a vent on top of the tranny and routed out the bottom as JohnC described.

The hose is just a little stubby bugger which aims at the top of the transmission, the 1st picture is the hose as you would see it, the 2nd is me lifting it so folks can see just how short this hose is.

 

[Phu Cat]

An easy way to see where a leak is coming from is to put some baby powder on the oil then take the bike for a ride. If the bike's leaking, the baby powder will be washed away from the oil running down and the rest of the baby powder will still be there.

Phu Cat

 

[TNTriker]

I've been enjoying my new triglide (blue-black) and haven't posted lately. Thanks to those who asnswered my questions when I was getting ready to buy. Wife and I are having a ball on our new trike. Now need advice on two issues. 1st, my air shocks loose 3 to 5lbs of air per week and I need to know if this is normal because I feel like my dealer might be not takeing it serious. 2nd, at my 1000mi service, the dealer over filled my oil by at least 1/2 qt causing an oil leak they have fixed. (retaped two pluges behind oil filter and tighted oil cooler hose ) I'm concerned about other damage showing up in the future to gaskets and bearing due to the increased pressure and possible oil foaming causing poor lubrication. Dealer said oil could only be over filled by 2ounces and the 103 engine has a pressure release valve. This doen't add up because of how much oil I took took out to leave at full mark and the presure oviously causeing the leak. I drove about 300mi after service before finding oil was overfilled.(i'll check oil emmidiately after service from now on) CAN ANY WRENCH TURNERS GIVE ME SOME INSIGHT !!!!

Regarding your shock issue...What type of pump do you use? If you are just using a regular tire pump, that could be part of your problem. My husband bought a shock pump, so the amount of air that you put in the shocks stays in when you release the pump. If you are using a regular tire pump, you need to put in more air than you want because some will escape when you release the hose. It wouldn't hurt to check your pushlok fittings on your shocks and also where the lines come up to your schrader fitting where you put the air in, just to make sure they are not leaking. Since your trike is still under warrenty, you could have the dealer check it, but it doesn't look like the dealer is taking you serious. Another thing to consider is the load limit. I don't loose enough air in my shocks to even register on the gage. I don't ride a passenger. My husband did tell me that If I decided to take my girlfriend for a ride that he would need to add air to the shocks. She is a fairly good sized lady, somewhat larger than myself! LOL I'm not a wrench, but hubby does give me some tutorials when working on the bikes. I like to know a little bit of what's going on. Hope this helps!

 

[eagle1]

hope you have changed the tranny (syn3) oil to a better oil. like red line shock proof
or many others. the syn 3 oil just isn't thick enough for the tranny. some '11 t/g's have had tranny bearing problems that many of users know its because of the thin oil in the tranny. under fill the engine oil by 8 oz's

 

[GARYD]

I forgot all about it, but now that you mention it, I also saw a couple drops of oil (?) under the right side of the engine. I looked everywhere but couldn't see where it came from.
Definately change trans oil to either Amsoil 75/140(I use) or 75/110 or Red Line etc. Like eagle1 said- Syn3 is too thin.

In just about every Harley I've owned I would get oil seepage from the air filter if I put the recommended amount of oil in and rode on the expressway at higher speeds. So now I reduce the amount by about a 1/2 to 2/3 quart.

So far I haven't lost air in my shocks.

 

[trikermutha]

Hope everyones oil pans are tight..the newer harleys seem to have loose oil pan bolts and seems to start after the 1k mark that I have noticed..

 

[10rhrk]

Hope everyones oil pans are tight..the newer harleys seem to have loose oil pan bolts and seems to start after the 1k mark that I have noticed..

Good idea to buy a 3/16 t-Handle allen and check them. My wife's 2010 SG Trike started dropping oil on the garage floor. After checking every possible place, I checked the oil pan bolt's and half were loose. Also check the two lower bolt's where the Header bracket bolt's to the tranny cover.

I'm loosing faith in the MoCo. They are farming out more and more stuff to oversea's. I recently put a new set of Dunlop American Elite tires on my 2010 RK. While cleaning the inside of the Chrome Smooth Profile laced rims, I saw MADE IN CHINA stamped inside. I guess they are just assembled in the USA for now?????