I brought my 21 FXLRS to the dealer for a Stage 2 Power cam and tune. Just now I get a call from the dealer saying they installed the cam, but on the test ride the bike started making a loud whining noise, they shut it off immediately and pushed it back to the shop. They pulled the oil drain plug and found brass shavings. Which they think might be part of the "balancer". They'll need to open it up and find out whats happening. Bike has around 6k miles.
Aside from a previous oil blow-by issue I had a different dealer fix/clean up I've had no issues with the bike really to speak of. I can only assume, that with the timing of the new issue, something was done incorrectly during the cam install as there was no issue prior to opening up the motor. Cam is Screaming Eagle and cleared to be applied to Harley M8's and is covered under Harley warranty.
Bike is still under warranty and I bought the extended warranty when I purchased the bike.

Has anyone heard of a balancer issue after a cam install?
Can a cam install cause immediate issues like this?
Or is this something that's non cam install related and just something that can happen?

Just looking for what I can expect moving forward, dealer said they'll get into it and keep me updated.

 

I’d say they did something wrong on the cam install.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Plus, during the whole call I assumed this all happened during the pre work test ride. It wasnt until the end of the call I asked "Wait, was this AFTER the cam install or during the pre work test ride?" he said "after". Which was when I said well it sure sounds like something was done wrong on the install then.

 

Cam install and brass in the oil? My first thought is the brass bushing (plain bearing) the cam sits on in the camplate. Just Google M8 Camplate images and you will see what I mean.

I don't believe the balancers have any brass in their construction, but I am not 100% positive on that.

Zach

 

I keep thinking about this. Even though warranty should cover this, it sucks to have to deal with. Whatever they say it was, make sure they flush the entire engine GOOD. If they found metal in the oil, then that metal went through everything. If they don't clean it out it can still eat stuff up even after they fix whatever it is they did to make this happen.

Zach

 

Will do. I thought I was going the safe route having MoCo approved part and a dealer install, wishing i'd never opened her up at all now. Curious to see how long this will take. They've already had it for almost 2 weeks.

 

Update: Apparently the crank shaft balancer failed, causing the crank shaft to self destruct and nuked the motor. I'm reading that the M8 crankshaft can be known to fail. This aligns with the oil blowback / sumping issue I was having prior. New motor arrives next week, they'll put the power cam in that. Harley is covering cost under warranty.

 

I thought the sumping issue was resolved by the 2021 model year. Good on them for the complete replacement. So the brass was probably the camplate plain bearing as a result of the crank ruining the oil pump and the whole assembly going off center. Crazy sequence of events, but at least they stepped up.

Zach

 

Agreed, I thought 21 models had resolved the dumping as well.

Very solid of the MoCo to supply a new motor, and not just approve a rebuild. I’m impressed with that.

I’ve never given much attention to the warranty on any of my bikes, but I did with this one, glad I did.

 

2020 is when they upgraded the oil pump. Sumping was mostly a touring problem. Since 2020 there has been very few problems. What was the crank run out? If it was even possible to measure. It seems like all the oil pukers are the ones that blow up. I get no oil in my air filter, another reason why I did not trade for the st.