Hi

I was at Bikes Blues & BBQ this weekend and my 08' Street Bob got VERY hot. We were in stop and go traffic for about 30min, at night with outside temp only around 70degrees (2up after about 30mi) About half way through the stop'n go my leg started to bake. Finally found a spot to shut her down and couldn't read the dipstick guage because of the heat... after a couple of minutes it read 306 degrees.

Took it out the next day after letting it idle for awhile, did some stop and go for awhile and didn't have any problems, but temp was still up around 265. I have new V&H short shots, and understand I need to get it on a dyno.. but what temp is it going to be dangerously close to bakeing the engine? (running synthetic, not sure what kind).

MIke

 

Without starting an oil debate......I would just suggest you change your oil as soon as you can. Running a ike that hot can breakdown the oil to the point it will no longer protect your engine.

Respects,
Ed

 

+1, cooking the oil is never a good ideal, change it and monitor it from there.

 

Thanks for the info... I plan on changing the oil soon. But, what is the max temp you can operate on, safely?

 

Dino oil begins to seriously break down at 275 degrees. You lose something like 50% of its ability to lubricate. If you oil read 306 at the take it is probably over 350 degrees at the heads. I would say change the oil tomorrow, not soon. Three quarts of high priced oil is considerably cheaper than engine work.

 

Ask 10 different manufacturers, and you will get 10 different answers. That debate will continue on, way past my time on this earth.

Since the manufacturers cannot seem to agree on that answer, I'm not about to take a guess either. I can tell you, running HOT deserves an oil change.

 

Right... well thankfully I'm running full synthetic. Gonna change it out tomorrow. I'm told Amisoil?

 

Oil is Oil.........use whatever trips your trigger

 

I too would like to know people's opinions on running hot. My '09 Fat Bob consistently runs oil temps in the 280-290 range. Hell, today riding two-up on a windy canyon road in 60* temps I read 281 when we stopped at the top (10-12 miles maybe.) That's no stop and go just continuous operation at light throttle at 30-40 mph.

This has been consistent from day one when it was stock. I've now got new pipes, stage 1 w/PC-V, and there really hasn't been a change in temps that I can see. Never seen it above 290*, but I bet it wouldn't take too much.

I seriously thought my bike was broken when I bought it and saw this. Dealer said it was normal. Called BS until I rented a '09 Super Glide (wife's bike comes with a day's rental for her pre-purchased scheduled maintenance.) Put my temp dipstick in and went for a ride up the canyon, then back through town, with some stop and go, but nothing excessive (less than 5 minutes.) Result - 285*. It was 75* outside.

Man - if I have to change my oil every time I ride, it's going to get expensive. I'm running SYN3 now, but thinking back - doesn't Harley ship their bikes with dino oil from the factory? In all seriousness, I probably burnt the sh*t out of that oil riding it home from the dealer.

 

That's good stuff. So is Mobil1, Royal Purple, Redline, etc... Just buy whatever is local and easily accessable.
Just changed mine today With Mobil1 V-twin as they were out of Royal Purple and didn't carry anything else that floated-my-boat...