Apperantly my newly purchased 90 flt police needs a rebuild .?
115000 klms. or roughly 70000 miles on it.
Havent ridden it yet as have been fixing wiring problems etc.
Engine runs good , no oil leaks but carb. is leaking fuel , will get to that .
Question ... changed oil and used 20/50 ., now smokes from both sides .
Suspect that straight 50 was in it and now the 20/50 is showing wear in the motor ?
Local mech. says total rebuild is required ?
Any advise ?

 

Just a Top End Rebuild, Pull the rocker boxes, head, and cylinders. Have the cylinders bored 0.010" over buy yourself a good set of pistons, and have the heads reconditioned with possibly new guides and stem seals.

Or you can go a little cheaper, pull it down, bush hone the cylinders, by a new set of rings and put the cylinders back over the new rings. For the heads, take the springs off and lap the seats then install new valve guide seals before you put it back together. Cheap route may result in something that will run a couple years or it may smoke like it dis when you pulled it down.

 

Why if the engines runs good does it need a rebuild?

When you say it smokes are we talking a fog, or whiffs of white smoke at start up?

Have you run a compression leak down test to identify rings or valve issues?

Carb leak probably needs a rebuild kit and a good clean up. The inlet valve / float valve can hang up in a dirty carb.

A change in oil is showing what wear?

Is there a real issue with the engine running? What are you referring to? Is there noise, banging, metal to metal sounds?

What's the history on the bike? Was it running at all when you bought it?

I know everything can seem overwhelming when you start to "get it into", but look at it more rationally.

What specifically is the local mechanic saying must be rebuilt? Specifics!

Sometimes mechanics will take a noob for a ride and tell them all kinds of things to pick up a job.

Do you have a service manual for this or are you going through the wiring and other issues blind?

Don't be rushed into anything...

 

You say smoke from both sides. Do you mean from each exhaust, each side of the engine, or what? What type of head pipes are on it? True duals or the original 2 into 2 with the crossover?

With a manual, doing a top end rebuild really isn't that bad, I did one myself last year. Granted something went horribly wrong with my engine not long after that, but I suspect it was cam bearing that finally killed it.

 

Any advise? Yes, take a deep breath and tackle one thing at a time! Sort that carb first and get it running as well as it can. Black smoke is too much fuel, white is too much oil. White smoke can be due to oil getting past the pump into the crankcases and being thrown up inside the cylinders, so don't start stripping the poor thing just yet!

 

Take it for a good ride before you decide its smoking....it might have wet-sumped....ride it for 10 mins and check oil level....adjust if its too high and then ride for another half hour......if its still smoking I would try putting straight 50 back in and repeating the exercise.

Get the carby sorted first though....

 

Agreed with the carb sorting first, EVO's like to puke oil in their air cleaners so you may want to check to see if it is oil soaked

 

Many Thanks to all replies .
Newbie Harley owner . Previous bikes have all been older big Wings with very complicated and hard to service systems. Getting to old for that now.
Was a " go to tech. " on various Wing sites and can wrench ok.
After researching this great HD site for a while , have noticed that an evo with my miles could be a candidate for a rebuild because of ... roller lifter wear , cam bearing , usual valve wear , etc. etc.
This will be my last bike purchase and am looking for dependibility so i figured that , considering her age and miles , i should go with a top end rebuild ?
Question ; Big Wings just get there legs after 100,000 klms.
What is a evo good for ?

 

I have had an EVO over 60k mi or 96560 km withthout issue, I have a cousin with over 100k mi on his. Big difference is wings are water cooled and Harleys are air cooled.

 

Most of us can't leave them alone! I have read of over a quarter of a million miles on a bone stock one. I believe the factory has it in their museum?

I suspect the complexity you mention of Wings means very few owners mess about with them. On the other hand, the simplicity of Harleys is such that very few are left unmodified for long.

Guilty as charged......