I posted this in the tech forum but no such luck. Will try it here.


I have an Ultima 96" evo based motor. I bought it completely disassembled from a friend. He said the motor never showed oil pressure. He had 3 different oil pumps on the motor. He replaced the light sensor on the motor and the light would never go off going down the road. He replaced the sensor with a direct mount gauge and the gauge would never show pressure. The cam cover was also replaced on the engine and still no change. I purchased the engine completely disassembled. All bearings and bushings and seals appeared to be in perfect condition. I had the bottom end built by a reputable builder and he said everything looked good. When I put the engine together and in the bike it will hold oil pressure while cold and still no pressure while hot even when reved up. I looked in the tank while the bike is running and had good oil return. Do you have any idea as to how I can fix this problem?

 

Does the motor knock or tap, any noises? Plumb a nipple w/ a piece of clear hose attached to the oil switch port and turn it over. You should get oil flow in short order. I feel for you as I'm dealing with this problem right now.

 

WElcome to the land of answers......stay tuned.......

You may want to look at HarDlife's posts as well. LOTS of good suggestions........

 

motor doesnt really have a knock or tap. its got valvetrain noise being it has an EV59 cam in it not. and the valvetrain noise gets worse when it warms up.

 

Is the ball, spring, and valve seat in the relief valve in good shape? No crud in the tappet screen?
Getting any noise from the tappet block area when hot?

 

the main noise i am getting is valvetrain noise toward the rocker boxes. I pulled the tappet screen last night and everything was clean. the oil pump is new. and everything appears to be good. I even collapsed the back pushrod tube after the motor warmed up and started it again and it had oil dripping down from the top. I did not let it run very long like that as i did not want to destroy anything just wanted to see if she had oil.

 

Am I seeing right that the cam bushing, the pinion bushing (both in the cam cone) and the lifters and lifter blocks are the only things that would affect the oil pressure? besides the oil pump?

 

The oil pressure is affected by the the oil pressure regulating valve, the lifter block/lifter fit, and the rocker shaft/rocker fit

The cam, pinion and lower end parts are lubed once the regulating valve opens, they do not affect oil pressure.

 

Have you checked all the gear keys in the pump and the one in the gear that takes drive from the crankshaft plus the crank pinion itself? Had a shovel come to me from a Harley mechanic with this same problem and he had left the key out on the main take off gear.

 

everything with the oil pump is functioning properly. and its had 3 different pumps on it. it does have pressure when cold and good flow when hot just no pressure at all