I had this problem ever since I've had the bike, every 1k miles I check the oil and it will not touch the stick. Have taken to the dealership 4-5 times for the same problem. After the fifth time they finally checked the inside of the motor to find the valve guide seals not properly installed. The dealership replaced the seals in both heads and honed out the cylinders.

They put the bike on the dyno and re-tuned. They said that when they installed the vance and hines exhaust and race tuner that it was tuned with the valve guides seals incorrectly installed. So they retuned it with new seals.

The head tech said they fixed the problem and I should notice more power. Now after 1k more the oil will not touch the stick. The service manuel says it could be the valve guide seals or it could be a faulty oil pump not filling the oil tank.

The bike is a 10 Heritage with 6k miles on it now. I bought the bike with 1k miles on it-they said it was a demo bike. Just like clock work around a 1k miles not enough oil to check with the stick. I need advice to make the dealership understand that I have a phucked up bike. Thanks

 

being as how it is under warranty i would take it to another dealer and tell them prob, not mentioning what the other dealer said and basically get another mech to check and give advise, your orig dealer is trying to cover something up i also would get a hold of h.d with phone call, and document the conversation than follow up with a certified letter you need to be able to have a paper trail,

 

How much oil does it take to get it to the full mark when it is not touching? Does it smoke? Did it come with a full warranty since it was a demo?I have read horror stories of Harley not fixing bikes with high oil consumption calling it "normal". May have to get a lawyer. Good Luck

 

If it was good for the first 1k, the new seals corrected the problem. It sounds like those seals are bad again for whatever reason. I havent had a 10 apart but there used to be problems with an o-ring getting pinched where the pump enters the case. It was pretty noticeable because there was a pretty good power loss and when you decel without pulling the clutch in it was like hitting the brakes it would slow so fast. You could drain the cases, not the tank and if there is more then a few ounces of oil in there that o-ring is pinched. Its a longshot though that problem was on 05s I think but you never know. I would just take it to another dealer.

 

If your readings are correct,the engine is using at least 1 1/2 of qts. and more every thousand miles.

How many miles since the dealer worked on the bike?

I would take it back to them and if you dont like the answer,go to another dealer.

 

I just found the receipt for the work done on the bike when the seals were repaired. It had 4660 miles on the odometer and maybe 400 miles later had the 5k service. It now has 6060 miles and the oil dosen't touch the stick. I'm thinking the seals were not the problem. The bike doesn't leak oil or smoke.

 

I started a thread in the touring section on the same issuse 2-3 days ago.

A friend of mine has a new 10 Ultra thats using (he said) 1 qt of oil every 1k miles..

He's make an appointment to get her checked out as the service dept told him that their aware some 10's having are valve guide issues.

Told him I'd not seen or heard of anyone else having that issue in here..

His was the first time I'd heard of it, but now with Urs,,its the Second...

Supposed to get her checked out next week.

Still two out of the thousands of 10's sold isn't a bad %, just a pain for the owners of those that do have problems.

I'll get back next week when they fix his as what the issue was.

 

are you checking the oil hot,it will read lower cold

 

This is interesting my old shovel never used a quart and a half of oil between changes all the 29 yrs I've had her . Seems HD hasn't got the oil less breather system figured out yet .

 

+1........the level in my oil bag is always significantly lower cold than when it has been running and the oil in the lower crank case gets pumped back into the oil bag.