ok i am confused...the oil mark is the same place on the dipstick whether the bike is hot or cold. bout 3/16" from "full hot on jiffy stand" line...when bike is cold the oil mark is really no different what gives? 2014 road king 5900 miles

 

Modern motor oils do not expand very much when heated. Assuming you allowed the oil temp to reach 180, it will most likely expand by less than 4%. If you go up to the 250 degree range, you may get as much as a 6% expansion. Based on 4.5 quarts of oil in you crankcase when cold, at most it will expand 1/4 quart. Moral of story; hot or cold, as long as in the "okay" range, you are good.

 

Question ?


With modern high performance synthetic motor oil .......does it not expand as much as a high performance DINO oil ?

 

What are you looking at? There's a mark for full hot on the jiffy stand or upright - none for cold. You shouldn't be using the FULL mark anyway.

 

Cold & on the kick-stand at the half way mark . Then the same when fully warmed up & hot the AMSOIL still measures at the half-way mark on the stick . So what's up with that ? Obviously synthetic does not expand the way DINO oil does .
Just saying .

 

Manual generally will state that cold level shouldn't be more than halfway (in the middle) due to hot oil increasing column. That's what I've always gone by. Also checking on jiffy stand versus upright will generally merit the same results on our bikes.

 

Yeah, mine doesn't move much either. I go for the halfway mark cold.

 

I use dino oil and my level always stays about the same, hot or cold. My Road King was the same way. It's normal

 

Mine only rises about 2 "dots" when going from cold to op temp.

 

Welcome to the forum. Just ride and don't worry.