I was approaching 1,000 miles on my 2017 Fat Bob, so it was time to do my first oil change. I have done hundreds of oil changes on all types of vehicles. No big deal. Well after about a day and a half working on this task, I have a different opinion.

First there are three different compartments (cases) to change. The engine oil is the furthest to the rear. With the engine being up front, that made no sense to me. So I take out all the plugs and the oil starts to drain. After it all drains, it does not look like 5 quarts of oil. Maybe 3.5 at most. Very strange.

Next off to the oil filter. Well the factory put that sucker on there so tight, I ended up breaking my oil filter tool trying to get it off. After about 6 hours I finally got it off with a huge breaker bar and 1/2" socket set.

But now is where I get confused and even more frustrated. Lets start with the engine oil. The manual says to put 2.5 quarts of oil in and do a cold level check. So I put 2.5 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic in the engine and did the cold check. Well the oil lever was over a quart above the hot full level. What the F....... What is going on? Did not all the oil drain out? So I drain a quart of my new oil out so I am down to the proper cold level. Now I only have a little more than a quart of oil in the engine. So I start the engine. The oil light took forever to go out, but it did. I turn the engine off and check again. Now there is about nothing on the gauge. So I fill it up to the cold level again and go for a ride. I check it again with the engine now being hot. Oil level is down 1/2 quart. So I put 1/2 quart in go for a short ride. Now the oil level is 1/4" above the hot full line. Should I worry about being above the full level by 1/4" This is nuts. There has to be better way. Why check the oil level hot? You end up burning yourself and its a lot more work.

Now, lets talk about the primary. The manual says to put 34 oz of oil in there. Well you can't get 34 oz in there. At about 32 oz, the oil starts to overflow and runs down the case. What is going on here. I measured very accurately. Once it started to overflow, I put the cover back on and called that one finished.

The Transmission was the only one that did not give me too many problems. 28 oz for this compartment (case). Why 28 oz? Why not make the case a bit larger and throw in a full quart. We are talking 4 oz bigger.

So I am not too happy about my first oil change. It was a very confusing, complicated and frustrating experience. I can see why Harley charges $400 for it. My friend with a 2018 Heritage Classic heard my story and took his bike right to the dealer. No self oil change for him.

I was coming from a older Ironhead Sportster. Life was simpler. Just one case and one oil tank. Drain the oil. Throw 3 quarts in the engine oil tank and one quart in the trans/primary. No measuring or level checking required. No cold or hot checks. And here is the coolest thing. If you put too much oil in the trans/primary, not to worry. Any extra oil in there will transfer over to the engine oil tank. Like magic.

Of course the Indian motorcycles just have one compartment for engine/trans/primary. Now that is simple.

So what should I have done differently? What instruction did I skip or should have skipped? I don't think I should have drained that new quart of oil off. I only ended up putting it back in the bike. But I did not want to start the bike with a quart of oil too much.

Oh well, next time should be better.

 

Seems like a lot of issues for an oil change. Anyway, you should be doing the primary fill with the bike upright, not laying over on the stand. And yes, the engine oil tank is at the back so that's where you drain the engine oil. If you don't have one you probably should pick up a service manual.

 

ive got the same problem on my 03 electra. took out the drain plug, not much oil came out. figured maybe it was low (didnt check before i started), then broke my tool getting the filter off, got a new one, got the new filter on, then went to fill the oil tank back up and got almost 2 quarts in there before it over flowed. then i took the drain plug back out and im not getting any oil out of the plug. im gunn get a service manual, but i need some help right now.

 

wtf is it really that different than mine? i got a 2008 FXSTC, i get the hard to take off oil filter but its pretty simple...one plug all the oil spills out, replace the filter and fill back up with i believe 3 or 3.5 quarts of oil and your done. Idk maybe the newer bikes its different. My manual says to get the bike hot, then let it cool down for a few before changing it to make sure all the oil drains out. Maybe thats the problem changing it when its cold your not getting all the oil out?

 

ahhh yep, i answered my question. who knew the tranny drain plug was right there too?

 

 

Yea, this ^

If the bike is sufficiently warmed up, the oil will flow right out and not "ooze" so be sure and get her warmed up. Oh yeah, FSM explains quite a bit.

On my 2003, the oil is checked on the Jiffy stand and the Primary also on the Jiffy stand - per FSM. Tranny is upright, which is a PITA if you're alone.

 

Thanks. I was filling the primary on the side stand. So that maybe the issue. I am going to check my owners manual to see if I missed the fact that the bike needs to be upright or if Harley missed that fact in the manual.

I have been using my owners manual for the procedure for changing the oils. Its pretty detailed.

 

When I drained the oil, the engine was hot. Probably over 200 degrees hot. I just got back from a 50 mile ride, pulled it in the garage and pulled the plugs. After all the oil drained out, I put the plugs back in. Then I tried to remove the oil filter. Some oil came out of the oil filter. But not too much.

I think my problem was I tried to follow the manual too closely.

it says to drain the oil, then refill with 2.5 quarts of oil and do a cold check. The cold check showed it was over filled. So I drained 1.5 quarts off. Now I only have a 1 quart in the engine. Then they say to start the engine, so I did. Hope no damage was done. I should have not done the cold check and additional draining.. I think that was a mistake. The dip stick showed it was clearly overfilled. But it used some of the oil to fill the oil filter. The manual is wrong. You should have more oil that the cold level. Oil is needed to fill the oil filter.

 

My oil was hot...