All,

I am a new member to this forum and site and am looking forward to this access regarding my new passion...riding my Ultra.

My question is this: Last year I had an HD oil cooler put on my 2006 Ultra Classic during the winter months and an auto primary chain adjuster. When I took the bike out of storage at my dealership in May, I would occassionally notice a faint oil smell as if the bike was burning a little oil. However, the dipstick never showed the use of oil. FYI: I run SYN 3 oil and trans fluid.

I took the bike back to the dealer and they could not find any leaks or even smell the oil. I have never found a drop of oil in the garage. However, even after checking out the bike at the dealer, I would still smell a faint oil smell.

Last weekend on a fish fry ride, one of my fellow HOG members told me that he could smell oil when I would get into the bike or decellerate quickly. I talked to two dealerships and one has no clue and the other one says they too have had similar problems with customers after installing the cooler.

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this or knows what the problem is?

Thanks in advance for the responses.

Ty

 

I don't know what putting a cooler on it would have anything to do with it, unless it is leaking.

It might be pushing a little oil out the breather into the air filter area and your great sense of smell is detecting it?

No leaks or puffs of blue ish smoke out the tail pipe then I don't think you have a problem.

Ride safe.

 

Dave,

Thanks for the reply. Talking with some friends who are in the automotive business they say the same thing...doesn't make sense. One thing that I was considering is taking the oil cooler off and seeing if that helps.

You bring up the air filter...I will take a look at that tonight...

 

There is a vent line that feeds out just under the LH side panel in front of the LH saddlebag. I've never chased the hose down to see what it vents, but my bike had oily residue on the inside of this cover so I'm assuming it's some type of engine vent. Pull the side panel with the engine fully warmed up and see if oil fumes are coming from the vent hose.

A few other ideas from left field:
Could it be the paint on the cooler itself getting hot and giving off the smell? (I doubt it, but hot paint smells like hot oil.)
Are the mufflers new? These often smell like burning oil till they get a few hundred miles on them.
It is very easy when installing the cooler to get oil on the engine, frame, wiring, etc. down by the filter. Some oil could've run down under the bike and saturated something & it gives off the smell when it warms up.
Oil could have also gotten on the fins of the cooler during installation and when the cooler heats up the smell appears.

I would give the bike a good washing down, including spraying something like simple green into the fins of the oil cooler and underneath the bike. A can of brake cleaner can help get any oily debris out of tight areas...

 

Lost1,

Thanks for the reply. I will check out the vent tube to see if that is the culprit.

The bike has about 8,200 miles on it so should not be the pipes. The oil cooler has over 2500 miles on it so I would think the paint should be burned off of that. The bike is a 2006 HD Ultra Classic with a stock motor in it. I am running HD Screaming Eagle pipes.

The bike shows not signs of leaks or burning any engine oil...thus my confusion...but I will follow your advise and give it a good washing.

Ty