I just recently changed my oil on my bike, for my 35k service. Money was tight, and didnt want to fork out 500 bucks for the dealership to do it.

Instead of 20/50w screamin eagle synthetic I bought oil from a local motorcycle shop (red line sythetic), went on an 800 mile weekend ride but never noticed anything, but I also ride with my stereo blasting most of the time.

I can hear engine noise. Tappet noise, and I dont know if its in my head, if theres really a problem, or its my oil. Thats the only thing ive done differently. I recently bought a stock 88 fatboy, and its quite a bit quieter, and my bike is screamin' eagle top to bottom engine wise, so its naturally quite a bit louder. Im going to take it to the dealership tomorrow to see for sure, but my question is: Has anyone noticed noise differences with different types of oil? Im half tempted to change it again, with harley synthetic to see if theres a difference.

 

found the problem. cam chain tensioner came apart.

 

Any other damage to the engine with the blown tensioner? My bike is just at 35K (05 Glide) and I've heard horror stories...........trouble is, no way I can afford to change out the tensioners right now.........was hoping to be back to work by now but it ain't happening. Looking to do gear drive when I can afford to do it.

 

Sorry the hear about your tensioners. I am in the same boat. Have 40,000 on my UC and can not afford to have them replaced right now. If you have extended warrranty. Most of the repair should be covered.

 

A year ago this July had my bike serviced at HD in Zagreb, Croatia. They changed my oil to Synthetic then and just recently I've noticed a noise coming from what I thought was my Primary drive. After adding a ltr of fluid the noise is still there and sounds more like it's coming from my rockers/heads. Only got 15,000 miles on a 2001 Softail and now ain't a good time for any major problems. Closest HD is in Croatia and that's not close at all, 280 klicks. And, the riding season is just getting started with lots more rallys to attend. Don't want to go Naked without my bike! Maybe it's the synthetic oil? I saw somewhere that it does add to the noise factor. Mine sounds like a whirring noise? No other problems elsewhere! Shifts OK. Any ideas what this might be?

 

No, i was pretty lucky. It just dropped and stayed there in a couple pieces. My oil pump had no scars on it, so nothing got sucked through the engine. The dealership replaced both tensioners and cam bearings and it was just shy of 700 bucks. Could have been much worse.


On the oil side, I cant tell any difference in engine noise from running red line oil.

 

Dude: Thank your lucky stars...if you would have sucked in the debris you could be replacing your engine.

 

You will get a bit more mechanical noise with syn versus dino. If it starts making a knocking sound in your primary when you let out the clutch it may be your compensator nut coming loose. Check your primary chain tension. How much oil do you have in your primary. You mention adding a litre of oil?