Any help would be appreciated, please! I am trying to put to together an 82 XLS roadster. I was able to get it to crank, but it keeps streaming oil out of the bottom of the cam cover through a small weep hole. I tried to prime the oil pump by cranking it with the sensor unscrewed. As soon as I put the sensor back in the oil streams out of the weep hole on the cam cover. There is no flow to the heads. Anyone have any ideas?

 

First go post this in the Sportster section and you may find a guy who has the same engine. Is your oil pump installed correctly? Can you prime the pump through the oil filter adapter? You need a service manual for that bike to see the oil flow diagram. Here is the lubrication system description from the 05 XL service manual but I am sure your engine is different.

ENGINE LUBRICATION SYSTEM 3.6
GENERAL
NOTE
The following paragraph numbers correspond with the numbered
callouts in the Lubrication Diagram foldout.
1. Oil is gravity-fed from the oil tank to the gerotor-style oil
pump through a
feed hose.
Oil enters the
feed section
and fills a cavity located under the feed pump.
NOTE
A complete explanation of the gerotor pump is given under
OIL PUMP, which follows.
2. The feed pump transfers oil from the inlet cavity through
the
feed hose
to the oil filter mount.
3. Oil flows through the
filter mount cavity
to the oil filter.
4. Oil enters the peripheral cavity of the
oil filter,
passes
through the filtering medium into the central cavity of the
oil filter, and flows into the filter adapter (fitting which
connects filter to filter mount).
5. Adequate oil pressure in the filter mount cavity activates
the
oil pressure indicator lamp switch
and shuts off
the oil pressure indicator lamp.
6. Oil flowing from the filter adapter opens the
check ball.
The check ball opens at 4-6 psi (28-41 kN/m
2
) oil pressure.
7. With the check ball open, oil flows into the
crankcase
feed galley.
8. Oil flows through the feed galley in the crankcase to the
tappet blocks and hydraulic lifters.
Cross-drilled passages
intersect the main feed galley and carry oil to
each hydraulic lifter. From this cavity, oil is also fed to the
piston jets.
9. Oil also enters an
intersecting passage
in the gearcase
cover. Oil flow is then routed to the crankshaft area.
10. Oil enters a hole in the end of the
pinion gear shaft
and
travels to the right flywheel where it is routed through the
flywheel to the
crank pin.
Oil is forced through the crank
pin to properly lubricate the rod bearing assembly.
11. Oil flows up passages in the
push rods
to the rocker arm
shafts and bushings.
12. The valve stems are lubricated by oil supplied through
drilled oil holes in the
rocker arms.
13. Oil collected in the push rod areas of the cylinder heads
flows down the
push rod covers,
through drain holes in
the
tappet blocks
and into the gearcase. After providing
lubrication to the gearcase components the oil flows to
the return side of the oil pump.
14. Feed oil to the rocker area is returned to the gearcase
through a
passage
in the head, cylinder and crankcase.
15. Oil collected in the
sump
is splash-fed to the pistons, cylinder
walls and flywheel components.
16. Oil collected in the sump area returns to the scavenge
section of the oil pump through a
passage
located in the
rear section of the sump. Oil flow to the pump is accomplished
by the scavenging effect of the pump and by the
pressure created by the downward stroke of the pistons.
17. Return oil fills a
cavity
above the pump's return gears.
The return gears pump oil back to the oil tank.
18. A small amount of oil flows from the feed galley in the
right crankcase half through a
restricted orifice,
which
sprays the oil onto the rear intake cam gear in the gearcase.
Oil is transferred to the teeth of all the cam gears
through the gear meshing action.
OIL PUMP
See Figure 3-1. The oil pump consists of two gerotor gear
sets, feed and scavenge (return), housed in one pump body.
The feed pump distributes oil to the engine, the scavenge
pump returns oil to the tank.
A gerotor-type gear set has two parts — an inner and an
outer gerotor. The inner gerotor has one less tooth than the
outer gerotor. Both gerotors have fixed centers which are offset
to each other.
In a gerotor gear set, oil is transferred from inlet to outlet as it
is trapped between the rotating inner and outer gerotors. The
illustration shows the principle of gerotor operation:
●
During the first 180 degrees of rotation, the cavity
between inner and outer gerotors gradually increases in
size until it reaches its maximum size, equivalent to the
full volume of the “missing tooth.” The gradually enlarging
cavity creates a vacuum into which oil flows from the
inlet.
●
During the next 180 degrees of rotation, the size of the
cavity decreases forcing oil into the outlet. See Figure 3-
2. Gravity-fed oil from the oil tank enters the pump
through fitting (5). It is forced by gerotor set (6) through a
hose to the oil filter.
Return oil from the flywheel compartment is drawn back
into the pump. Returning oil from the gearcase compartment
drains directly into the pump and is forced by gerotor
set (8) back to the oil tank.
See Lubrication Diagram foldout for oil passages within the

 

Also try www.xlforum.net there should be a lot of iron head guys on there who do rebuilds.

 

Thank you! As suggested, I posted in the Sportster section and I also tried the XL site a few days ago, no post as of yet. Posts have to be email on that site and can take a few days. Thanks again.