New Harley rider here on touring bike. FLHTCU. Just a quick question, Have done regular maintenance by dealer. Getting to the 10000miles (16000km) schedules maintenance. What I noticed is that when bike is cold, start er up, sounds great. When riding in warm weather or for longer period of time and engine getting pretty warm, engine sounds different. Seems like more noise.Was explained that the oil gets hot and thinner and therefore more engine noise. Is that correct or should I worry about this. Am contemplaing to switch to synthetic oil. Which one? as HD only sells HD oil and read that Amsoil is better. Thanks.

 

You did not mention what year Ultra that you have????

 

Oops I forgot. 2008 and it has now approx 8500 miles on it

 

What temp are you running at?
Milan

 

Could be a number of things. Start with an inspection of the heat shields and other fasteners to be sure one or more haven't worked loose.

As for the oil...most will tell you Amsoil is a good one. But so are many others.

Good luck!

 

A bit more noise when hot is reasonably normal. By what you are saying is the noise level has increased over time and miles. Hard to diagnose over the internet but generally lifters get lazy over time and with hot oil the leakdown rate increases to the point you will hear one or all of them clicking or clattering away. You don't have enough miles on them to have worn them to this point, but you could just have a lazy one. Just a thought.
If it's noisy now with Dino oil, synthetic will likely make it worse. I could hear more noise in mine after the 1k service but the protection it offers outways the slighly more mechanical sounding engine. Not that it matters, I run Amsoil 20/50 . Also keep in mind the primay drive has an amazing abiltiy to simulate engine sounds, and some of what you hear can be from that area as well.
Ron

 

It's normal. Just ride it til somthing breaks then fix it.

 

+1 keep riding it.....it won't break until two years and 1 day later... BTW, syn oil will probably be noisier. Mine sounds like a sewing machine. If it really bugs you get louder pipes or earplugs.