I am confused about the engine oil usage on my sportster. I was always blowing oil into the air cleaner and did some searches on the problem and determined that it was a common problem. I did the common fix and put a breather line on. Yesterday I rode about 300 miles and used about 1 quart. Tha is a lot of oil going into the breather filter. The person behind me said that my bike smelled like it wasn't running right. I was looking for more info on it and ran across some one saying that the oil level should be at the bottom of the oil stick and that if it is too high it will be blown out through the breather. I am a little confused because I always make sure the level is at the full line and I always use a lot of oil. Is it possible that I'm just overfilling all of the time? I suppose I could change oil and put in the recommended amount and see if I lose oil. Any suggestions?

 

How miles are on your bike . I'm thinking maybe your do for valve guides and or some other top end work if your passing 50 or 60,000 miles. Or it could just be a bad head gasget .

 

The common oil level is about 1/2 way between the ADD and FULL marks on the dipstick.

I don't think your problem is breather blow-by. To use a quart in 300 miles, I would first look at rings and/or valve guide seals. Bad rings will usually cause exhaust smoke at cruise speed and/or acceleration. Bad valve guide seals will cause exhaust smoke on deceleration. To check the valve guide seals, rev the motor up real good in neutral and then snap the throttle closed. If the seals are bad you'll get exhaust smoke as the RPMs wind down.

 

watch your oil use. Watch it closely. Make sure you check the oil level when its on the jiffy stand and when its HOT.

Most bikes will blow by oil when run at the full mark. Most find a happy level middle of the diptstick, sometimes lower depending on how hard you are on the throttle. You never want to have your oil level not read on the dipstick.

So take some time, watch it each time ya stop. Only add oil if its not reading on the stick and then only to HALF WAY in the fill range. DO NOT fill to the full mark. Then monitor how much oil you are actually using. If you are consistently having to add oil because its at the bottom or not reading on the dipstick, then you do have a problem and need to discover what is causing the bike to use oil. If you stop having to add oil or using very little, then you know you solved it.

You said that you have a breather tube now? So you mean that you no longer have the bike venter into the air cleaner and thus being able to burn the blowby oil? If it is still going through the aircleaner, and being burned, it is possible that is what your friend is smelling. Or depending on where you have the hose run it could be hitting something hot as it vents. HOWEVER, be sure to do the above step and see if your bike is actually using oil with running the level lower.

MH

 

Thanks Guys. I will take the advice and watch more closely. It has about 10,000 miles on the top end and the guy sI bought the bike from said it had 10:1 pistons and andrews cams which might contribute to the consumption.