I have a 2003 883r. My heads were leaking. ( a common problem on Sportsters). I bought Chrome upper and lower rocker covers. I wanted to keep the BLACK spacers look. SO I bought "Custom Chrome" brand uppers and lowers. I tried to install them myself. It leaked really bad. So I took all the parts to the dealer. They told me "No problem". The dealer did their work and it leaked before I got home. I took it back. The dealer told me the gaskets needed to be thicker because the parts were "Custom Chrome". So they put the "RIGHT" gaskets on. THEY STILL LEAKED.

Then the dealer told me I needed "ALL" Harley parts to match up with the original Harley heads. I got that done and it still LEAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






They installed all the parts I bought, It still leaked

 

Sounds like one of the rocker covers is warped pretty bad. If that's the case, I doubt you'll ever get it to seal.

Those knock-offs seem to have a lot of problems with this.

 

What knock offs, he said that HD told him that they needed to be HD parts so that they all match up to seal right, so he had them replaced with stock HD parts and they still leak. Knock off parts have been eliminated.

Sounds to me like your heads may be warped. If that is the case, see if they can mill them down to make them level again. That is after they check them to make sure that is what the problem is.

 

Is the head gasket leaking or the rocker cover?

Two very different issues.

Pictures might help.

 

I am surprised that any dealer would install parts supplied by the customer.

 

It's hard to get a good picture of it. It is on the backside of the rear cylinder. It drips down onto the starter. It appears to be coming from the rocker cover

 

After the dealer put all the Harley parts on, it did stop leaking for a little while, but then it started leaking again.

The rocker covers have 3 pieces. The top, a spacer, and the bottom. The top and bottom are NEW Harley parts and the spacer is the stock black Harley part.

 

I bet your original leak is fixed and now you have a leak that is associated to the spacer. I think it may have been slightly mistreated on one of the tear down - rebuild processes.

 

If the leak is coming from either the top rocker cover or the lower rocker assembly, try using a product called "The Right Stuff". I had a frustrating oil leak coming from lower rocker assembly that drove me nuts. I replaced the gaskets and torqued to factory specs 3 times and could not stop the leak, I read about the sealer on older posts on this site and decided to try it. I now have put over 300 miles on the bike and so far no leaks. This stuff is thick so I lightly smeared a coating on both sides of the gasket attempting to just seal the gasket. Its made by Permatex and bought at NAPA.

 

Do I have to tear it all apart, AGAIN?