So I had my bike in the shop having a new build done. the mechanic calls me and said, We dynoed your bike and we're not getting the power we should out of the build, something is wrong. We did a test to see how much oil was in the crank and found 12 to 16 ounces. It's holding up the HP and TQ. We think it might be the o wring when we put inth new cams, or it might be that the line running back to the pum might be stopped up or the oil pump might not be working right but we thing theres to much oil in the crank stopping it from having power. WOW !!!

So I say, You mean to tell you, you just did a build on my bike, and your telling me it dont have power cause YOU think think 12 to 16 ounces in the crank is holding it up ???????? so I ask, did you do a fourth gear roll on to check the tq & hp ? He said yea and something is not right, we think the crank is filling up with oil.

So he says he wants to pull the cams and see if some oil ring is right, or it's the line running to the oil pump is stopped up. He said Harley had put some motors together where the glue they use to put the crank together with gets in the tube that goes to the oil pump and stops it up and it lets the oil fill up in the crank.

??????? Has anyone EVER heard of this before ??????????

 

What year is your bike?

Bad scavenging (ie too much oil in the cases) can rob huge amounts of power because the excess oil drags on the outside edge of the flywheels.

This pic shows the cases on my 09. The o rings he is talking about are on the left next to the crank spigot. they look sort of copper colour in this pic.

The o rings seal the cases to the cam plate, the oil pump is mounted on the cam plate. If the o ring was missing on the return line it would be possible for oil to be spraying out the gap between the cases and the cam plate. This would result in too much oil in the cases and a big loss in HP. IMHO the ring would have to be completely missing for such a problem. ie a workshop F up.

As for foreign body blocking the oil lines - you can be the judge of that. The oil lines are quite large - it would take a lot of "glue" to block them. I seriously doubt this is the problem.

Oh, and there is no "glue" when putting the crank together. They use a 30t press to push the flywheels onto the crankpin. no glue required!!

Hope this helps, let us know where you get to.

 

if you get on u tube and search "gear driven cams harley" there are a few vids that show the cam chest, cam drives, oil pump etc. you should be able to get a good idea of what goes on in a cam change from those vids.

Knowledge is power when it comes to keeping mechanics honest mate!!

 

I think someone left off a o ring, but he said he found 18 ounces of oil in the crank so it was doing fine before it went in for the build, and that would suggest mechanic error.

 

what year is the bike?

 

Its a 07 street glide. Went in for a 107 build 7H woods cams 50 mm throttle body. Said he couldnt get the tQ it was supposed, then they checked the oil in the crank and got 18 ounces out. I would say it was a o ring and hes saying it might be glue from them putting the case together. I was like WHAT !

 

It's really not that strang Harley is basically a dry sump engine and dry sump engines don't like a bunch of extra oil flinging around inside of them.

 

Sorry...not gonna buy it was a MOCO error. If your case had zero issues when brought in (extra oil as stated)....then it's mechanic error! Sounds like an O ring for sure.

Since when do you glue to put the crank together? Always a press fit! But, I did notice you said glue on the case...were you mistaken on your first post?

Please keep us updated...I would like to know the outcome of this one!

Mike

 

the mechanic said quote - They use a kind of glue to hold the case together, i've seen where it has got into the channel and blocked the oil flow. End quote. I thought at that point that He was full of s*t and looking for a way out of his sons mistake. I was shocked !

 

Where are you having this work done?