Took a short ride today, when I got to a friend's house I saw smoke and smelled burning oil on right side at exhaust bracket (at cat). Looks like trans side cover leaking. My bike only has 5,000 miles on it. I thought the bolts were loose on side cover, but could only turn them a little with an Allen wrench. Is this a common problem? Stopped at a dealer and a guy there says it could be a defective o-ring gasket. I guess I'll be calling them tomorrow to come get it, after all, it's still under factory warranty. Anyone else have this issue with newer bikes? I thought Harleys didn't leak anymore, not like my '75 Shovelhead did.
Jr.

 

You cheked the very bottom 2 tranny bolts that hold the bracket? They are hard to see and you can get to them with a ball end allen if you take off the heat shield

 

I checked all of the bolts I could see on the side cover...is there something I'm missing? I will search for some pics...my bike is not here right now or I would go look. Thanks.

 

I had the same leak on my 2010......posted here and found many folks with the same problem...apparently the bolt that mounts the exhaust breaks the integrity of the fluid reservoir....very poor design in my opinion.....but after having it tightened by my dealer since I didn't have a wrench that would reach it either.....it hasn't leaked since in several thousand miles of riding.....doesn't excuse a **** poor design though.....love the bike but little STUPID things like this are driving me crazy....maybe the folks building the bike in india will have a better idea....couldn't be much worse....

 

I had the very same 2 bolts loose on my 09 earlier this yr. At that time my bike only had 6K miles... The trans cover was leaking and burning on the bracket also. Both bolts were finger loose. I did not remove the heat shield. I put a small amount of threadlock on the 2 bolts, reinserted and tighten with the ball ended allen. No more problems

 

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Same thing happened on my buddies 2010 Road Glide they are tough to get at but long story short the stopped the leak once tightened.

 

Same thing happened on my 2007 Ultra. Check the bolts on the tranny end plate, the black plate, and not just the smaller chrome end cap.

 

Had to re-tighten mine also, don't worry about changing that gasket its metal as long as nothing has come all the way apart you can just tighten it and go. Use locktite red and your good, I had 6K on mine when it came loose.

 

Isn't Loctite red a little too bonding for a fastener that size? Would the blue be good enough?