I have 20,000 miles on my 09 Road King and use Amsoil products throughout my bike. My bike is running fine and did so on a recent long trip. I rode over 4000 miles. I changed my oil today and noticed very tiny orange debris in the used oil. Is it normal to see tiny debris associated with the spring-loaded cam tensioner? Or is it premature wear of the tensioner pads. I know the debris from the tensioner pad can circulate within the engine oil and can score parts and clog small orifices.

Someone help me ease my mind. I know if I take my bike to my dealer, they'll tell me the worst. I'm familiar with the cam tensioner wearing; which makes me wonder if the chain in the cam chest normally scores the tensioner enough to pick up some debris and circulates it through the oil. I would hope the oil filter would catch it before it circulates throughout the engine.

 

Debris in your oil are not good. Open up the cam chest and inspect your pads.

 

Tensioner wear on 07 and up is minimal. i have checked them with 60,000 miles and were only worn a third. might have a little chunking. need to pop cover off and see. Mike

 

It seems tensioner pad wear on these bikes is as inconsistent as the weather here in Texas. My Indy says he has seen bikes with only a few thousand miles with lots of wear and some with tons of miles and little to no wear on the pads. He says the chains or burrs on the chains are usually the culprit. Anyway, it's best to check them every 10K for peace of mind. My bike is just hitting 30K in the next few weeks and that is part of the list to inspect. I hope I am not real surprised or disappointed with the results. Good luck.

 

Just put a set of Andrews 48H cams in my 2009 FLHTC with 34,000 miles on it. Very little wear to the tensioners. I am very happy with them. I also run Amsoil in all compartments.

 

Your bike has the hydraulic tensioner from the factory, right? And as I recall, those tensioner shoes are cream colored, not orange like the earlier spring loaded tensioners.

Might the orange be some permatex or such then?

 

They were orange in 08.

 

The 09's have the Hydraulic Tensioners, not spring loaded, I don't know the color, but it is supposed to be the smoother type roller chain.

 

In my 07 i opened it up at around 50000 miles and the tensioners were about 90% good so they went back in... 80000 miles now ...

 

My 08 RKC has over 100,000 miles on it. I'm thinking about having the tensioners checked for the first time. Cam chest has never been opened.