Wrench Report--Oil pump alignment, Oil in air cleaner, blow-by, misting.(LONG)
911
fact have some Champagne if you want it. I am celebrating. Sorry about the
long subject line but I hope future Googlers will be able to find some
answers.
I have a 2001 FXDL that was having a major blow-by problem. On long rides
at high speeds I would get a lot of oil in the breather. A shot glass full
every 100 miles or so splattered all over the right side of the bike,
massive amounts of blue smoke and many air cleaner replacements. Local
dealer screwed the pooch, had no idea and as I was fucking with them my
extended warranty expired. Oh well all the better. Who better to work on
my ride than me. Changed jets, exhaust and experimented with different oil
levels. Still lots o' mess and a lot of frustration.
I posted here and on Preacher's Yahoo site and got some great advice. The
one thing that was missing was follow up. It seems that people forget to
follow up when things get fixed. So I kept asking questions and the
prevailing wisdom was an oil pump alignment problem. See:
Now shouldn't a dealer have known this??!?! I digress.
I ordered the necessary stuff. A replacement gasket for the cam cover, a
pair of tappet block alignment tools, and finally the cam tensioner
unloading tools. All available from J & P as well as other sources I am
sure. Tools and gaskets arrived and as luck would have it the weather went
to shit and I had a window of opportunity.
Got it up on blocks and pulled off the exhaust, right sided peg and brake
assembly. Cracked open the cam box. Sat back and studied some more of the
Tech Tips and the service Manual. I did not pull the rocker boxes off and
unload the cams because I was not going to remove the cam support plate.
Marked the gears and the cam chain with a marker,
unloaded the tensioners (they look great by the way so I will replace them
at 30K like everyone else) and pulled the gears. Pulled the crank and the
cam gear and kept them together in their same position and set them on the
bench. As the tech tip procedure states I loosened all four oil pump
mounting bolts, removed two of them and replaced them with the alignment
screws, As I loosened the bolts the oil pump moved noticeably. Good
news???? Snugged up the other two bolts and replaced the alignment screws
with their bolts and, "Viola" procedure done. Reversed everything else and
she fired right up.
Total time about 3 hours. Not a real difficult procedure if you have a
little mechanical aptitude.
Now after several weeks and a few high speed runs, I have no evidence of
blow-by!!! (Insert picture of crossed fingers) I am now fairly confident
that the oil pump alignment procedure solved the problem. Just re-affirms
the fact that of you want things done right then do it yourself and fuck the
dealership.
Thanks again to all of you for your advice and guidance and Bob my local
independent wrench who was more than supportive. Enjoy that beverage, in
fact, have another!! I will buy you a real one of you find yourself in
Western Colorado.
Fred
Ding
Thanks for the MGD.
Those little alignment thingies are great little gizmos. You can use
them in several places on Shovels and Evos as well. I'v done a dozen
or so cams in TCs and I don't think I would try it without them. Guess
I now know where to look if I see somebody with this problem.
<clink>
Ding
50 Pan
81 FXWG
83 FLHPS
03 RKC
04 FLHTCI
-Being a Harley owner
does NOT make you a biker.
Dennis Peterson
>
> Now after several weeks and a few high speed runs, I have no evidence of
> blow-by!!! (Insert picture of crossed fingers) I am now fairly confident
> that the oil pump alignment procedure solved the problem. Just re-affirms
> the fact that of you want things done right then do it yourself and fuck the
> dealership.
>
This guy figured it out, too.
http://www.kenandjudy.us/Harley%20Pictures/AlignmentPins/index.htm
dp
Old Crow
Not sure who it was at Roger's changing his bike's diaper for the same
problem(dRog, maybe?). Anyway, I mentioned breather gear timing, but
maybe this has some potential to solve his problem.
--
Old Crow
'82 FLTC 92" 'Pearl'
'95 Jeep YJ Rio Grande
SENS, TOMKAT, BS#133, DOF#51, MAMBM
"There's only *one* RE"
Dennis Peterson
>
> Dennis Peterson wrote:
>
>>911 wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Now after several weeks and a few high speed runs, I have no evidence of
>>>blow-by!!! (Insert picture of crossed fingers) I am now fairly confident
>>>that the oil pump alignment procedure solved the problem. Just re-affirms
>>>the fact that of you want things done right then do it yourself and fuck the
>>>dealership.
>>>
>>
>>This guy figured it out, too.
>>
>>http://www.kenandjudy.us/Harley%20Pictures/AlignmentPins/index.htm
>>
>
>
> Not sure who it was at Roger's changing his bike's diaper for the same
> problem(dRog, maybe?). Anyway, I mentioned breather gear timing, but
> maybe this has some potential to solve his problem.
>
> --
> Old Crow
Took me about an hour to reverse engineer and build one from scratch and
round stock brass (which is too soft for the purpose). I'll try it with
steel next - didn't have any the right size to play with last night.
Could be another tool for the EKIII auction in the works :-)
dp
Dennis Peterson
D-Rog
> Not sure who it was at Roger's changing his bike's diaper for the same
> problem(dRog, maybe?). Anyway, I mentioned breather gear timing, but
> maybe this has some potential to solve his problem.
I'm guilty! This fix is for twinkies though - mine just has to have all of
the dots on the gears lined up. I will be checking it all out in the next
week or two when I do the cam, lifters, pushrods, etc.
--
Later,
D-Rog
'98 FLHRCI - "Stella" http://www.d-rog.net/
"Whatever you are, be a good one" - Abraham Lincoln
randy
> Pull up a bar stool and grab a beverage as I report on some wrenchin'. In
> fact have some Champagne if you want it. I am celebrating. Sorry about the
> long subject line but I hope future Googlers will be able to find some
> answers.
>
> I have a 2001 FXDL that was having a major blow-by problem. On long rides
> at high speeds I would get a lot of oil in the breather. A shot glass full
> every 100 miles or so splattered all over the right side of the bike,
> massive amounts of blue smoke and many air cleaner replacements. Local
> dealer screwed the pooch, had no idea and as I was fucking with them my
> extended warranty expired. Oh well all the better. Who better to work on
> my ride than me. Changed jets, exhaust and experimented with different oil
> levels. Still lots o' mess and a lot of frustration.
>
> I posted here and on Preacher's Yahoo site and got some great advice. The
> one thing that was missing was follow up. It seems that people forget to
> follow up when things get fixed. So I kept asking questions and the
> prevailing wisdom was an oil pump alignment problem. See:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/amdhq
>
> Fred
Nice report Fred. And thanks for the Corona.
randy