2005 FLHTCI excessive oil consumption
Harley BaggerDiscuss 2005 FLHTCI excessive oil consumption in the Motorcycles forums; I recently bought an '05 FLHTCI with 13k from the original owner. The bike is stock-no modifications. Prior to a 3,300 mile trip, I replaced all fluids and used Harley ...
I recently bought an '05 FLHTCI with 13k from the original owner. The bike is stock-no modifications. Prior to a 3,300 mile trip, I replaced all fluids and used Harley full synthetic motor oil. The bike used up almost 2 quarts of oil during the trip. I also own a '95 Softail Custom with 70k miles which never needs a drop of oil. After a dealer certified mechanic inspected the engine and determined I wasn't dealing with a "rich" running condition, he reassured me that what I consider excessive is really normal with these Twin Cams and Harley says there is no warranty recall for my bike on this issue, (apparantly some had valve seal issues). Does anyone have any insight on this issue?
It's possible you have shifted flywheels(excessive crank runout),resulting in damage to the oil pump which will cause oil to be trapped in the lower end & will force oil out of the breathers.This is,unfortunately,a very common problem.
My mechanic insists that it's bad valve seals, to the tune of $800.00, (ouch)!!!
Could that also be my problem or are you certain about the shifted flywheels?
Thanks
The symptoms for bad valve guides and seals are fairly straight forward. After your bike has been not running for a while (anywhere from an hour to overnight) and you start it up you'll get a small puff of blue smoke and the smell of burnt oil. These will quickly go away and, although the bike will still be burning oil, it will be a lot less noticeable. That initial puff is from oil leaking from the rocker boxes past the valve guides and seals down into the cylinder, pooling up and waiting to be burnt when you start the engine. After that intitial pool of oil is burnt up the small amount leaking produces very little smoke.
As far as burning oil it could be from worn rings (and at 13,000 miles this is hardly likely), galled cylinder walls (from improper break-in like loading up the engine before the rings have had a chance to seat in), or worn valve guides and seals. If it is the valve guides or valve guide seals you'd have to ask, "Why so soon?". Even if it is the guides and/or seals what would have caused them to fail so soon?
Ace's suggestion is definitely worth checking into and your mechanic should be able to check this easily before going for the top end job. I'm assuming your mech isn't just going to replace the the valve guide seals for $800 but is going to go for a full top end freshening up of sorts. At least valve grind, guides, hone job, and rings.
So, to me, this seems like either a premature top end wear problem somewhere or it's the funk-i-fied oil pump Ace mentioned. If you're going to go for a top end job I'd go with a big bore kit while you're at it. One of the better local independent shops here in Oakland, Ca (Godspeed) has an ongoing offer of complete top end job (including new OEM pistons) with a free optional upgrade to an all HD big bore kit for $1000.
Sounds like you know your stuff and I'll certainly be looking into all those possibilities. Thank you for the insight and your time. Just brought it in for another oil change today. The big bore kit for $1000 sounds like a good deal. Maybe that's the more sensible solution.
You also pose another interesting question, "why so soon"? What's your take on that question? The bike looked real clean, not beat up at all. Do you know of any factory recall for the valve guide seals? When I asked the dealer's mechanic that question, he went right to the plugs to see if they were wet or dry and they both came up dry.
I don't know "Why so soon?". If you do a top end job you'll probably get some answers but I'd check out Ace's oil pump thang before I tore into the top end. More investigation is needed before you get out the scalpel. It shouldn't need a top end job so soon for sure but who knows the past history of the bike even though it looks good. Also keep in mind a quart every 1500 miles doesn't qualify your bike as a mosquito fogger. You might just let it be for a while.
Have you cleaned your air cleaner? It's all part of the breathing process and a clogged filter can suck oil into the throttle body because it is not getting enough air through the filter. Having had a 2003 Roadglide with oil consumption issues on long trips there are many possibilities to consider. A leak down check would be the second place I would start. Have you local HD perform one and give you the results....or better yet be there with them. The check should let you know where any problems are.
You did not mention if there was any smoking..
Or what Color the plugs were, just that they were dry..
Or if there was any dripping or excess oil build-up in the Air Cleaner or anywhere else,,,, is there.?
Every time I ever had bad valve-guide seals there was black dis-coloration and/or crust on the plugs,,, and often but NOT always,, blue smoke,, sometimes intermittent sometimes steady..
In fact I have One bad valve guide seal now with the black crust..
A rich running condition,, good one.. Those guys will tell folk anything, jeeeze.. I'm guessing he was thinking about "wash-down"..
The A/F mix would have to be Excessively rich to wash down the cylinder walls, destroy the oil seal/lubrication and score the walls..
Cumbustion gasses would then "blow-by" and contaminate the bottom end oil resulting in Black oil in the oil bag..
Had it once, not by Wash-down though.. Bad rings allow that too..
What color is the oil in the oil bag..?
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2005 FLHTCI excessive oil consumption 
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