Empty Oil Tank? Harley Oil & Lubrication Discuss Empty Oil Tank? in the Harley Tech & Harley How-to forums; I just took the cover off my 06 FXSTI yesterday after a long winters nap. Upon checking the fluids I found my oil tank appeared empty, I was checking it ...

I just took the cover off my 06 FXSTI yesterday after a long winters nap. Upon checking the fluids I found my oil tank appeared empty, I was checking it on the side stand and could see the bottom of the tank no oil all. I stood the bike up and found only about 1/4 inch of oil in the bottom of the tank. At this point I was not sure what to do I knew the tank was full when I winterized it and there was no oil on the floor and I know it did not evaporate. If I put oil in it to bring it up to level I may over fill and if I start it with no oil well that can't be good. So I crossed my fingers and started it and the oil level immediatley came back to full? So my question is, is this normal? I'm pretty sure this did not happen last year I'm sure I would remember that. Does the oil tank normally drain into the crank case like that when the bike sits for an extended time?

[HarleyCruiser]

Harleys are dry stump. That means there is no oil stored in the motor, it is pumped into the oil tank.
On the Softail the oil tank is higher than the motor. There is a check valve in the oil line to keep the oil from draining down into the motor when it is not running.
It is pretty common for this to leak especially over a long period of time.
The check valve can be repaired, but if it only happens over a winter storage, I would not worry about it.
A lot of times when you start the motor it will puke out some of the oil, but just make sure you have oil when you store the bike, make sure none has drained onto the ground, start it up, shut it off and check the oil, add what is needed.
And yes you do not want to add oil to the tank before you start the motor unless you like cleaning up oil.
And yes this is pretty normal, well not normal but common

HC, Thanks for the information it's greatly appreciated.

[Buzz Kanter]

Yup, sumping is an odd sensation. If your bike sumped the oil you might fimnd it takes a lot more effort to get it started and it might run unusually until the oil gets repumped back into the oil tank.