103 kit using oil ..? : V-Twin Forum: Harley Davidson Forums

Bandit111 · 10-01-2009, 10:47 AM

Installed a 103 BB kit , 101 hp & 115 TQ 7000 miles ago. Engine runs great but have noticed it has been using some oil . 1600 miles and it is down about a 1/3 on the dipstick . Just wondering if that is something I should be worried about . Or is that just the nature of the beast ...????

Thanks for your time on this issue.

Bandit

cmueller · 10-01-2009, 10:28 PM

Check compression, both cyl should be within about 5 lbs. If varies more, squirt a few drops of oil in each cyl crank engine a few turns and retest. Also - ground spark plugs to prevent blowing coils. Check plugs for oil fouling.. Also check breather ports into air cleaner, excessive oil buildup.

Shed · 10-02-2009, 01:02 AM

Rings may not have seated 100% go and give the bike a hard run using all the rev range then drain the oil and try something like Amsoil.

I have found HD oil evaporates rather fast.

qtrracer · 10-02-2009, 07:46 PM

I wouldn't worry too much 1/3 of a quart in 1600 is not excessive but if it starts to use more like 1/2 in a 1000 miles start investigating!

Bandit111 · 10-05-2009, 11:40 AM

Thanks !! Talked to my tuner and he said that it should be fine !

Bandit

xtractor · 10-05-2009, 12:54 PM

Yep. My new 103 build did same thing during break-in. I now have about 13,000 hard miles on it this season and it does not burn a drop.

bigbluff · 10-10-2009, 04:36 PM

If you are running dino for oil, then it will evaporate faster. Running synthetic, like Harley's Syn3 or Amsoil, will improve that.

Coolmaker · 10-11-2009, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbluff

If you are running dino for oil, then it will evaporate faster.

Oil evaporate????????????????????????????????

bigbluff · 10-11-2009, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolmaker

Oil evaporate????????????????????????????????

Certainly! All liquids will turn to vapor at some temp.

Dino (oil made from dinosaurs) evaporates at a lower temperature which is why you will use it faster than synthetics which evaporate at a higher temperature.

jerry34208 · 10-11-2009, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qtrracer

I wouldn't worry too much 1/3 of a quart in 1600 is not excessive but if it starts to use more like 1/2 in a 1000 miles start investigating!

Best answer.

Coolmaker · 10-11-2009, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbluff

Certainly! All liquids will turn to vapor at some temp.

Dino (oil made from dinosaurs) evaporates at a lower temperature which is why you will use it faster than synthetics which evaporate at a higher temperature.

No motorcycle will get hot enough to "Evaporate" oil.....

bigbluff · 10-13-2009, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolmaker

No motorcycle will get hot enough to "Evaporate" oil.....

Regardless, dino goes somewhere, somehow, and is lost where synthetics don't seem to go and therefore are not lost.

I assumed it was because of a difference in their behaviors in a high temperature environment... I don't know at what temperatures the two oils vaporize, but the temp in the exhaust port of our Harley engines gets over a thousand degrees F and that is absorbed into the head which has plenty of oil circulating through it, helping to cool it along with the air blowing past the outside. The oil in the heads gets mighty danged hot and I suspect that it is in that environment where the dino gets lost and the synthetic survives. But that is the surmizing of an old man who has learned that I don't have to top off the synthetic oil when I have to top off dino fairly often.

Maybe one of the smart guys (of which I am obviously not) could chime in and explain.