| Author | Message | ||
     Pat_bigga |
i'm gonna pull my motor and do all the gaskets in the heads...i switched to synthetic oil after 10,000mi and now i'm blowing all my oil gaskets, front rocker, rear rocker, crank seal and rear base. i fixed the the rockers with new steel ones, but i figure i might as well do them all. gimmie a chance to look at the pistons too...(i hope i don't get a case of the "while i'm in there's"  anyone have an opinion about replacing the studs that sandwich the heads together...also...anyone have a reccomendation for a gasket set that works well with synthetic oil... -pat | ||
| Rookie |
I just recently tore my topend off to fix some pesky leaks and to have a looksee. I didn't replace the studs and haven't had any problems yet....be careful not to let the pistons hit them though. I ended up bead blasting everything, lapped the valves, and replaced the valve guide seals. As far as the gaskets with synthetic oil, I've been running mobil 1 for quite a while with no problems, maybe it's just coincidence that it started leaking when it did. | ||
| Cyclone1 |
Another thing to "look at" is your crankcase breathing system. I don't know what setup you have, but if the engine can't breathe (like a clogged vent tube, clogged crankcase breather, etc.) it WILL find a way. Usually past a gasket  Why pull the whole motor out? You can do all that stuff with the engine in the frame. As far as pistons go, I'd worry more about the rings, than the pistons (especially on a lower mileage bike). The rings are designed to wear. You'll need to look at the second compression ring. H-D says to replace the rings if the black line is past half-way down on the second compression ring (the first ring is shiny from the get go). I've taken motors apart that ran great and didn't smoke, and the 2nd ring was shiny, so go figure. Kind of up to you. May as well replace them while you're in there though. Make sure you at least ball hone the cylinders if you replace rings. I've got 50K on my 2000 superglide, and its still running strong and smoke free. Studs should be ok unless you're building a nasty nasty motor that require stronger ones, or if they are rusty, damaged, bent, etc. The oil thing is coincidence in my opinion. You can ask 10 different people about synthetic oil vs. the regular stuff, and you'll get 10 different answers I'd do James base gaskets, cometic valve seals (those are excellent), and stick with harley gaskets on the rest of the stuff. Frank | ||
| Pat_bigga |
i don't ever get any oil blowback into my aircleaner, which i always thought was good thing...maybe thats a problem... i'm gonna pull the motor because i'm gonna get the frame blasted and powdercoated... how would i check the crankcase breather? -pat | ||
| Steveford |
Don't know if this is germane to this discussion but we've had a couple of Sportsters come into the shop recently that were puking oil into the air cleaner and the fix was to pull the oil filter and adaptor and then replace the cheap plastic check ball and spring with a new cheap plastic check ball and spring. Evidently, when the plastic check ball wears it doesn't seat as intended and then it pukes into the airbox. | ||
| Pat_bigga |
yeah, the same thing happens with PCV valves, the spring and ball either deform or lose elasticity due to the the constant pressure changes caused by the strong power pulses of the v-twin motor...or so i read on the Krankvent website... -pat |
