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[PHAZE]

I've had three or four bikes with this issue.  Oil blows out of the air filter area and splatters on the pipes, right saddle bag, drips down on the area below the air filter, and just generally makes a mess.  I'm in Milwaukee on my '06 CUSE.  It was clean when I arrived up here, but in the last day or two the oil problem has shown up.  I've complained when I've had the bike serviced (and did the same on previous bikes) and they've told me something about some valves that have to be changed, some business about how this could happen if the oil is over filled (they do the service, so a problem of their creation), it could happen if I'm "getting on" the throttle, etc.  What causes this problem?  Is there something that I can do to fix it or is it a dealer service issue (I'm under warranty)?  If there was something that I could do, I'd like to make a change before I ride back to the Memphis area.  I'm looking for input!

Thanks,
PHAZE

[Ride n Shine]

This can happen if you have a little to much oil in the tank, I had it happen in my '01 Softail when I first got her and after a heap of stress it turns out the guy that sold her to me had just put a wee bit to much oil in. Hope thats all you have to deal with. If you've got a Softy get her hot then wait a few moments then check the oil with the bike up right, it should be between the full & min marks. Good luck.

[SERK3]

Mine was doing samething and would puff blue smoke out the left pipe, it would happen when i would get on the throttle hard then back off, Dealer told me it was because i went from SE SYN oil to oil, I went back to SYN oil and has not happened since, have appox. 4,000 miles on this oil change and is on the full mark.

LIVE EASY, RIDE HARD

[pado]

Cox's HD removed the black bracket because I had a hi flo A/C.   After pic will follow.  Seemed to correct the problem for me.

[grc]

Short answer is that it's caused by a design flaw in the crankcase breather system, and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on Harley to fix it.  Keeping all the oil on the inside is something that Harley has had problems with throughout it's history, and as you 110 owners have found it's a tradition that is still going strong.  I haven't had the issue on other brands, and I haven't had it on cars since about 1980 something, so it isn't something we should have to live with.

You will find all kinds of "fixes" available from the aftermarket, some which actually help and many which just relieve you of some cash.  If you search the site on "blow-by" and "breather" you should find several threads which discuss this problem as well as many of the "fixes".  The first thing to try is running the oil about a pint below full.  The only foolproof fix I've seen so far involves running a hose from the heads to a collection bottle, bypassing the air cleaner entirely.

Jerry

[skreminegul07]

This can happen if you have a little to much oil in the tank, I had it happen in my '01 Softail when I first got her and after a heap of stress it turns out the guy that sold her to me had just put a wee bit to much oil in. Hope thats all you have to deal with. If you've got a Softy get her hot then wait a few moments then check the oil with the bike up right, it should be between the full & min marks. Good luck.

Newer bikes require the bike on the jiffy stand to read the dipstick properly.  Tranny too.

[ultrafxr]

Hi Preston.  Hope you guys are having a blast in Milwaukee.  There are umbrella valves up in your rocker that are supposed to help control the oil mist venting.  They are like a rubber diagraphm and can get brittle, crack, etc.  So if they've never been replaced you could have that done under your extended warranty.  Other than that and keeping the oil level on the low side of acceptable I don't think there is much you can do.  There are numerous aftermarket devices that claim to fix the problem but many members report that they do not.

[pado]

After.  I haven't cleaned the old oil off yet.

[Free]

Short answer is that it's caused by a design flaw in the crankcase breather system, and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on Harley to fix it.  Keeping all the oil on the inside is something that Harley has had problems with throughout it's history, and as you 110 owners have found it's a tradition that is still going strong.  I haven't had the issue on other brands, and I haven't had it on cars since about 1980 something, so it isn't something we should have to live with.

You will find all kinds of "fixes" available from the aftermarket, some which actually help and many which just relieve you of some cash.  If you search the site on "blow-by" and "breather" you should find several threads which discuss this problem as well as many of the "fixes".  The first thing to try is running the oil about a pint below full.  The only foolproof fix I've seen so far involves running a hose from the heads to a collection bottle, bypassing the air cleaner entirely.

Jerry

Jerry - it is funny that MOCO has had this issue for ever. In my EVO FXR, with the gravity fed system, if i left my bike inactive for too long (maybe 3 to 4 weeks), when i start it up, its spews oil (if i dont clean the air filter before).  When i rented a bagger in Reno, the guy tells me that if i lug the bike in 6th gear, i may have oil spew out so dont worry about it if it happens.  i just think to myself, i cant imagine the Germans sit around saying "oh, Heinz, dont worry about fixing that oil problem, we will just tell our customers not to keep their bike idle for more than 3 weeks and dont lug the bike"

best

Free

[Hoist!]

Jerry - it is funny that MOCO has had this issue for ever. In my EVO FXR, with the gravity fed system, if i left my bike inactive for too long (maybe 3 to 4 weeks), when i start it up, its spews oil (if i dont clean the air filter before).  When i rented a bagger in Reno, the guy tells me that if i lug the bike in 6th gear, i may have oil spew out so dont worry about it if it happens.  i just think to myself, i cant imagine the Germans sit around saying "oh, Heinz, dont worry about fixing that oil problem, we will just tell our customers not to keep their bike idle for more than 3 weeks and dont lug the bike"

best

Free

Their breather system has always been either too small, inadequate, or poorly designed. Simplest is when we vented directly from the cases. Do what you want with it at that point, and just be prepared for dumping an occasional wet sump on the floor, after it's been sitting awhile. Nothing but a PIA since they moved it to vent thru the heads. Requires overhead plumbing instead of below. But either way, the surest way to get it from misting all over everything, is to replumb it to the ground! Look at the Kury Bluegrass Breathers. They're adapters to allow you to get it from the heads to the ground or a cannister. Pipe them to a tee, with a single line down to the ground. Done!

Hoist!

[Ride n Shine]

Newer bikes require the bike on the jiffy stand to read the dipstick properly.  Tranny too.

All 88" Twin cam B models say it both the owners manual and my Haynes service & repair manual "to check lubricant level 1, Ride the motorcycle until engine is warmed up to normal operating temperature. 2, When the engine reaches nomal operating temerature turn the engine off and posistion motorcycle STRAIGHT UP and LEVEL". I don't have a manual for a 96" or 110" as I don't own one of those bike's but the guy that over filled my '01 Softy told me he checked it on the jiffy and that was why it was over full.

[BigR55]

Had a case of this on my 06 while riding the dragon and back and forth over to Gatlinburg. Seemed to be from a lot of third and fourth gear high rpm engine braking that caused the oil to foam. Changed the filter and have not had a drop since. I still have the original filter and backing plate.The lower oil level approach seems to work. My Honda buddies carry a real looking plastic oil spill and are always putting it under my bike.

[Ironhorse]

My '91 Evo Heritage did it, so did my '95 Evo Ultra, and so does my '01 TC Ultra. I have heard others say that it's better to run half a quart low. I route mine down to the frame and let it leak and blow by down there. It does make the bottom of the bike a bit messy, but better there than on the side of the engine. Somehow it gets worse when I climb. Going from sea level to a couple thousand feet really makes it puke. So rather then spend money on "Umbrella Valves" and stuff like that, I'll let it blow out and run the oil levle a little lower.

[altugo]

My 06 SEFATBOY does it after every oil change.It turned out that i had too much oil in.Theres a strange way to read how much oil you should have in your bike.You got to run it for a while then steighten the bike to do the reading.It got fixed for now tough.

[Ride n Shine]

My '91 Evo Heritage did it, so did my '95 Evo Ultra, and so does my '01 TC Ultra. I have heard others say that it's better to run half a quart low. I route mine down to the frame and let it leak and blow by down there. It does make the bottom of the bike a bit messy, but better there than on the side of the engine. Somehow it gets worse when I climb. Going from sea level to a couple thousand feet really makes it puke. So rather then spend money on "Umbrella Valves" and stuff like that, I'll let it blow out and run the oil levle a little lower.

And on to your back tyre? Maybe you could drain it into a catch bottle.

[CVOMOE!!]

Check the breather bolts where they go into the head.  Sometimes they get loose and the oil will seep past the breather tube that goes into the air cleaner and blow out all over the right side of your bike.  You will be able to see the oil seeping at the round aluminum cover where it goes against the head.  Just remove your air cleaner, pull the little rubber boots off the breathers and then check the bolts.  I think they are 7/16th if memory serves me well.  Other than that as others have said is keep your oil level about a 1/4 " from full or add the after market kits.

Regards, Moe

[Bankrupt]

This was a huge problem with my 2000 Wide glide that I had after I put in the big bore 95' and a new air filter system. This was a carb. bike but it was real bad at the two little piston looking things on each side of the breather. If you road it a little hard or right at the oil level mark,yep! it's drippin'. grc is so right with what he said so run a little low and you shouldn't have any more problems. I didn't! Good luck and happy ridin'!!!!

[JoMo]

Thanks everyone for your comments.
My bike is a 08 soft tail custom 3 months old and 1200 miles on her and 7 year extended warrenty.
The only thing I did to her was change the exhaust system and 1000 mile service, I Will see them Tuesday


                                Jo Mo

[JoMo]

Well I went to Harley Davidson N Y today and they checked out the problem and found that the Arlen Ness baking
plate was cracked and missing -O- rings caused leak. They tryed to put a new one on and that one broke in the same
place chit metal casting, they settled on H D plate, better made and all the O rings.
Down the road I go.

                                        Jo Mo N Y C

[PHAZE]

Thanks for the input here.  The CUSE is at the dealership now.  Since the problem came up immediately after the 15,000 mile service, I'm going to let them deal with it.  I plan to have some discussion with them about the oil level issue.  If running the pike a pint low with help avoid the problem, that sounds like a pretty easy fix.

[Bleach]

you have to buy a oil breather kit there is umbrella flapper valves that go bad every few thousand miles in the rocker boxes harleys answer is to burn the oil in the cylinder but that causes oil to burn and slug up on the valves and pistons and foul out plugs so just spend the money on a oil breather kit ! Harley knows about this problem and would rather you bring the bike into them and tear the whole top end apart for $2000 then install a $25 dollar breather kit from ebay or they charger $130 for it and claim they have no idea what your talking about !

[North Georgia Hawg]

There is the old trick of drilling out the oil drain holes in the rocker support plates to 1/8" and countersinking them a bit to improve oil drainage from the rocker boxes. It will help reduce or even stop the oil from coming out of the breathers into the A/C or onto the heads.

I did this my old Evo FLHTP, and I've done it on the Honey Badger. Several of my friends have done it, too.

Ken

[Cvostu]

So far on my sesg3 it's been pretty clean in that area.    On my 04seeg, I ran hoses from the breather out.    Much cleaner around the right saddle bag now,,  after a long day it would get pretty messy there from the blow by. 

[mrflewellyn]

i tried the fixes everyone recommended. Reduced the amount of oil to show about half full on my dipstick. I checked for any cracks in the backplate, checked the o rings and breathers. I still have oil spilling out the air filter. It especially happens when I rev the engine. Was anyone else able to find any other fixes? Any help would be appreciated

2009 FATBOB

[bigchuck]

Their breather system has always been either too small, inadequate, or poorly designed. Simplest is when we vented directly from the cases. Do what you want with it at that point, and just be prepared for dumping an occasional wet sump on the floor, after it's been sitting awhile. Nothing but a PIA since they moved it to vent thru the heads. Requires overhead plumbing instead of below. But either way, the surest way to get it from misting all over everything, is to replumb it to the ground! Look at the Kury Bluegrass Breathers. They're adapters to allow you to get it from the heads to the ground or a cannister. Pipe them to a tee, with a single line down to the ground. Done!

Hoist!

X2
8 years later and still the best answer

[mrflewellyn]

That sucks that I may have to pipe it to the ground, but having oil all over the bike sucks more. I was considering it may happen more when the engine gets really hot. i was considering installing a new air filter that provides more air and installing an engine breather on the other side of the bike to keep it cool. This sucks, i never had this issue with my Iron 883...but it was a 883. Thanks for the info, I'll check the Kury Bluegrass Brothers website.

[ptnlinda]

I have had this problem to some degree with every Harley I have owned since 1992. Six in total now. Venting to the ground or to an Oil catch can has been the way I solved the problem.

[chaos901]

In addition to some of the responses above, it can also be caused by the air filter being dirty.  Been my experience that I have the problem on long runs at high speed on the expressway, but that might just be me.

[msquad]

Another alternative.  Used '14 Streetglide parts and drilled a hole and got some hose from the part store.   Ran breather elsewhere instead of into the engine.

[ptnlinda]

In addition to some of the responses above, it can also be caused by the air filter being dirty.  Been my experience that I have the problem on long runs at high speed on the expressway, but that might just be me.

Yes me also, the problem is always worse when touring doing big miles at high speed.

[msquad]

BTW, whether you are getting oil or not out your air filter it is better for the engine to blow that hot oily breather air somewhere else than the engine.  The engine prefers cool clean air for power. 

Check out the piston pics: http://www.dkcustomproducts.com/Overview-of-Stage-I-Upgrades-DK-STG-I-FAQ.htm

[jacora]

Hi guys;
I have no clue to have oil in my throttle body after been done the engine breather by pass.
The breather holes were both sealed with set screws and Locktite.
This is a take-off throttle body that was ported before installation, so it was totally cleaned, cero oil residue.
Your opinion and inputs are welcome.....I just have no clue....

[VANAMAL]

On my 12 i drilled and tapped and ran a hose into a catch can under the frame. It doesnt get much anyway so filter stays clean. My 2005 seeg never had any problem. I do have an agitator filter thats tapped for sale

[mrflewellyn]

Hey Guys, I bought the Kuryakyn oil breather kit. I decided not to get the oil catcher because i wanted to vent the oil back in the engine. My question is, where in the engine do i flow the oil? The brackets connect to the breather output, then hook to a tube, you flow the tubes under the tank, the tubes connect at a Y-splitter, then one single tube flows out of the splitter. But where on the left side of the bike does that hose flow into?

Maybe I need some sleep and i'm thinking too hard....but i'd like to be back on the road tomorrow without oil dripping everywhere.

Thanks! All help is appreciated.

http://www.kuryakyn.com/products/1031/bluegrass-breather-kits

[msquad]

Wow.  I don't have an answer but usually these bikes are modded so that hot oily air is Not put back into the engine.  This is a first for me. 

[mrflewellyn]

squad thanks for the response and yea i agree. After reading a couple forums i believe the best thing is to route the oil to the ground. But now am I stuck trying to use the bolts that came with the kit to mount the banjo elbows that came with the kit onto the carb throttle body. but by dong that you can'y put the backplate back on the carb/throttle body to hold the air filter setup. All the reviews i get on this Bluegrass Kit system are excellent, but the directions that came with it are not.

[mrflewellyn]

it's the way my air cleaner support bracket is set up. It won't allow me to use the kit with the bolts that's been provided.