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[ultrarider123]

OK, I have to "man up" and admit when I screwed up! I have been using the LED dipsticks on my bikes for years even though they constantly break and I am replacing them under warranty as they never last a year. My tech hates that I use it and has always told me to ditch it and check my oil manually. How they always break is by either not coming on or temp being off by about 100 degrees but the oil level has always been accurate. This is my 6th motor I have broke in in the last 4 years and each time when brand new I have used some oil during break in and after. Sometimes on our forum I will read about how some people will say they have never burned a drop of oil with their motor so when I checked my oil with the LED dipstick Sat night after going 375 miles and it said "high oil" which it says when it is completely full I just figured this motor was was going to be one of those motors that never used oil. On Sun when I only had gone for a couple of hours and when I stopped and only showed 1 bar on LED I manually checked the oil and it was down about halfway between add and full thats when I assumed it had sumped again. The one thing that didn't make sense was that the bike never lost power and I did run it very hard.
I have to admit I absolutely tortured the dealer and even contacted a attorney about "next steps" if it had sumped again and yes I did tell the dealer I had done that..
It turns out that the LED dipstick was broke and it did use some oil Sat (and Sun Im sure) and if I would have manually checked the oil Sat I would have seen that and known it was normal as in about 600 miles motor used a bit over a half a quart.
Bottom line is I freaked out for nothing, bike is fine and I made a complete moron out of myself!
Of course the fact the biked sumped in the first place is still not ok but that doesn't change that I have made a bunch of peoples life miserable since last weekend (including my family..).
Good news, as of right now my bike is fine!
And yea, I got a new LED dipstick...

Alan, you DO know the definition of insanity, right?...

By the way, I dread clicking on this thread when I see you have made another post.  Sorta like a train wreck in that you don't want to look but can't turn away.  I'm always praying it's good news but that's not always the case.  At least this rebuild is going well so far....we are all pulling for you, sir.

[FLSTFI Dave]

Alan, glad to here you have not Summed again with the new motor.  Hopefully it will stay that way.

[SDCVO]

Update-after making a complete fool out of myself last week I took the bike out today still with the stock exhaust on and ran it very hard for 300 miles. Bike really did run amazing and it was crazy hot in So Cal today hitting 100 degrees in a couple of places. Even with the stock exhaust and Harley tune on it I have to say I am incredibly impressed with the stage 4 now that I can "wring it out" a bit. I have seen quite a bit of negativity on the stage 4 so maybe my expectations were low but I was kinda blown away when I really "hit it".
Ohh-though I did put another LED dipstick on since it was covered on warranty I promise I will never trust it again and will manually start checking my oil as I did today. I promise...

[FLSTFI Dave]

Glad it is doing well so far!  Hopefully it will stay that way.

[SDCVO]

OK, I will stop torturing everyone with this thread and deal with it myself but unbelievably the bike sumped today! After last week maybe the "karma Gods" are paying me back but went about 100 miles today with bike running great, stopped to get a drink and when I took off huge loss of power. went about 5 miles and pulled over at a gas station and MANUALLY  checked the oil and was barely touching the stick. I was about 30 miles from the dealer and said said screw it, I am going to try and make it there as most were highway miles. I could barely get on the freeway without getting run over as I couldn't get any speed going but finally got it up to about 70. The heat coming out the right side was crazy and it was smelling like it was burning up. All this is exactly what it did the first time which ended up melting entire motor so I thought "ohh well". What I had to stop at the light at the end of the offramp I could only get the bike up to about 10 mph the couple of miles to the dealer. When I stopped all the people outside were going "I think your bike is burning up" because of the smell.
3rd motor this month-amazing!!
Not sure where this is going to go but Im sure you all are bored to death with this and must think i am exaggerating-I think I would if I were reading it. absolutely makes no sense, 16000 miles with zero issues then I cant get 1000 miles on it without scrambling the motor..
Im taking up knitting!

[Heatwave]

OK, I will stop torturing everyone with this thread and deal with it myself but unbelievably the bike sumped today! After last week maybe the "karma Gods" are paying me back but went about 100 miles today with bike running great, stopped to get a drink and when I took off huge loss of power. went about 5 miles and pulled over at a gas station and MANUALLY  checked the oil and was barely touching the stick. I was about 30 miles from the dealer and said said screw it, I am going to try and make it there as most were highway miles. I could barely get on the freeway without getting run over as I couldn't get any speed going but finally got it up to about 70. The heat coming out the right side was crazy and it was smelling like it was burning up. All this is exactly what it did the first time which ended up melting entire motor so I thought "ohh well". What I had to stop at the light at the end of the offramp I could only get the bike up to about 10 mph the couple of miles to the dealer. When I stopped all the people outside were going "I think your bike is burning up" because of the smell.
3rd motor this month-amazing!!
Not sure where this is going to go but Im sure you all are bored to death with this and must think i am exaggerating-I think I would if I were reading it. absolutely makes no sense, 16000 miles with zero issues then I cant get 1000 miles on it without scrambling the motor..
Im taking up knitting!

Yep, full blown classic case of engine oil sumping.

[Slyde]

You said it was running fine, then stopped for a drink and it was sumping when you started out again? That’s interesting, most sump while being driven, some driven hard some not. Is it possible for it to fill the cases while sitting? Maybe there’s a clue here, at least in your case.


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[JCZ]

If I didn't know you Alan, I would think you were exagerating.  Man, I'm really sorry to hear this.....I was trying to be optimistic for you.  Incredible!

That new BMW is looking more and more inviting to me.  Did you see Steve's last comment in that thread?  He's going to make mods to make the bike more comfortable as well as work on flowing more air (header, exhaust, etc.).  Hopefully he'll have a package for the BMW 1600 by end of summer. 

[SDCVO]

You said it was running fine, then stopped for a drink and it was sumping when you started out again? That’s interesting, most sump while being driven, some driven hard some not. Is it possible for it to fill the cases while sitting? Maybe there’s a clue here, at least in your case.


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I was running it very hard up to a couple of miles before I stopped and then was stuck in traffic which was why I stopped

[SDCVO]

If I didn't know you Alan, I would think you were exagerating.  Man, I'm really sorry to hear this.....I was trying to be optimistic for you.  Incredible!

That new BMW is looking more and more inviting to me.  Did you see Steve's last comment in that thread?  He's going to make mods to make the bike more comfortable as well as work on flowing more air (header, exhaust, etc.).  Hopefully he'll have a package for the BMW 1600 by end of summer. 

Yea I answered you back on that thread. Steve comes up with a couple of mods for that bike and it will be hard to pass up. With this going on with my bike I might not be able to wait. Other issue I have with it though is the lack of a TFT screen which they do have on some of their other models so I am hoping they will make that change on the 19's. Thinking since they brought out the 18's early last year that maybe they will be releasing the 19 soonish. I do love the sound of that Remus exhaust!

[Slyde]

I was running it very hard up to a couple of miles before I stopped and then was stuck in traffic which was why I stopped

Thanks for the clarification and sorry to hear of your troubles.


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[bigsixman]

A friend and I each purchased new holdover 2017 SGS last October and we picked them up during the first snow fall and we have put about 450 miles on them the last 2 weekends.

We have been so paranoid about this M8 sumping issue that we have been checking the oil every time we stop and so far so good.

I cannot imagine what some people are going thru with their bikes sumping several times and engine replacements and the problem still persists.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Harley gets a handle on this issue.

[FLSTFI Dave]

Wow, Alan, I am very sorry to hear you Sumped again.  Harley really needs to get this solved now.  They release a kit and it doesn't perform.

I'm scared to do any mods to my bike because of this. 

[grc]

Perhaps the answer will be to always let the engine idle ten minutes before shutting it down after any "spirited" ride, to allow all that excess oil collecting in the engine to drain down into the sump and be returned to the oil tank/pan?  Only semi-facetious, and I'm sorry to hear about this latest failure Alan.

I wonder if Harley has done any testing to determine if perhaps way too much oil is being delivered to the heads and like the early Twin Cam prototypes the oil isn't draining down fast enough.  On those engines the excess oil was overwhelming the breather system, and the "fix" was to limit the amount of oil going to the heads.  That problem is what delayed the launch of the Twin Cam btw.  Thinking about the circumstances in this latest case, the engine was running fine until it was shut down and allowed to sit, then when started some time later it was immediately apparent there was a problem.  All that oil had to come from somewhere, and the only way I know of for that oil level in the sump to rise while the engine isn't running is due to the oil draining down from the heads. 

Jerry

[CVOStreetglide]

I am wondering what the experiences are with the “test mules” that Fullsac, GMR and many other highly respected vendors are having.

They upgrade and exercise the M8 motor to its limits and to my knowledge none have ever reported a sumping problem.


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