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[Hound Dawg]

Proud new owner of a '12 SEUC.  Bone stock as of right now....still planning mods.

Observation:  The chrome encased oil cooler below the voltage regulator is just screamin for a rock to break thru the cooler when I'm a thousand miles from home spewing oil everywhere. 

Is there a way to by-pass the cooler if this happens with minimal roadside tools?  Or can this even happen? 

Two years ago while touring Colorado on my '07 Street Glide my route planning turned into a fair amount of gravel roads that I reluctantly tried.  I didn't want to turn around....so I thought I'd trudge on.  If I had this new SEUC, my oil cooler would be danger from rocks thrown from the tire.

Any thoughts?

Thanx....

HD

[Twolanerider]

Getting dirty or even a little plugged up has been something folks have dealt with occasionally.  Stories of the units getting holed or otherwise rupturing haven't been an issue though. 

[kraut]

with the older version (-06) the hose had a known tendency to come off, but punctures to the cooler itself I've never even heard off.

[Skillet]

Never heard of it either. Always a possibility but nothing to be concerned about.

[miker]

You could always add a front fender skirt, like back in the day....

[ultrafxr]

Chit can and does happen.  Friend and his wife were riding last Oct. when she lost power on her trike.  When they got it safely stopped oil was everywhere and after towing to the dealer they discovered a hole the size of a pencil in the cooler.  No idea when, where or what caused it.  Thankfully their insurance, State Farm, paid the claim under their collision coverage as the engine was toast by the time she realized that something was terribly amiss.

However, I have had these coolers on cuse's and ruse since 2005 and many, many miles with no problem.  Personally I am not all that worried about it.  It is an outlier, not something that happens very often, imo.

[grc]

Here's a little exercise for you that might relieve your mind a bit.  Go out to your car or truck and take a real good look at the air intakes in the grill and lower facia.  You will notice stuff that looks a lot like your Harley oil cooler, only a lot bigger, and you'll also notice it is exposed to whatever may fly it's way just like the Harley cooler.  Radiators, trans coolers, power steering coolers, etc. are all just as exposed to the elements, and they rarely fail from road debris.  One reason is that the fins absorb most of any impact, not the actual tubes that contain the fluids.

Yes, it's always possible to have a failure.  But if it wasn't the oil cooler, who's to say a sharp rock wouldn't puncture the oil filter instead?  Or considering the history of the company, you could have a loose adapter plate and a gasket blow out, dumping the oil that way.

Monitor your gauges - folks who ride long enough to cause a Harley engine to become toast when the oil leaks out obviously never look at the gauges or idiot lights.  If it makes you feel more secure, get a hollow tube and two hose clamps plus about 3 quarts of oil, store them in a saddlebag along with some tools.  If the cooler gets a hole in it, stop the bike, remove the hoses from the cooler and connect them to each other with the tube and clamps, and you have bypassed the cooler.  Fill the oil tank and be on your way.  Be carefull of the oil leaking on the ground in front of the rear tire, as it tends to screw up traction.


Jerry

[Keats]

This would be way at the bottom of my totem pole of worries......

I think you would be more likely to  scissor a crank than popping a hole in oli cooler


oops I already did that.

in 2 engine rebuilds the oil cooler never once bothered me.

[Hound Dawg]

Thanx for the replies......

I'm not sure it is a "worry" of mine per se....really just an observation of an odd place for the oil cooler.  (It's my first cooler via my first CVO) 

The difference, I see,  between the HD cooler and the one on my 4-wheeled vehicles is that those aren't right behind any of my wheels on my car or truck as opposed to pointed downward right behind the spinning tire almost acting like a mud flap per se.  Again....thanx or perspective nonetheless.

HD

[kraut]

... Be carefull of the oil leaking on the ground in front of the rear tire, as it tends to screw up traction.