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[Deep Blue Dives]

Was changing out my air filter on my 2012 CVO Streetglide today.  When I finally got all the covers removed, and the filter came off, I noticed that there was oil present on the filter, and enough oil to drip a few drops off the plate.

Is this normal?  Or something that I need to get the dealership to look at?  Bike is still under extended warranty.

Oil levels are at the correct level too.

[r0de_runr]

Completely normal.  Meaning it happens to lots of Harleys.

My cure:

[Sarhan]

Completely normal.  Meaning it happens to lots of Harleys.

My cure:

Am planning to do some modifications on the original backplate

[lilcoot]

Did you recently change the oil?  If so, maybe you overfilled a little bit.  From other discussions here, most folks, including me, found that filling the crank case to the indicated "full" level will cause some oil to be routed through the breather tubes and into the intake/air cleaner.  As the oil level goes down, less oil will come through. 

On my '12 Street Glide, I had the same a problem.  I found putting in a little less oil at changes helped, but I had to keep a close eye on the oil levels.  That bike burned through at least a quart every thousand miles since it was new.  I think HD's bikes vary a lot in quality.  My '13 Ultra only uses about 1/2 qt per 5000 miles.

If using less oil doesn't help, venting the oil like r0de_runr did is another option.  I think Harley should have done this to begin with, but I'm sure it would have really dug into their profits... 

[grc]

Did you recently change the oil?  If so, maybe you overfilled a little bit.  From other discussions here, most folks, including me, found that filling the crank case to the indicated "full" level will cause some oil to be routed through the breather tubes and into the intake/air cleaner.  As the oil level goes down, less oil will come through. 

On my '12 Street Glide, I had the same a problem.  I found putting in a little less oil at changes helped, but I had to keep a close eye on the oil levels.  That bike burned through at least a quart every thousand miles since it was new.  I think HD's bikes vary a lot in quality.  My '13 Ultra only uses about 1/2 qt per 5000 miles.

If using less oil doesn't help, venting the oil like r0de_runr did is another option.  I think Harley should have done this to begin with, but I'm sure it would have really dug into their profits... 

Back in the 50's they could (and did) get away with venting the crankcase directly to atmosphere.  For the past several decades, however, it has been illegal for them to do so.  The problem is that Harley uses the least sophisticated system they can get away with, and the quality of that system is highly variable just like the rest of their stuff.

Deep Blue Dives: If all you get is a few drops of oil on the backing plate and filter after 5000 miles (normal interval for air filter service), there is no reason to panic or assume the engine is about to fail.  And it's highly unlikely a dealership would tell you anything different and offer to tear into your engine under ESP for that small amount of carryover.  But if it makes you feel better go ahead and stop by the dealership, let them know what you found (need to let them know how many miles since the last air filter service), and then see what they have to say.

Jerry

[Deep Blue Dives]

Thanks for the feedback - my tuner gave me the same run down about this being normal.  He told me to just keep doing my regular air filter changes (which the dealership had done in the past for no service charge - so that is why I hadn't messed with it before).  My tuner also has a mechanic friend that will do the bypass for a small charge, so this will be the way I go in the future. 

[Deep Blue Dives]

Did you recently change the oil?  If so, maybe you overfilled a little bit. 

Nope, was getting ready to do the next round of fluid changes.  First thing I checked was my oil level, and it wasn't overfilled.  I knew that would cause this problem.  Thanks for the input.

[Rooster]

Thanks for the feedback - my tuner gave me the same run down about this being normal.  He told me to just keep doing my regular air filter changes (which the dealership had done in the past for no service charge - so that is why I hadn't messed with it before).  My tuner also has a mechanic friend that will do the bypass for a small charge, so this will be the way I go in the future.

Uh Oh, there's that word.

[Sarhan]

My concerns that the oil is going back to the engine through the intake, on long term will this effect the intake/engine performance ?

[mark]

Many have found it's better to run your crankcase about 1/4 to 1/2 qt below full.  This solved my "oil in the air filter" issue.

[r0de_runr]

My concerns that the oil is going back to the engine through the intake, on long term will this effect the intake/engine performance ?

In my opinion, oil going into the combustion chamber will build up as unburned deposits and will eventually result in pinging.

One way to reduce that is to ride above 4k rpm all the time.

Might as well buy a four cylinder rice rocket. lol.