free website stats program Oil Temps | Page 2 | Harley Davidson Forums

Oil Temps

It gets hotter than Hades here in the summer and I have neither.


Bodeen
 
smitty901 said:
No. There is no reason to be watch an oil temp gauge.
The heat in a harley is not in the oil it is in the heads and exhaust. The heads are not oil cooler except on one engine.
Oil cooler is nice to have but not the end of the world if you do not have it.
Click to expand...

Got to agree with Smitty here, when the MOCO oil cools the heads like on the one Sportster model we will see a big improvement JMO:s
 
Put a HD cooler and in fairing temp gauge on my ultra almost as soon as i got it. At first, i thought something was wrong with the gauge till i brought out the thermomator and verified that the oil was barely getting to 180. It was only about 60F outside, and the thermostat was working properly, as the cooler was not heating up either. Figured that since i plan on slowly doing some mods that it would pay off eventually. Well, was in Oklahoma in August and got caught in traffic, I know they only work when you are moving, but i was moving intermittently and the oil got up to 260. One thing i do wonder about, when i was in that traffic jam and it was getting hot, the pressure gauge showed almost nothing till you were at about 1700 rpm and that kind of worried me a bit.
 
I use an oil cooler and synthetic oil. I was thinking about using the dipstick temp gauge but have read several persons have had problems with the dipstick portion (on the swivel model) coming off and falling into the engine so I won't be going with that Idea.
 
Last edited:
ultra...good said:
Put a HD cooler and in fairing temp gage on my ultra almost as soon as i got it. At first, i thought something was wrong with the gage till i brought out the thermometer and verified that the oil was barely getting to 180. It was only about 60F outside, and the thermostat was working properly, as the cooler was not heating up either. Figured that since i plan on slowly doing some mods that it would pay off eventually. Well, was in Oklahoma in August and got caught in traffic, I know they only work when you are moving, but i was moving intermittently and the oil got up to 260. One thing i do wonder about, when i was in that traffic jam and it was getting hot, the pressure gage showed almost nothing till you were at about 1700 rpm and that kind of worried me a bit.
Click to expand...

If you have not done so, I suggest opening up the nose cone (cam cover) and checking the tensioner shoes. Your engine has the spring loaded tensioners with their inherent problems. If they are worn, or getting close, consider up-grading. If not ready to do that, and the shoes are still greater than 50% beef, consider replacing the pressure relief plunger spring with the Baisley LMR-002 Spring. This will increase the oil pressure by 10-15%. See here:

Baisley Hi-Performance Oil Spring Product

Roller Chain Conversion White Paper

Roller-chain Conversion - Harley Davidson Community

TQs Engine Build

TQ's Engine Build - Harley Davidson Community

TQ
 
Last edited:
i have a ultra classic and i do monitor the oil temp. i installed the oil gauge that replaces the ambiant temp gauge on the inner fairing. i love it. i live in minnesota and I have not seen temps to install an oil cooler.
 
fin_676 said:
I use an analogue dipstick in my softail however my temperatures stay low as it never gets hot here although on occasions on summer trips we have encountered hot weather oil temp has never been above 220 Brian
Click to expand...

They don't sell an analog dipstick for the 96 TC Dyna do they?
All I have seen are digitals.
 
I have a Road King Police (FLHP) it comes with an oil cooler. I got a digital oil dipstick thermometer (not for the heat temp), but to keep an eye on the cold temps. I ride year round and am more concerned with NOT getting the engine temp hot enough in the colder weather. Tracy
 
TQuentin1 said:
If you have not done so, I suggest opening up the nose cone (cam cover) and checking the tensioner shoes. Your engine has the spring loaded tensioners with their inherent problems. If they are worn, or getting close, consider up-grading. If not ready to do that, and the shoes are still greater than 50% beef, consider replacing the pressure relief plunger spring with the Baisley LMR-002 Spring. This will increase the oil pressure by 10-15%. See here:

Baisley Hi-Performance Oil Spring Product

Roller Chain Conversion White Paper

Roller-chain Conversion - Harley Davidson Community

TQs Engine Build

TQ's Engine Build - Harley Davidson Community

TQ
Click to expand...

I am planning that for next winter. This winter i got a PCIII and Ness Big Sucker with SE slip ons for the ultra. I should also mention that i bought the 99 Ultra in March 10' and it had 2200 miles on it, now it has 15,000. I do all my own maintenance and change oil from 2500-5000 miles depending on where i'm at and if the oil looks dirty. I run the old oil through cheese cloth and sawzall the old filter to look for pieces, so far there have been none. Next winter it will have 30,000 or so and i figure that will be a good time for a new cam, hydraulic tensioners, cam plate and oil pump. Year after that, big bore and head work. I am on a fixed income seeing as how i don't work and go to school full time. Also, i did a new set of pistons, clutch, tires, brakes, ignition, etc. etc. on the XLCH so it has been a busy winter the way it is. With all the good info on this site, I am more then ready to tackle any job on all of my bikes. Big thanks to everyone who posts info about working on bikes and double that to all that post pictures. I will be taking photos of everything i do from here on out so i can reciprocate when possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top