Harley Droppings

[coreytrevor]

There is a small slot/hole at the bottom engine-trans mating surface.

[bbolesaz]

Thanks, that explains the continued drip drip after I washed the oil off of the outsides.

 

I'd really hate to look inside there. The little rubber plug was quite nasty just on its own.

[Chuck]

Like Docc said, as long as it was just that breather hose (very common) all that will clear up with a new one. Probably no damage to the clutch plates. Even a rear main seal leak doesn't normally affect them.

[docc]

Quickest way for the clutch to get oil fouled is one of the forward gearbox seals to fail.

 

Take your starter off and clean out that cavity with a high flash point solvent. (and all the cautions that go along). It'll all run out of the *weep hole* at the bottom of what we hot-rodders call the "bell housing."

 

Then use gstallon's "foot powder" method to watch for any other leak points. There are a bunch of them!

[bbolesaz]

So, you may have seen in another thread that my local dealer screwed up my breather hose replacement. I really want to attend the San Diego rally this weekend, so an alternative is in order.  Footgoose suggested heater hose, so this evening I investigated.  

After the requisite disassembly, I removed the old hose.  Suprisingly, the only part of the hose that had gone bad was the 3-4 inches nearest the motor. The part near the frame seemed fine. I guess it is a heat problem. 

I measured the fittings, they are 3/4". So a 3/4 heater hose should do the trick.

While there, I blew some air into the hose to make sure there isn't a problem with the breather system. Air flowed through the frame easily and exited in the airbox, just like it should.

I took the old hose to my local AutoZone.  We found a tall L shaped hose, 90 degree bend with about 4" on one side and 17" on the other. It is Dayco 80413.

I cut about 1.5" off of the 4" section to mount to the engine fitting and the 17" other section will bend down then up meeting the frame fitting pretty well.

Looks like it will work. I should be able to give it a good run Wednesday night to see if it does.

[gstallons]

This will be a temp. fix. The heater hose will not last long. It is not designed to work with petroleum products . When you get to a good break , get another hose and d-i-y. 

[bbolesaz]

Only gotta last thru this weekend.

 

Eventually, my dealer should get their shiz together and get the replacement hose in.

[docc]

Only gotta last thru this weekend.

 

Eventually, my dealer should get their shiz together and get the replacement hose in.

Good plan. I had passed on the heater hose attempt and replaced mine with the factory part when trying to control the various oil leaks on the Sport. Frankly, once the breather hose was off, I found it wasn't leaking even after close to 100,000 miles.

 

It does occur to me that the hose is subject all manner of nastiness from the crankcase ventilation. After all, this is the nasty vapor/ suspended liquid fraction being expelled from the hot oil. Degradation of the breather hose seems mighty dependent on what is in that expectorate. Low grade motor oil, extended change intervals, poor state of tune (especially overly rich), frequent cold start-up, engine wear, and ethanol fuel (and it's nasty binary azeotropes) would all contribute to degradation of the hose material.

[footgoose]

Only gotta last thru this weekend.

 

Eventually, my dealer should get their shiz together and get the replacement hose in.

 

It'll last the weekend. Mine's been on 2 years and no visible problems. Seemed fine this summer when the motor was out. Still quite firm when removed at the lower end. I'll check it proper when I do 'tank off maint' in a couple months. I'll report in with findings. I'm not that concerned with it since it's easy to replace, and the one that was "designed" for the job pretty much disintegrated.

 

MGCycle has this one http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=71&products_id=1186 and it 'may' be of a better material than oem. I'd give them a call. In stock.

[bbolesaz]

Well, I ran it hard for about an hour yesterday evening.  So far, so good.  Furiously knocking on wood.

[bbolesaz]

Points for heater hose.  A nearly 1000 mile weekend, no runs, no drips, no errors. Hard running too.

 

Still no word on the real part from my (idiot) dealer.

[Scud]

Glad you stopped the major leakage and made it home without incident. Must've been damn hot on I-10. It looked like it might also be about time for a new timing cover gasket and cam position sensor O-ring. Try to find the metal timing cover gasket, because the paper ones tear and are the cause of many leaks.

[bbolesaz]

Naw, it was a balmy 98 going home, barely enough to break a sweat in the helmet.  Added that stuff to the list for when the bike goes up on the lift.  But since we are entering prime riding season here in Zonie land, that all may wait until summer.