Valve stem oil seals....

[Matt FXDX]

Can anybody answer this?..

Been told by a mate of mine that my valve stem oil seals are worn or perished on my 01 dyna,

my question is how mutch oil can this problem burn?..

As i can put as mutch as half a litre a time in after as little as a few hundred miles!..

Cheers
Matt..

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by Matt FXDX

Can anybody answer this?..

Been told by a mate of mine that my valve stem oil seals are worn or perished on my 01 dyna,

my question is how mutch oil can this problem burn?..

As i can put as mutch as half a litre a time in after as little as a few hundred miles!..

Cheers
Matt..

that seems a lot Matt ! do you ride it hard ? can you see white smoke from the exhaust ?

[Matt FXDX]

Originally Posted by Tony G

that seems a lot Matt ! do you ride it hard ? can you see white smoke from the exhaust ?

Yeh, does get riden hard now and again Tony!..

Yes it does puff a bit of smoke out from the rear cylinder exhaust!..

Not an expert on motors but it does sound a lot, but where else could it be going with no leaks?

Was gonna leave any work till winter, but the way it's going may have to strip top end soon or buy shares in some oil company

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by Matt FXDX

Yeh, does get riden hard now and again Tony!..

Yes it does puff a bit of smoke out from the rear cylinder exhaust!..

Not an expert on motors but it does sound a lot, but where else could it be going with no leaks?

Was gonna leave any work till winter, but the way it's going may have to strip top end soon or buy shares in some oil company

all engines burn oil naturally but some more than others !! and with the worn stem seals it would burn even more !!!!! so it might need a set of rings too ? if you are gona strip the top end i would put a set in Matt.

[spinlondon]

To check whether the valve seals are leaking (without removing componants), you have to get up to speed, shut the throttle down and decelerate with engine breaking, then open the throttle up again. If a lot more than usual smoke is produced, then it is the valve seals. Obviously the more you use engine breaking, and the more leaky the seals, the more oil will be burnt.

It is possible to replace the valve seals without removing the heads on most vehicles, but only with specialist tools and a compressor.

[Phil]

How many miles on the bike?

How do the plugs look? If the Stem Seals are leaking that much they should be well fouled, & the exhaust puffing like Ivor the Engine.

Harley Stem Seals are prone to perish if the bike has been left sitting for a long while.

[Matt FXDX]

Cheers for your replys lads!...

Phil... the bikes done 24.000mls, just whiped a plug out and their sutty'er than my grannys chimney, they've only done 5.000mls!...

Spinlondon... intrested in finding out more on doing the job without
taking heads off, only just done that when i went gear driven cams,
( did'nt fancy adjustable pushrods ) so heads off with new Canetic gaskets!..

Tony.. if the heads do end up comming off, i'll take your advice & take barrels off & do rings while i'm at it!!

[Matt FXDX]

Originally Posted by Matt FXDX

Cheers for your replys lads!...

Phil... the bikes done 24.000mls, just whiped a plug out and their sutty'er than my grannys chimney, they've only done 5.000mls!...

Spinlondon... intrested in finding out more on doing the job without
taking heads off, only just done that when i went gear driven cams,
( did'nt fancy adjustable pushrods ) so heads off with new Canetic gaskets!..

Tony.. if the heads do end up comming off, i'll take your advice & take barrels off & do rings while i'm at it!!

Also forgot to mention the bike only did 265mls in the first 3yrs of it's life!.

[spinlondon]

Originally Posted by Matt FXDX

Spinlondon... intrested in finding out more on doing the job without
taking heads off, only just done that when i went gear driven cams,
( did'nt fancy adjustable pushrods ) so heads off with new Canetic gaskets!..

Don't know how easily the task can be performed on the Harley engine, with it still in the frame. May find the frame gets in the way.
Basicly air via a spark plug adapter is pumped into the cylinder head which keeps the valves from dropping into the head once the springs are removed.
The springs are then compressed using a special spring compressor, and the collets/keepers are removed. The spring compressor whith spring still compressed is carefully removed and placed to one side.(Don't want to disturb the spring as it will be a bugger to compress again from it's free legth.) The seals are then replaced, the springs (still compressed and in the compresser) are carefully replaced along with the collets/keepers.
Obviously the rockers have to be removed.
The best ones are the sort that bolt to the engine, as then you don't need to worry about keeping the springs compressed once the collets/keepers are removed. Don't know if they are available for the Harley engine though.
Here's a link for you to get some idea of what the tools are like:
Valve Spring Compressors - UKtools - Sealey Tools | Britool | Draper | Facom |

[Ming the Merciless]

I experienced smoking on my ultra-low mileage FXR (less than 3 thousand miles on a 17 year old bike when I bought it). It came to my attention at night, because it was easy to see a smoke trail in the headlights of following cars.

The oil consumption was tolerable, but in the end I just got fed up with the smoking. Since fitting new stem seals and piston rings (with a hone) my oil consumption is now so low it can't easily be measured. Job done.