A Question I hate to ask

[David Jackson]

I have two Harleys; one is a Dyna which I had a 103 kit put in last year. I have told about it and asked many questions on this forum. It is apart because I asked the dealer to take it apart and install the 113" cylinders. When it was taken apart it was running fine and all that. It has less than 5000 miles since it was apart the last time and the only parts which I know are bad are the nylon cam chain tensioner shoes. I have mentioned that also before on this forum.

My other Harley I just bought because my wife wanted it (poor me, right! Everyone should be so picked on!) It is a lovely '01 Ultra Glide with just over 4000 miles on the clock in a very pretty dark green; with a Buz Tech trailer painted to match. A lovely thing; and it had the 95" cyls already installed. Anyway I read in Cycle World's Power and Performance about a good upgrade for "Big Mamma" as I call her; simply the 203 cams and the HD heads; for a nice fat torque curve of about 90 lbs; good for pulling me and my wife and the trailer etc. up hills on long trips. Also going with the SE 6 speed. This is not a racer, this is a tourer. Anyway; the techs told me the oil pump is bad, at 4000 miles!

What is happening here? Both bikes are apart because I asked for work to be done on them; both were running fine and yet both have somewhat major internal parts problems. My Dyna also had a new oil pump; at about 11,000 miles I am guessing; when I had the work done on it.

These parts failures are disappointing because they make me lose faith in HD. I really like the bikes but these kinds of failures concern me because they raise questions about basic design and basic materials' quality. Are my two bikes a fluke?

After an oil pump failure at 4,000 miles I wonder what else can fail and whether or not I should keep this bike or simply have the dealer put it up for sale once it is fixed. Heretical thoughts about bikes made in some European country enter a person's mind when trust in basic build quality arises. That does not mean I don't like HD but it does mean there are real concerns here.

Regards;

David Jackson

[Mike]

"Luke, don't turn to the dark side"! As technicians, we are trained to be critical (a good thing) but we can be overly so. Normal wear can often be mistaken for a failure or possible future failure. Many parts will "wear in" (tensioners) to a significant degree and then see very little aditional wear for the rest of the motor's life. Sometimes ignorance is bliss in that if we do not go in looking for problems, none will be found or experianced. The other side is that just the awareness alone means the part will fail (at least for me). It is often a struggle for a tech to make these decisions and so we tend to err to the cautious side and replace parts that are anything but in like new condition.
The good news is that, at least for the 99-01 models there was an oil pump/lifter upgrade ("B" suffix, not a wear issue but to increase scavenging and better oil control) and we recommend these along with cam installs, regardless of milage or wear on these bikes.
Thanks, Mike

[David Jackson]

After talking to the service manager at the dealership I am much mollified. He told me that he knew that I always am sensitive to disassembly issues for whenever wear is apparent on a part I would always not want to put it back. That is essentially the same thing you just said so we are on the same page! The oil pump was not in a failure mode; that was my paranoia in action. The pump has a score mark on it somewhere apparently; and that is why it was replaced with a new one.

I am no longer worried.

Regards;

David Jackson