oil consumption

[Bhawkins854]

Anyone have any input on why I would be using over a quart of oil in 1000 miles on my 08 117? Just did a bunch of big upgrades about 4k miles ago, raised comp, port polish, oversized valves, cam ignition, exhaust etc. Did a compression test for the second time and I have roughly 200psi each cyl. No signs of smoke on start up, decent amount of black smoke on heavy accel which I assume is fuel. No sign of oil pooling up in the intake from the breather? Could I have bad oil control rings that just aren't showing up on my comp test? Can't figure out where all this oil is ending up.

 

[pknowles]

Rings might not be seated yet. are you running synthetic oil

 

[RCAdd1ct]

I was told to shoot for 185 on a compression test.

Anything over you have to be very carefull to tune the timing to not get knock.

I have experienced this multiple times. I never heard the pinging...neither did the tech, but the cylinders got scored end we had to re-hone and up piston size.

This happened four times.....in the end we decided the combination was not tunable and they dropped in an S&S 124 in it's place.

It might not be what you want to hear, but try routing you breather lines to a catch can. If it starts filling up you will either need to pop the heads off or use a scope to verify cylinder wall condition.

Are your plugs coated with oil? Mine never were when his was happening.

 

[Bhawkins854]

I cant hear a knock, only thing I can hear is my valve train which got considerably worse with the big valves and heavy valve springs. I had my shop send my heads and jugs to lee's speed shop that does 117's in this fashion on a regular basis. They had all the numbers for how much to mill off the heads and jugs. Im running a 84 main right now and if anything they seem a bit lean with the drop on humidity. Haven't noticed any oil. The problem seems there is no blue smoke, just black, and it doesn't smoke at idle or on start. How could I be pushing that much oil through the exhaust and not notice blue smoke?

 

[Bhawkins854]

I am using spectro 25 60. Was told it will keep the top end noise down. Ive heard synthetic will prolong the brake In procedure.

 

[bigdogtech01]

I cant hear a knock, only thing I can hear is my valve train which got considerably worse with the big valves and heavy valve springs. I had my shop send my heads and jugs to lee's speed shop that does 117's in this fashion on a regular basis. They had all the numbers for how much to mill off the heads and jugs. Im running a 84 main right now and if anything they seem a bit lean with the drop on humidity. Haven't noticed any oil. The problem seems there is no blue smoke, just black, and it doesn't smoke at idle or on start. How could I be pushing that much oil through the exhaust and not notice blue smoke?

84 Main!!!! Sounds like your dumping in way to much fuel...the rings probably never seated in. With that much fuel, it might be washing the rings out...did they bore the cyls. out? Just because they tell you they have worked on a lot of motors, doesn't mean necessarily they have....Have you put it on a Dyno yet? With a Load control and someone who knows what they are doing, you should be able to see what size jets you will need...I'm sure that 84 is way too big....it probably needs a 76 or 78 main and 31 or 32 pilot.

 

[RCAdd1ct]

I cant hear a knock, only thing I can hear is my valve train which got considerably worse with the big valves and heavy valve springs. I had my shop send my heads and jugs to lee's speed shop that does 117's in this fashion on a regular basis. They had all the numbers for how much to mill off the heads and jugs. Im running a 84 main right now and if anything they seem a bit lean with the drop on humidity. Haven't noticed any oil. The problem seems there is no blue smoke, just black, and it doesn't smoke at idle or on start. How could I be pushing that much oil through the exhaust and not notice blue smoke?

Wind noise drowns out the knock while cruising. At least that was my experience.

 

[Raywood]

84 Main!!!! Sounds like your dumping in way to much fuel....I'm sure that 84 is way too big....it probably needs a 76 or 78 main and 31 or 32 pilot.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

I agree

 

[Fibersnake]

84 Main!!!! Sounds like your dumping in way to much fuel........Have you put it on a Dyno yet? With a Load control and someone who knows what they are doing, you should be able to see what size jets you will need....

Excellent advice and I like that you indicated a load control or better known as some type of brake dyno.

Key is someone that knows what they are doing!!!!!!

 

[Bhawkins854]

I haven't had it on a Dyno yet. I had 10k on the bike when I did the build, didn't need a bore on the cylinders. Just a hone and new rings. I've been checking my plugs religiously and seems my main jet is leaving a nice brownish color on my plugs. Maybe I am way too fat on my jetting, would explain the black puffs of smoke. A good Dyno tune with a/f mixture sure wouldn't hurt either

 

[bigdogtech01]

I haven't had it on a Dyno yet. I had 10k on the bike when I did the build, didn't need a bore on the cylinders. Just a hone and new rings. I've been checking my plugs religiously and seems my main jet is leaving a nice brownish color on my plugs. Maybe I am way too fat on my jetting, would explain the black puffs of smoke. A good Dyno tune with a/f mixture sure wouldn't hurt either

Yeah, take that 84 Main out and throw it away...put a 74 or 76 in it and then check plugs...what's in it for Pilot jet? If oil consumption doesn't go away, your gonna have to put another set of rings in it...but this time, measure your cylinder bores....you might be out of spec...With stock bore, a mild cam and bumped up compression, you will not need that large of jetting....84 is largest you can buy, used for HUGE CI motors, not 117"
Also, what stones were used when you hones cylinders? Type and what grit?...This does matter.

 

[BigDogBro1]

A hone is used in a cylinder to help bring the bore back into a cylindrical shape through the length of the entire bore. If they honed the cylinder bore too much they could have gone over the max diameter for the rings. But still...1 Qt/1000 miles seems more than would get past an oil ring.

With your compression numbers and no smoke I can't see this being the problem.

Deglazing the cylinder is done using a bottle brush type tool that is used ONLY for roughing up the cylinder bore surface (once it's determined the bore is good) for the new rings to seat against.

 

[Bhawkins854]

This bike came stock with a 74 main, ill try to put a 78 80 in it and see where I'm at. I had "the best s@s performance shop in Minnesota" Mic out my piston to cylinder clearances. They should have been able to do it right.

 

[Bhawkins854]

Running a .033 pilot

 

[bigdogtech01]

This bike came stock with a 74 main, ill try to put a 78 80 in it and see where I'm at. I had "the best s@s performance shop in Minnesota" Mic out my piston to cylinder clearances. They should have been able to do it right.

Running a .033 pilot

Should have...but did they? Not trying to put that shop down, but...everyone makes mistakes, we are only human....As far as jetting goes, your way to fat..put a .032 Pilot in along with a 76 Main at most...remember, Leaner is meaner just as long as it's not too lean...Your plugs should be a nice light brown and you shouldn't see any black smoke out the exhaust...you have your accelerator pump setup right?

 

[Bhawkins854]

I can't be too sure if they messed up my cylinders or not at this point. I would have to assume they did it correctly but who's to say..I came down to a .082 and .031 since that's all I have on hand right now. Seems my plugs are on the lean side now, not terrible though. Might be a little late now since the temps are mid 60's, less smoke out the exhaust for sure. Haven't seen the oil level move at all in about 250 miles. I guess I will just keep fine tuning until I see the right combination, and try to get a Dyno tune done before winter. I'll keep you guys posted on how the numbers turn out!

 

[mzinna]

Ya know... I have an '08 Mutt...not a problem with it in over 20,000 miles.
I seem to go through a lot of oil also (synthetic Mobil 1) I took it in to Big Dog and they said absolutely nothing wrong with the bike. Not leaking oil, not burning oil...they did a pressure test and looked everything over...
I don't worry about it as the bike runs like a charm, sounds great... I have no smoke coming out of the pipes, plugs always look great, and no oil under the bike no matter how long it sits.... I just have gotten used to adding a little oil every 1000 miles and not worrying about it....