Low Oil Pressure

joyflyin

Hey guys, my husband has a 2004 Electra Glide Classic, and while we were talking today, (he was asking what his gearhead wife does on this site all the time, hahahaha), he asked me to try and find out about his oil pressure on his bike. It starts off okay, but once the bike warms up, the pressure drops down to about 5 psi or less. It's below the first dot on the gauge. It has done this since he's had it, we immediately stopped & checked the oil and it was good. He quit riding it, (boo hoo, we were on vacation ) until he could get it back to our dealer at the time. They checked it out and said it was okay, and "that they all would read low on the pressure gauge". So, since finding this fountain of knowledge here, we thought we would get a 2nd opinion. The bike runs okay and all, but if there is a problem with the low pressure reading, we would like to get it corrected.

Thanks again.

Bluesssman

If it was checked, I would think they used a separate gauge and therefore, your gauge maybe working incorrectly. I would be worried with only 5 pounds of pressure!

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Hobbit

low pressure is never good, get it checked again with an off board gauge ask the dealer to show you, also see if you can find the same bike and see if that suffers

glider

A lot of harleys barely move the pressure gauge when idling.As long as it comes up with some rpm's there's not too much to worry about. It;s probably OK when it's cold though.

It could be an oil pump alignment problem if it is too low or the wrong weight oil being used (20/50?) Run synthetic oil?

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BaZa

With no oil pressure, the first thing you will notice will be rattling lifters or tappets as they rely on oil pressure.
First thing to do is beg, steal or borrow a regular manual pressure gauge & hook it up to the outlet above the pump. Then you can tell if there is indeed any oil pressure.
Another thing you can do is take off the oil tank cap. If everything is working ok, you will be able to see the oil circulating.

Don't rely on the gauge; it could even be that.

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BaZa ®
Just here over the pond in England 20 miles north of London

joyflyin

Thanks for the help guys. We will check it out. Baza, the bike sounds and runs fine, no unexplained noise. The pressure does increase some with rpm's, so we fill a bit better. He still won't let me ride his bike because he argues that after that happens, I move up to his bike & he doesn't get to ride it anymore....... There may be a pattern similar to that in our history though

We are thinking it may be the gauge, but will change the oils (if my bike likes the Glider fluid combo, that's what will go into his bike), check the pressure with the external gauge and will let you know. Still waiting for better weather here. 2 foot wide patch of ice in front of the garage door is slowing me down Thanks again for your help. Never hurts to over check these things.