I'm not really beating myself up. I'm just really miffed that I followed Harley's recommendations to a "T" and it ends up I didn't really have to and could have saved a little coin! $65 puts a lot of gas in the tank!
Not Sure If New Oil Temp Gauge Is Working Right
- Thread starter Dr. Dolittle
- Start date
I'm not really beating myself up. I'm just really miffed that I followed Harley's recommendations to a "T" and it ends up I didn't really have to and could have saved a little coin! $65 puts a lot of gas in the tank!
The good thing is when you are ready to put a cooler on, all you have to do is buy the oil cooler from Jagg and install it. You have the adapter already!!
TQ
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Nope, I'm the sole owner of this bike.
FWIW, data from today's commute, FYI:
Ambient air temp: 52* start, 57* end (Texas!)
Bike started at: 8:03a, oil pressure at idle: ~40psi, oil temp gauge: <100
Hit the road at: 8:05a, oil pressure at 2.5-3krpm: 55-58psi
Oil temp hit 100: 8:15a
Off highway at: 8:16a, oil pressure at idle:~32psi oil temp:~120 (stop-n-go)
Oil temp hit 170: 8:17
Reached parking lot at: 8:35a, oil pressure at idle:~10psi, at 3k: 32psi, oil temp:~195, air temp: 57*
The "exact" values are not as important as monitoring the pattern I see on my bike, and watching for any extremes (very low pressure, very high temp). I would say the info above and from yesterday are representative. If the ambient air temp is lower, obviously it will take longer for the oil temp to come up (i.e., yesterday it only got up to around 185 for the same riding). Yesterday afternoon after riding home (about 30 min with air temp in the low 70s), I took my daughter to swim practice and dropped her off. By the time I returned home, the bike had been running over an hour elapsed time and the oil temp gauge read over 200 (~210-215). This is good. With the oil temp gauge and the oil pressure gauge, I have the tools to keep an eye on the engine's life blood. But these are not scientific instrument caliber gauges. Just indicators. The cooler helps manage the upper extremes especially in the Summer.
TQ
Ambient air temp: 52* start, 57* end (Texas!)
Bike started at: 8:03a, oil pressure at idle: ~40psi, oil temp gauge: <100
Hit the road at: 8:05a, oil pressure at 2.5-3krpm: 55-58psi
Oil temp hit 100: 8:15a
Off highway at: 8:16a, oil pressure at idle:~32psi oil temp:~120 (stop-n-go)
Oil temp hit 170: 8:17
Reached parking lot at: 8:35a, oil pressure at idle:~10psi, at 3k: 32psi, oil temp:~195, air temp: 57*
The "exact" values are not as important as monitoring the pattern I see on my bike, and watching for any extremes (very low pressure, very high temp). I would say the info above and from yesterday are representative. If the ambient air temp is lower, obviously it will take longer for the oil temp to come up (i.e., yesterday it only got up to around 185 for the same riding). Yesterday afternoon after riding home (about 30 min with air temp in the low 70s), I took my daughter to swim practice and dropped her off. By the time I returned home, the bike had been running over an hour elapsed time and the oil temp gauge read over 200 (~210-215). This is good. With the oil temp gauge and the oil pressure gauge, I have the tools to keep an eye on the engine's life blood. But these are not scientific instrument caliber gauges. Just indicators. The cooler helps manage the upper extremes especially in the Summer.
TQ
amckay63
Member
When you say install it in the oil pan, are you talking about using the second drain plug (it may not be called that or used for that, exactly) on the jiffy stand side of the pan near the front, but underneath it? And what hardware would you need for that site? (thinking of putting a HD oil gauge in my '08 RG where the ambient air temp gauage is)
Thanks,
Adam
amckay63
Member
Perfect! Thanks.
I'm hoping to finally get out in the garage and mess with this today. After rereading this entire thread, my first question is - where is the engine grounded? Is it an actual strap of some kind? I'm not a betting man but I'm hoping this little test will point to the teflon tape on the sending unit being the culprit.
Hope so. That is the easiest fix!!
On my bike, the negative (ground) cable runs from the battery terminal to one (rear) of the bolts that secures the starter to the ear on the tranny case.
TQ
Porter
Junior Member
Hello all,
After reading and reading and reading.... I did the following to my completely stock 07 Ultra Classic:
Switched the fluids to synthetics: Mobile 1 in the engine, Spectro 6 speed in the trans and Spectro Chain case...well...in the chain case.
I also installed an oil temperature guage. It was one that was recommended on this site as well. Not the HD model. The range of the guage tops out at 300 degrees F.
After the fluid swap and install, I rode around town for about 20 minutes just to see if things were working and make sure there were no leaks. The temp topped out at ~200F when I pulled back into the drive way. So, I figured so far, success.
Today I made a trip from my home to North Carolina. 300 miles in 5 hours and 2 minutes. Air temp started at 74 and rose to 85 F when I pulled in to the hotel. During most of the trip the temp gauge was reading ~270F.
It is hard to accurately get a number because the last demarcations are 230F and 300F and the needle was in between those positions but was slighlty closer to 300F.
I tend to use the cruise control and set the speed/rpm at about 70mph and 3000 rpm. I did notice that when I set the cruise control, after about 9-12 minutes the guage moves a little hotter (280? 290?) and I can feel more heat on my legs. When I vary the speed manually the temp pretty much stays right between the 230/300 mark. (I tried this several times and it was repeatable.)
Question: Compared to some of the temps that others have posted, mine seem pretty high. Am I just riding longer than most or is this normal?
If I believe the oil temp gauge and compare that data to the "oil break down" temps, I am tending to think that I am on a pretty tight window, especially if the air temp gets warmer. Any thoughts?
What is driving me nuts is that until I installed the gauge, I was happily ignorant.
Now I am a little worried.
I have ordered a TFI from Dobeck and the general consensus is that it will lower temps a little.
2 cents from anyone??
After reading and reading and reading.... I did the following to my completely stock 07 Ultra Classic:
Switched the fluids to synthetics: Mobile 1 in the engine, Spectro 6 speed in the trans and Spectro Chain case...well...in the chain case.
I also installed an oil temperature guage. It was one that was recommended on this site as well. Not the HD model. The range of the guage tops out at 300 degrees F.
After the fluid swap and install, I rode around town for about 20 minutes just to see if things were working and make sure there were no leaks. The temp topped out at ~200F when I pulled back into the drive way. So, I figured so far, success.
Today I made a trip from my home to North Carolina. 300 miles in 5 hours and 2 minutes. Air temp started at 74 and rose to 85 F when I pulled in to the hotel. During most of the trip the temp gauge was reading ~270F.
It is hard to accurately get a number because the last demarcations are 230F and 300F and the needle was in between those positions but was slighlty closer to 300F.
I tend to use the cruise control and set the speed/rpm at about 70mph and 3000 rpm. I did notice that when I set the cruise control, after about 9-12 minutes the guage moves a little hotter (280? 290?) and I can feel more heat on my legs. When I vary the speed manually the temp pretty much stays right between the 230/300 mark. (I tried this several times and it was repeatable.)
Question: Compared to some of the temps that others have posted, mine seem pretty high. Am I just riding longer than most or is this normal?
If I believe the oil temp gauge and compare that data to the "oil break down" temps, I am tending to think that I am on a pretty tight window, especially if the air temp gets warmer. Any thoughts?
What is driving me nuts is that until I installed the gauge, I was happily ignorant.
Now I am a little worried.I have ordered a TFI from Dobeck and the general consensus is that it will lower temps a little.
2 cents from anyone??
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