stage II heat issues

[murf]

I can't speak from experience, cause I've had none. But I read and learn that way and Donnie petersen writes tech. articles for "American Iron" mag. His opinion is everyone with a air cooled harley should have one. And suggests a good one with lots of capacity. This is not my opinion as I don't have the experience to venture an opinion, but it sure does make logical sense.

 

[Chopper]

I can't speak from experience, cause I've had none. But I read and learn that way and Donnie petersen writes tech. articles for "American Iron" mag. His opinion is everyone with a air cooled harley should have one. And suggests a good one with lots of capacity. This is not my opinion as I don't have the experience to venture an opinion, but it sure does make logical sense.

I agree with you too Murf, it makes "logical sense" unless you're out in the middle of the desert with a leaking or broken oil line, that you would not have without the cooler. The bad taste in my mouth with oil coolers come from earlier years when I swear the only thing oil coolers were good for was a oil leak, I've repaired enough of them over the years, there were lots of bad designs out there, but cooler oil is a good thing and coolers have come a long way over the past 5 years. I'm the rider that camps in Yuma for the day then gets up 3 o'clock in the morning to cross the desert. Harley see fit to put them on the 110 CVO bikes from the factory, that says something for them, but for me it will remain a personal choice because I see a down side as well as the good, if I lived in Yuma yes, but living in Idaho no, all air cooled engines should have radiators too but then they wouldn't air cooled and I wouldn't be riding them anymore.
But good point Murf.

 

[glyd-n]

These systems turn up from time to time.
They are IMO not a good idea. The fins do not and are not in the right place place to provide any real cooling. Looks like a good idea but not effective.
Filters are so important to the life of your engine it is not a good place to mess around. HD does somethings very well their filters are one of them.
If i wanted to go with a cartridge type filter I would stick with the one Hd offers.
TC engines require 5 micron filtering hard to believe a reusable filter would maintain that over a log term.

I have to agree. Seems more about getting money than protecting engines.

 

[Ole Dawg]

What would you consider to be the top oil cooler available?

Chopper, do you think that many of the problems you've encountered in the past may have been to poor instalation or lack of proper maint.?

 

[Chopper]

What would you consider to be the top oil cooler available?

Chopper, do you think that many of the problems you've encountered in the past may have been to poor instalation or lack of proper maint.?

Not really, the way Harley routed the lines on the earlier touring models was just a bad design I think, they have upgraded the hoses & routing along with their coolers and the new ones do look clean, but installation and maintenance is always a factor on anything. But I'm a simple person that likes to keep things simple, more on a bike, more to go wrong and if Harley's needed a oil cooler, it would come with one from the factory. Unless you live in the deep south in desert country, I don't feel the need for one, just my personal opinion. But if I was going to buy one it would be made by Harley Davidson, a life time of trying aftermarket products has shown me the quality of buying Genuine, especially when you have to work on them all the time, Harley has the fit and fuction down pat. Now you'll have to excuse me, I have to go barf, I feel like I just made a TV commercial for Harley.

 

[Ole Dawg]

Not really, the way Harley routed the lines on the earlier touring models was just a bad design I think, they have upgraded the hoses & routing along with their coolers and the new ones do look clean, but installation and maintenance is always a factor on anything. But I'm a simple person that likes to keep things simple, more on a bike, more to go wrong and if Harley's needed a oil cooler, it would come with one from the factory. Unless you live in the deep south in desert country, I don't feel the need for one, just my personal opinion. But if I was going to buy one it would be made by Harley Davidson, a life time of trying aftermarket products has shown me the quality of buying Genuine, especially when you have to work on them all the time, Harley has the fit and fuction down pat. Now you'll have to excuse me, I have to go barf, I feel like I just made a TV commercial for Harley.

......I too like simple, but in todays world thats wishful thinking.
Just the radio on my bike gives me a headache when I think
about its complexity.Everything seems to have to do 100 or
more different things.:swoon The HD Oil Cooler seems well
made but as was said it does add some problems with its
addition. I'm a bit supprised that HD hasn't made oil coolers
a factory installed item as has several of the top air cooled
engine manuf. have done. At least on their Touring Models.

 

[Jim B.]

I am a firm believer in the utility of an oil cooler. I therefore installed the HD oil cooler after my stage one upgrade just for peace of mind. So, I would definitely install one after getting a stage 2 upgrade.

 

[Retrop]

For my part I do not have a problem with oil temperatures in the 250-270 degree range, as long as I had synthetic in the case. Granted, I would not like to maintain that temp all afternoon either. But, it is an air cooled engine and it is engineered to run at high temperatures. I think I read in the service manual that the rear cylinder cut off will kick in at around 280 degrees or so. That is a pretty good indication for my part that the engineers who design these things and pay close attention, are not worried either when the temps get up to 250-260 degrees. I have experienced the back cylinder drop out on two occassions. Both times it was in a parade type situation. I immediately dropped out both times and got to moving again. As long as you are moving at 20 mph or so, I don't think you could hit 280 degrees. Stop sign to stop sign is another story though.
As far as oil coolers go, I would be in favor of them being factory installed, especially if I was riding in the southernly regions where it gets up to 100 degrees or so in the summer. You can't have too much protection. Having said all that, I can not recall seeing a late model Harley that had scalded cylinders due strictly to it running hot. Usually something else contributes like high compression or a fuel management device that goes haywire etc. I see many cop bikes sitting behind a bridge abutment in the heat of a summer afternoon. Most of them sit there with their engines idling too. I have got to think some of those bikes are hitting 300 degrees or better on a regular basis without blowing up. Just keep em moving and change the oil regularly and we should be good to go.

 

[Hoople]

The thing to remember is oil temperature will be way different than cylinder temperature. As it pertains to my '09 Dyna, the engine temperature sensor is located in the front cylinder. The front cylinder A/F ratio is leaner than the rear (factory map) and the high temp engine management system (EITMS) kicks in when front cylinder temp reaches 300F.

I have seen my front cylinder temp go above 300 and still have an oil temp near the 240 mark. It's just a guess but I would think if the oil temp is in the 270 range, your front cylinder temp would be over the top.

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

A highly tuned HD V-Twin Stage II or otherwise generates heat, how it removes it is plain and simple...by convection (air blowing past fins) and conduction cooling via the metal fins and oil spray underneath distributing the heat over broad coverage area. Will an oil cooler help, yes...even in a traffic standstill, yes because the temperature difference between the outside air and the turbulating oil in the tubes are still expelling heat to the air fins of the cooler because the head distribution is still happening. Get the cooler at $250-300 is actually a bargain, cheap insurance compared to the alternative.