low oil?

[09XB12R]

Riding on sunday when I heard a rattle. My front exhaust hanger was broken. I removed the chin faring and took it out. Tightened the bolts pretty tight. By the time I made it home I was missing two of the bolts! Then to top it off, the oil light came on, I checked it. Oil was low. Two questions,
Should I check the oil when engine is hot or cold?
The level was in the lower section of the dipstick that says add 150 mls. How much should I add? My bike is at 3800 miles, had the oil changed at HD dealer at 1000. Is this normal? I've heard the stories of these bikes devouring oil. Did I get a lemon? Ok, 3 questions. Just a little worried. Tried the search function, couldn't get it to work...

 

[09XB12R]

I took a chance by not going with a CBR or GSXR when I bought my Buell. I hope I didn't make a bad choice!

 

[FIDOSOL]

When you replace those bolts put thread tape on them so they fit in more securely. You ALWAYS check oil when the engine, and thus the oil, is hot. Make sure you are checking your oil with the bike resting on the kickstand as our bikes dipsticks are made to read from that position. Also, check the color of your oil, if it looks dark and black and nasty then just do an oil change. If it still looks caramel/amber colored and cleanish, just add some more oil. When you do change your oil, now or later doesn't matter, you should seriously consider switching over to full synthetic, it helps the bike out alot as far as response and also synthetic is supposed to be better for your engine. I use Royal Purple in mine and I love it. Check your engine for any oil leaks, if you find one, wipe the area down, tighten the bolt it appears to be leaking from and then take it for a test drive. If there is oil there again try adding thread tape to the bolt. If that doesn't work move onto replacing the bolt itself. If none of those work then you may have to take it to a mechanic, I've also heard of people putting a rubber washer on but I have no personal experience with that so I don't know if it actually works or not. With all of these bolts you should contact a Buell mechanic and get the torque specs and a torque wrench. Snap a bolt off in a vital location and you will hate yourself as you are tapping it out, rethreading the hole, and flushing whatever fluids you contaminated with metal shavings while tapping the remainder of the bolt out. Now I purposefully gave you best and worst case advice so you can work your way through the problem. If you have any more just let us know, and keep us posted with how this goes, take some pics if you can.

KEEP IN MIND! This happens to all bikes, not just Buells. Our motors vibrate a lot more than an inline 4 so they require a closer eye and better maintenance than most jap bikes, that's just part of owning the Beast.

 

[maybebuell]

with close to 3000 miles on the oil its time to change..probably normal to go through a quart of oil in 3000 miles span depending on how hard you ride...oil usage is normal

 

[09XB12R]

problem: broken head bolts. Maybe it happened due to the missing exhaust hanger, maybe not. It's at the dealer getting the head replaced now. I don't think the oil usage is abnormal, many people see the same thing on their buells. It just seemed wierd weirdto me. Besides, the service manual says check the oil at every fill-up. Guess i Ishould do that. I guess i Ijust need to get used to the idiosyncratic nature of the beast! Pics to follow when i Iget the bike back from H dealer. It's the '09 artic white and blue. All i've I'vechanged is license reloplate cteadD andinst alle helmet hangers in the "trunk." I do like riding this bike. I just hope it doesn't fall apart.dWell, first of all, thanks for the info. Very helpful. I was running synthetic, HD brand from the dealer when they changed it at 1k maintenance. It looked pretty good so I just added more. Problem solved, I guess. In my new thread I detailed my newnull

 

[09XB12R]

That was weird. The front of my last post moved to the end when I posted it. I'm using my G1 to post, that's probably the problem.

 

[dave_xb12r]

I hate to hear of a person possibly regretting buying a Buell. It is REALLY rare. I think you made a great choice. [up] Don't worry, your bike is built like a tank. It has much higher heat and vibration tolerances than your other choices.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Even in the worst case scenario, that's what warranties are for.

Where are you located?

 

[09XB12R]

Phoenix, AZ. Yeah, I'm hoping these will be the last problems for awhile. It is under warranty so I'm not too worried about it. I do love the handling, and I'm getting used to the power. It's weird to me, compared to my previous bikes, it feels like I'm not going fast (or sounds like it's not,) and I look down and I'm doing 70-80. I feel like it's a more mature bike, if that makes sense...