No oil top end

Cowboy,

What all did you do to the top end of the engine? It is interesting that you had oil at the top end until you put the rocker box covers on. Do you have an oil pressure gage on the bike? If so, what kind of pressure are you getting?

If I remember correctly, the oil light doesn't come on until the oil pressure is down to around 8 psi. Also, I'm kinda of leaning to what Chuck said about a gasket upside down. The gasket that is under the rocker arm support plate can be installed upside down on the wrong head, and right side up on the correct head. If it is installed upside down, it will affect the oil flow. Let us know what ya find.

Ringo

so are you saying that there is no real way to know which way is the correct side up on the rocker cover gaskets?

I get what it does when it is installed wrong, just kind of amazed that they aren't cylinder specified and marked accordingly if it is that easy to switch them.

So if installed wrong will it still allow oil to flow? Or are the completely blocked an allow none?

The rocker cover gaskets are not an issue. It is the gasket that is between the head and the rocker arm support plate, (lower rocker box). The gaskets are marked "Front" on one side of the gasket and "Rear on the other side.

They can be installed on either head upside down or right side up. When you install them, it's critical that you make sure the side marked front is installed on the front head and the side marked rear is installed on the rear head. The gasket is design to, when installed properly, cover and seal off the crankcase breather channel.

If they are installed upside down, the breather channel will be partially exposed. This will cause low oil pressure, but most importantly it usually causes a major oil leak because the oil flows into the breather channel and exits through the breather tubes going the your air cleaner, or to the ground if your breather tubes are routed there. I was just reading back in all the posts and I see that Cowboy is not seeing any oil leaks, so these gaskets are probably not the issue.

Low oil pressure can be caused from several things. Missing or improperly installed gaskets or o-rings, broken spring in the oil pressure relief valve, bad oil pressure sending unit, and some of the most obvious, bad rings, pumps, etc.

I ended up installing an oil pressure gauge on my 02' Heritage. Don't like the idiots lights, can't tell if you have low pressure, bad oil pressure switch, or an elcetrical short. I bought the one from HD. Comes with the gauge, bracket, oil line and manifold that your pressure and the oil line screw into. It mounts on the rear rocker box cover. I got of the cheap plastic oil line they give you and replaced it with a stainless steel one. The kit runs about $60.00. So even if you have a bad pressure switch, you have a gauge to read pressure. I'll try an post a couple of pics.

I'm HRK on checking the pinion shaft run-out. To do it correctly you need to remove the cam plate assembly and oil pump. If you leave the cam plate in, the pinion shaft will be supported by the bushing in the cam plate and you won't get a true reading. With the cam plate out, you will get the true actual reading for run-out of the pinion shaft.

It does make riding so much more fun when you trust your ride doesn't it? I know the exact feeling that you have.

Cowboy check this out....

TC Runout Inspection - Folder Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage