Twin cam Oil pressure

[grumpy.old.troll]

Hi all and top marks on the new site.

I just wanted some opinions to decide wether or not to panic. I've just changed the oil in my 2000 fatboy as the temps are starting to drop here in europe and as usual i go to a 10w 40 oil in the winter months as the bike is used daily etc. But the problem started before the oil change. Went to warm up the old oil and for the first time ever the harley oil gauge went round to 60 psi and stayed there then dropped to nothing and refused to move up untill i had about 3000 rpm. I decided to just ignore that as i presumed it was the gauge going south. Anyhow I changed the oil and used a new harley filter etc went to start her up fired first time and i checked to make sure that oil was flowing back into the tank etc. The gauge was still giving odd readings so i went for a spin after a couple of miles looked down and the oil gauge was working all seemed normal, bike felt good pat on the back for me.

Fired her up for work this morning and the first 3 miles oil light kept coming on at idle (a new occurance) and my idle is set about 1050 ish and the oil gauge was all over the shop once again but the bike sounded and felt fine. Is this an indication of the oil pump going south or just a gauge finally screwed up after a hard life?

Many thanks G.O.T

[dakota224]

You may want to change the cam bearings.. and change the oil pump too.

[JimB]

Change out the sending unit first then the oil gauge if needed ... cheaper than tearing into the motor.

Replace the cheap parts first

[grumpy.old.troll]

Thanks for the replies so far. I have just ridden home and again the oil light came on for the first  mile or so if i came to a stand still and the pressure guage was registering almost nothing with cold oil when it used to read about 40 when first started. Once the oil is warm pressure guage reads fine and oil light stays off at idle.

However since changing the oil temps have dropped about 15 degrees but my idle oil pressure which used to read roughly 10 at idle is now reading 20? I dont seem to be losing much through the breathers which from what i understand is normally a sign of a oil pump on it's last legs.

yours confusedly

G.O.T

[Don D]

Get a manual gauge temporarily hosed in and check what is really happening.

[Bakon]

Since the fatboy does not come with a gauge...you added one. I would check this first. Much easier than going after the pump. Have you ever changed out the cam bearings? 2000 was a bad year. How many miles? If needed I have all the inners you might need on the swap meet. You have a balanced motor so the support plate is different, plugged or a boss is covered when installed in an A motor but not in a B, I cant remember with the changes done..