over heating flh

[co83shv]

 went out for a ride on my 83 flh ,after about 25 minutes bike seems to be over heating and knocking  . Bike is stock and has a oil cooler  . I live in  south jersey so its still is pretty cool .I pulled the return line to the oil tank the oil  seems to be puking out even at high reves . not a steady flow .I run 50 wt oil and some times I ll throw in a quart of 40 wt in mid winter . Has any rider here had this problem with their bike , before I pull the oil pump and any ideas on a good quality pump .thanks

[CraigArizona85248]

Seems like most bikes return oil to the tank is a sort of "puking" fashion... not usually a steady flow in my experience, but the flow goes up/down.  I attribute that to the fact that it's a scavange system.  If you have a motor that is running hot on a cool day, I'd check two things.  1) look for an intake leak.  If the motor is running real lean you might be burning a hole in your pistons.  2) Check the timing.

-Craig

[76shuvlinoff]

Yeah like Craig sez,. I have the stock flh oil tank and with the cap off (take the filter out too) the oil only pumps about 1/2 way across the opening with her reved up and this is an S&S pump.

Do you have a pipe suddenly turning blue? Hose the intake manifold with WD or starting fluid (keep it out of the back of the carb) does the idle change?

[co83shv]

 Thanks for the ideas craig and 76  ,the bike seems to be running fine other wise, no proplem with idle when I spray starting fluid or pipes turning blue ,on my bike my filter is mounted by back wheel ,so the oil line just drops in to the top of the tank .I should have mentioned the oil pukes into the tank with little bursts of air and the bike will usually start on second try even on cold days

[Hybredhog]

   when stoped is the oil in the tank back up to full? if its noticably down, you may be wet sumping, and the work it takes for the flywheels to plow though the oil can cause it to over heat. I have seen where those small spin-on filter clog or the element doesn't flow well, just changing it may help, and I'd use a multi-grade oil in cool weather...Jeff