Ya know...I started watching these videos cuz my bike makes a whining chirping noise. After watching about 8 or so videos, I have come to the conclusion that , " We're all in this together ", Cheers and have a nice day .😂
Was that whining chirping noise your cam chain tensioners? I had mine go out in Minneapolis on my way down to Kansas City and almost shelled my engine. But it was that same whining chirping noise. Also be very cautious a lot of people try to sell the gear drives to eradicate the cam chain tensioners those come with flaws so just be wary... I wasn't knowledgeable Anna and I had an old boy convinced me to put a gear drive in and I think that ended up showing my motor as I didn't keep up with the crankshaft run out and tolerances of which I was ignorant to. So be careful of that on those 88's
Good luck brother! You are looking in all the right places but success is not guaranteed. I torn my engine twice, lifters rockers pushrod compesators chain tensioners OEM and aftermarket, sns crankshaft se plate and pump and the bike still sounds like a bucket of bolts. Found one real thing that made a bit of a difference though. Oil squirer, the one that wets the bottom of the piston was seized open. That helped a lot. The other thing is i actually went back to non adjustable rods and found them to be marginally quieter. I am done looking though. To much money in this project. Have fun!
I just had my 02 wide glide making the same exact sound. I just bought my bike 2 weeks ago. They called me and said that my lifter has imploaded. I'm still waiting to pick up my bike but it's a highly reputable place that's doing the work. I 1000% agree with you when you say time gets away from people. The guy I bought the bike from showed me receipts for everything he just had done. Just had was 4 to 5 years ago but he didn't ride it much so
The thing done last is what should have been done first. Change the oil. Is the level low? If so, oil starvation maybe the issue. The description of the oil tells me the oil has lost its viscosity. Thicker when cold very thin when warm-hot. If the noise is still there after running warm for a bit with new oil and filter, pull the cam plate and check passages and oil relief valve. Check the push rods to see if one is bent or clogged. (removing them intact is no big deal if you have been turning wrenches like you say you have) If all that checks out then turn your eyes to the lifters. Don't be a parts changer, diagnose.
I'm having the same problem with my 91 softail custom! I was about 20 yards from my driveway after running pretty hard, eh, maybe not that hard, but yeah the bikes sound changed. Little back history with the bike: it was owned by a long time friend and he had 96" jugs and heads(all S&S) it shouldn't have more than 20k on it since the work was done, I know it went to Sacramento(from Elko Nv) but the last 3 years it hasn't ran much, because he was sick, bad heart and emphysema and he just didn't have the strength to pick her up anymore, so I found out he had passed away and left her to me, Also the maintenance regimen did also suffer in that time. I was asking a friend what I should do and he said run it, lol, I have started it a few times since the sound changed but yeah man it sounds exactly like that bike, I sure do hope you post what you did to fix it, if you have a email I would love to correspond with ya, and ask you some questions, I too am a life long Auto and heavy truck mechanic and also have ridden metrics forever 😂, thanks for the Video My Man!
Good luck with the lifters and I hope that fixes your problem. I reused the original lifters in my cam swap but at the time my bike had less than 2,000 miles on it so I considered the lifters like new.
@@rusty7two Yeah at 30,000 or 40,000 miles I would have replaced them too....unless the guy wasn't familiar with Harley's. If he was going by car logic he may have thought that they were still low miles for lifters. A lot of the things I know now about the twin 88 came from experience with my own. Before that I had only worked on old American cars, newer Japanese cars and a few old Japanese motorcycles.
Two things stand out - the oil was extremely dirty and it's louder when it warms up. I didn't see a follow up video but i bet the problem is a stuck/dirt in your oil pressure relief valve in the cam plate. I was lucky on mine as I had an oil pressure gage so I could see that when the engine warmed up, my oil pressure dropped out because the oil got thinner and the lifters start making noise that just keeps getting worse/louder.
Wow as I read through the comments and the ones who would do a rebuild and reuse the lifters you go that far the cost of new lifters it kinda makes sense to replace them
Take a blunt object and push down on all 4 lifters now that you got it open. Youve got a bad one if the plunger moves easily. They should normally all feel solid. Easy check.
My 2000 rd King dash is computer controlled. I swapped one out because my tach was separate n i wanted it together, mileage was exactly the same as my stock one once plugged in!
That twin cam 88, is probably the B version which has counter balancers in the right side engine case, Those have an inside chain that runs on a guide and turns the two counter balancers. That might be the noise
When you said at the start of the video; let it warm up 5 to 10 minutes, I threw a red flag right then! I let mine, an 05 Road King Custom flhrsi T.C. 88, warm up for 2 minutes, then take it easy, for the first few miles of riding. I ride everyday! (Hopefully won't come across five traffic lights that all made me stop for three more minutes each!) Remember Harley's are air cooled, and no way to cool it off (if it gets too hot, and you keep hitting it the traffic lights red) unless you stop the engine for twenty minutes or so. Yes, Harley Davidson recommends that your engine is at operating temperature! But unless you have a fan pointing towards the cylinders, it's going to get too hot, and you will feel the heat when you are sitting on it, waiting for the light to change green, and the (water cooled engine with radiator) automobile drivers, decide to get off their cell phones, and go! Long story short: idling for long periods is bad! (Unless it's a very windy day!)
Lifter was my first thought. It's definitely dropping one cylinder and sounds like lacking compression on one cylinder. Possibly not opening an intake valve.
You can check the pushrods and valve train make sure there is no play in there. Check shaft bushings , rockers and lifters. If this happened just out of the blue. There is one more culprit. It could be the piston oil squirter. They work on same oil passage as lifters. They are not suppose to open until 15psi, they do stick open, especially after a tensioner has grenaded and put plastic parts through the engine. Check to see if noise goes away or diminishes at 15 psi oil pressure and up.
I'm having this exact same issue with my 91 88 lower end and 96 inch S&S Upper(jugs heads) cams and the rest, I was looking at pulling the engine and tear down, basically exploratory surgery to see what I could find, I'm also a life long auto mechanic and metric bike "fiddler😂", my bike was Bequeathed to me, and I know that the Last 3-4 years it didn't run much because my buddy got sick with heart attacks and emphysema and he just couldn't pick her up anymore. I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have as well my Man! OH YEAH, ever since I got it it has puked oil out the bag and down my leg, pretty sure scavenge issues too,
I have a 91 soft tail custom, 88 bottom and 96 inch S&S jugs and heads and have the same problem, sounding like this problem runs through all the twin cam years
Dirty oil...one original lifter check ball got grit stuck in it and it collapsed and won't pump up right? That's my guess. New lifters problem solved. P.S. Had that happen to me once...change oil regularily!
Right , how did it go ? I would change the lifters to S&S , add S&S adjustable quickie push rods and change the oil . Also , add the Hy cam plate with Andrews 26 cams. But , it does seem bad , like the rocker arms are not getting oil.
I’m having the same thing and I’m gonna be installing rocker lockers too but gonna check the push rods and lifters out as well id like to know what you’re fix is thoe my bike been doing this for like 4 days now oil pressures good bike runs decent just super loud noise if it sits cold start not hateful once warms up it just about what you got but id love to know the fix
Same here, it just out of the blue started, I had been out riding and about 20-30 yards from my driveway the bikes sound changed, it still runs ok, but it doesn't sound right
I finally torn mine down, but before a guy told me it was piston slap an I didn't really know, but I torn it down an it was piston slap, I couldn't hardly believe it,,fixed the problem running gr,,
Lifters on a twin cam don’t need to be changed that often. It’s only the evolution motors that need to be changed every 40,000 miles one thing I’m sure you’re learning is it everybody has opinions but the facts are evolutions for sure need to be changed every 40,000 miles at least.
You have a noise in a TC88 that is valve train related so you cut the one piece pushrods replace them with adjustables, replace the lifters and call it a day? You were a couple of bolts from checking the tensioners. Jeeez...
@@rusty7twoyour description of it being like a switch flipped, same thing happened to me, 91 soft tail custom 88 lower and S&S 96 upper, but yeah the sound just changed and it sounds a lot like your bike or your dad's bike I mean
stop running that bike, your killing the engine. I have the exact same firefighter RK. At 40,000 miles I installed a FUELING 525 gear drive kit what a difference, if you have to pull shit apart install the best that keeps it from destruction. I installed an S&S gear drive 509 kit in my 2001 flht, great system but no comparison to FUELING. glade it worked out for you, its an inherited problem with twin-cams, shit lifters, and cam-shoes, but from 1999-2004 they had timken bearing in the crankcase much better than plane bearings. keep it running.
