I know there is another Oil Cooler thread, and only recent, but I wanted to pose another question.

I have recently had the 103 upgrade to my Road King. Nothing was mentioned about an oil cooler, but it did cross my mind if I should have one.

Bugga me the 2011 models come out and I notice that the baggers with the 103motor have oil coolers.

I asked 2 shops their opinion and one bloke said that it's not really necessary, but they had fitted a few to bikes that had also had the upgrade. It was the customers choice, but unless you are riding daily in hot weather not to bother.

The other person I asked said that they had done a lot of upgrades without the oil cooler and there should be no problems as long as you changed the oil every 4000km, the recommended service intervals. I run the normal Harley mineral oil.

So I am given sort of 50/50 answers, and I do ride for pleasure, and if its 38 pluse degrees I don't bother, but you can get caught I guess.

Price of the cooler with thermostat is approx $450, and add to that installation costs.

One comment about hot weather riding was that the worse conditions, motor wise, are stinking hot and a tail wind. That makes sense, also getting caught in hot traffic jamb wouldn't be ideal. (This happened to me waiting to get to the Tassie Ferry at Port Melbourne)

BUT WHY HAVE HARLEY DAVIDSON INSTALLED THEM ??????

What's your thoughts?

TC

I'd say there's no clear cut answer, other than they can run hot if not tuned properly.
My suggestion, If it bothers you fit a cooler, but I'm sure there are higher output HD's running without.
Synthetic oil will also give you an extra margin of protection.

my 07 r  king ran verry hot would smell hot  put v h ines exoust on to get rid of hot air  runs much cooler now

Change to mobil v twin fit the cooler  throw away the thermostat,you will find big differance a lot cooler and  your motor will love you.

I too had an oil problem ,oil getting to hot ,rang up penrite as I was using there oil at the time and asked if here oil could handle 200 * FH they said 100 * C ,, he said it could but didn't know for haw long ,,( that told me I needed a cooler) but I tried diesel oil as that is made for hotter running but the oil was still at 200* FH ,,, oil was the easy change next was the cooler well it dropped my oil to 190 on a red hot day ,, so to me that 10+ * must help the oil ,, now a stock 96 runs hot as cubes make heat o what's a 103 and up gunna do ,, fry ya leg and fry the oil , the sums are there , the bike I had was a 1200 shovel so a 1640 must be hotter to me ,, oil cooler for me on all my bikes and still Change oil as its the life line of ya pride and joy ,,, hope I didn't bore yas ,,, J.D

 I had cooler on mine for awhile but did'nt seen to do much at all it was a bud cooler, I took it off due too a problem with it which was caused by a towy one day. I have just had an 103 done & yes the bike is hotter but the more I ride it the temp is getting a little lower. My bike is a commuter I'm going to see how it goes this summer & then decide on a cooler. Also next oil change I will be going back to the mobile 1 V-Twin. 

yeh i am starting to run moble1 in my FLHX 103 and next change in my FXDB 103 and can get 6L delivered for around $96. but found out about a supposidly better oil,,,, PENN GRADE oil , im not shote but been told a motor need zink or somthing that stops wear on cams ect.. its a bit over my head. just when you think your on a good wicket some one tells you different..so stiking with moble1 till i do more reasurch on penn grade .. J.D.

finaly got my dyna oil cooler on my FXDB looks effn ugely , well see how it works , lucky i didnt discard all the bits as the instructions say ,, keep yas updated on how is works ..J.D.

TC

just been thinking and dont know if its been said before , oil helps with the kooling of the pistons and bores, so any reduction in oil temp should help in kooling your motor...J.D.

 

 Probably depends we're you are located in oz & your riding style. I would recommend an oil cooler to guys in NT.

but myself have ridden in high temps with my 95 twinkly  done 90k on the bike now no cooler got a tube frame Buell that's got 79k up no oil cooler

but i'm not the type to sit in a traffic jam on a hot day. I'll split lanes.

but if you ride slow in hot weather get not only an oil cooler but also fit a fan

 

 Hi All try Atlantic oils in Sydney have used them for 14 years in industry and for all my many bikes, they are one of the oldest

oil companys in Oz. They have oil blended to the standards that apply to all oils. Most of the best oils are not used in bikes

because of the wet clutch set up That dose not apply to HD or BMW as they have seperate engine oil .Castrol Motul etc

have massive ad costs where do you thnk that money comes from? An oil cooler with termo can only help.I have worked

in vehicle engineering for 20 years and have put oil coolers on many engines that work in high temp applications.

rode my bob the day id was 38 in melb ,, stuck in city trafic bike seemed ok oil cooler red hot so cooler must be cooling ,, next change synthetic oil . have to find oit a good one if all say mobil not much chop .. J.D.