[sugarschack]

Two weeks ago I had a great ride over 3 days that included desert heat and mountain altitude. The bike was packed with camping gear and there was at least one hundred hot miles with a crazy headwind. Because of some knocking that started the last 100 miles of the trip I posted a thread. The day after the ride I warmed up the bike and checked the oil and It was just reading minimum. It took nearly 3/4 of a quart to bring it up to near the max line.

So, I'm hoping that solves all my problems. My 95 shadow ace 1100 has almost 50k on it and so far I've had no real engine problems. I have that really slow oil leak that is common to the engine on this bike, but I don't have any crazy oil leaks that would account for so much oil to have "disappeared."

I'd love some feedback that would confirm the loss of oil. Would riding conditions account for the oil loss or am I facing a bigger beast?

Thanks all.

 

[sugarschack]

I'm still waiting on a new battery to take her out again, but yesterday I did another check to see what I could find. This may be Occam's Razor in action. I noticed a bead of oil just below where the oil filter is seated. The filter was not tight and I could loosen by hand. Anyone else ever feel like you are channeling Homer Simpson? Thanks again for all the great input.