Any Harley Sportster 883 Doctors out there?

[Dilkris]

Is this your style of crankcase? Have a look halfway up the front of the crankcase there seems to be an opening, although I have also seen that style without that feature.

Pardon our interruption...

RichardM - thankyou so much!!!
These photo's answer all my concerns.
The crankcase and gearbox/primary drive areas are isolated from each other.
The opening you see is actually a route for the oil tank drain hose.
Although 2006 crank cases, which are pre-injection as this was launched in 2007, (as my bike is), I would doubt any significant difference in the bottom end.
Conclusion...?
There is no water in the bottom end of my motor.
Its going to be a 6 beer night.....

PS: In one of the photo's you can see the oil scavenge gallery and pick up point effectively cast into the casing - which as described above, I couldn't access it.

 

[Dilkris]

Sorry - as a continuation to the above - after looking at the photo's more closely - the opening you refer to half way up the front of the engine casing is for the crankshaft position sensor - I am not concerned about this, as externally it is a fully sealed unit. All good
You have eagle eyes to have spotted this though.

 

[RichardM]

if you take it out does it allow you to see into the bottom of the casing and fully confirm no water or turn the crank while looking for signs of water on it.

Another use for the endoscope wifey has wrapped up for my pressie.

 

[Dilkris]

if you take it out does it allow you to see into the bottom of the casing and fully confirm no water or turn the crank while looking for signs of water on it.

Another use for the endoscope wifey has wrapped up for my pressie.

I'll check - but having seen the crankcase halves I'm no longer too concerned.

 

[Dilkris]

Thought I'd post some pictures so as to close this thread and thank everyone for their input.
As mentioned above, following all my investigative work and concluded by RichardM's post showing the internal layout of the crankcases, I was 99% sure that no water would have entered the crankcase - but ...... that 1% if found to be true, could be very expensive.
As suggested, I removed the crankshaft position sensor, but this gave me no room to insert an endoscope, (which I don't have anyway.. ), there was fortunately no evidence of moisture on the crankshaft flywheel, (difficult to photo), nor when I rotated the engine.
I then disconnected the scavenge pump return line to the oil tank, extended this line to a bottle and blanked the feed into the oil tank, (the latter being actually unnecessary as as to be expected, there is an internal arrangement inside the oil tank which deposits the return oil from the scavenge pump to the top of the oil tank.)
With the plugs removed, I spun the motor over on the starter motor, (this being the first time I'd tried to do this following my post flooding works so it was a huge relief that she actually went through the initial "pre start" and turned over....!! ); only oil came from the scavenge pump into the bottle with no sign of water.
This was good enough for me so with the oils and filter previously changed I inserted spark plugs and she fired up straight away.
I am now waiting for a warmer day to take her a gentle 5 miles down the road, bring her back, change out both oils again, (note a Harley Sportster runs common primary and gearbox cases.)
So - all done, I learnt a lot about the bike in the 2 weeks I spent working on it - which otherwise I would not have learnt, so if anyone is unfortunate enough to have their Harley Sportster sitting in 2 feet of water for a few hours, drop me a line.
Once again - big thankyou to all.

 

[Brad93]

Did you park up at a beach for a few pints and the tide came in?

 

[Dilkris]

Did you park up at a beach for a few pints and the tide came in?

No Brad - I have lived in this house for almost 30 years and suddenly without warning we had a flash flood from a small close by stream - had 2 feet of water in the workshop within 3 hours...... stayed for 6 hours before falling - I am still, some 6 weeks later, sorting out the mess from it - an absolute nightmare.
I have never lived through a flood before and in my ignorance just thought "water came in and then went out" - I was not aware of the silt that is left behind and which covers everything.
I am thankful it did not reach the house.

 

[RichardM]

One thing I would hate is to be flooded and my sympathy goes to anyone who is.
Have you changed the oils already? If so I would advise a longer run than 5 miles (50 to 100) to ensure any remaining moisture is removed and not left as condensation on internal surfaces.

 

[Dilkris]

One thing I would hate is to be flooded and my sympathy goes to anyone who is.
Have you changed the oils already? If so I would advise a longer run than 5 miles (50 to 100) to ensure any remaining moisture is removed and not left as condensation on internal surfaces.

No - waiting for weather to warm up - I don't do minus 10......

 

[Dilkris]

This is how everything looked in the morning - max flood height occurred at about 03.00 hrs - if you look carefully you can see the max level reached.
Harley is covered with the Oxford bike cover - the dust cover is covering the Lotus..... (fortunately on 4 axle stands.)
The shed (with the lawn mowers) was worse....

 

[Brad93]

No Brad - I have lived in this house for almost 30 years and suddenly without warning we had a flash flood from a small close by stream - had 2 feet of water in the workshop within 3 hours...... stayed for 6 hours before falling - I am still, some 6 weeks later, sorting out the mess from it - an absolute nightmare.
I have never lived through a flood before and in my ignorance just thought "water came in and then went out" - I was not aware of the silt that is left behind and which covers everything.
I am thankful it did not reach the house.

FIL has just moved house due to repeat flooding from the Thames. Over time it takes a severe toll.

 

[Keithmac]

That's bad luck @Dilkris .

Might be worth having a set of front and rear wheel bearings on the shelf as they don't like to be submerged.

Most Harleys have the breathers from the heads into to the Airbox but I can't remember on the Sportsters.

I have seen a lot of the remote oil tank drain pipes disintegrating, fitted a few silicon replacements. Wort a look as when it goes it will dump all the engine oil on rear wheel!.

 

[Dilkris]

That's bad luck @Dilkris .

Might be worth having a set of front and rear wheel bearings on the shelf as they don't like to be submerged.

Most Harleys have the breathers from the heads into to the Airbox but I can't remember on the Sportsters.

I have seen a lot of the remote oil tank drain pipes disintegrating, fitted a few silicon replacements. Wort a look as when it goes it will dump all the engine oil on rear wheel!.

Fair comment about the wheel bearings - I have not stripped them but they "feel" and sound ok - I will watch them carefully.
Sportsters breath from the rocker box covers into the air box - water did not reach the intake, thank heavens....
Sportster oil lines are worse, (especially XL883L's) - If you catch the oil tank drain down pipe on a curb or high speed bump and rip off the plug and jubilee clip - it simply drains the oil tank.....

 

[Keithmac]

Fair comment about the wheel bearings - I have not stripped them but they "feel" and sound ok - I will watch them carefully.
Sportsters breath from the rocker box covers into the air box - water did not reach the intake, thank heavens....
Sportster oil lines are worse, (especially XL883L's) - If you catch the oil tank drain down pipe on a curb or high speed bump and rip off the plug and jubilee clip - it simply drains the oil tank.....

I've never been a fan of any of the remote drain pipes, I've moved few "out of harms way" when servicing them just for peace of mind.

 

[Dilkris]

I've never been a fan of any of the remote drain pipes, I've moved few "out of harms way" when servicing them just for peace of mind.

Me neither - a really strange idea for what is otherwise a well sorted engine - ahh.... but maybe those bloody stupid micro circlips beneath the brake and clutch lever fulcrum pins....

 

[Dilkris]

One thing I would hate is to be flooded and my sympathy goes to anyone who is.
Have you changed the oils already? If so I would advise a longer run than 5 miles (50 to 100) to ensure any remaining moisture is removed and not left as condensation on internal surfaces.

Managed a 30 mile run last week - cold but roads were dry.
Thankfully she ran well with all systems operational - brought her back and immediately dropped engine and primary/gearbox oils.
Engine oil all clear (no water/moisture evident) but some very slight "milkiness" in the primary/gearbox oil; I will drain this again after the next longish run.

 

[tom2207]

I bought a crashed one , and put a complete Buell front end into it , the one with the circumferential brake rotor and upside down forks ,,, rode it 15 feet which was the length of the garage and sold it ,, it did look well with the usd forkss and the odd brake set up , I thought there was a breather from the gear box to the primary case ,,, from memory , but its very high up so wouldnt worry

 

[Dilkris]

I bought a crashed one , and put a complete Buell front end into it , the one with the circumferential brake rotor and upside down forks ,,, rode it 15 feet which was the length of the garage and sold it ,, it did look well with the usd forkss and the odd brake set up , I thought there was a breather from the gear box to the primary case ,,, from memory , but its very high up so wouldnt worry

Just for the record - yes there is - it is breather pipe serving both the gearbox and primary chain case, but it is very difficult to see as it is situated beneath and behind the starter motor - I personally know it is there as I saw it when I removed the starter motor to completely disassemble and overhaul it, (which I had to as it was underwater... )

 

[tom2207]

Just for the record - yes there is - it is breather pipe serving both the gearbox and primary chain case, but it is very difficult to see as it is situated beneath and behind the starter motor - I personally know it is there as I saw it when I removed the starter motor to completely disassemble and overhaul it, (which I had to as it was underwater... )

knew my memory wasnt that bad ,,, ta