WHAT’S UP WITH HARLEY DAVIDSON & ZIP TIES (3 hole change and bulletin m1700)

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the channel. You know, it's hard to believe that something that is so small, something that is meant to be so helpful is causing so much drama and so much problems to Harley-Davidson. A zip tie. Stick around, stay tuned, and let's roll with that intro. You don't get in a car like this and smile or something. What's up everybody? Welcome back once again to the Bad LSX Garage YouTube channel. I'm glad each and every one of you could stop back by one more time this week, right here today, just to see what's going on here at the garage, at the compound. And as I said in the beginning, how can something so small, something so simple that is meant to actually be helpful, wreak so much havoc on a company? I mean, seriously, this little black zip tie is costing Harley-Davidson thousands of dollars. There was just a recent bulletin dropped about this whole zip tie situation again, but we'll talk more about that here in just a second. Right now, we're getting ready to do a three-hole oil change on my 2024 Road Glide. So let's get started with that. These are the tools that we're using today. Now it's what I use. It doesn't necessarily mean it's what you have to use. We have a turkey pan from upstairs out the kitchen. Works great as a drain pan. We need a funnel, a five-eighths wrench, or you can use a socket. Need a T27 star bit, a three-eighths Allen, possibly a long extension. We definitely need to take that oil filter off. So we're going to do that with the oil filter cap removal tool. And to try to keep down the mess, we've got a little homemade thing here from, well, it's just from your laundry detergent. Now let's talk about the fluids and the amount. Amsoil, guys, in the engine oil only. We need five quarts of 20W-50. Then we're going to go to the primary. We're going to keep the CIN-3 from Harley-Davidson, 20W-50, one quart. Then we're going to go to your guys' favorite, Belray, the big twin transmission oil, 85-140 weight, one quart of that. What's this? Oh, well, these bikes are liquid cooled. So since we're going through all of this, we might as well check the antifreeze. So we need one quart of that as well. Now, whether you'll use that or not, time will tell. Last but not least, we need an oil filter. And this time we're using the S&S oil filter, 31-4103A. The first thing we're going to do is remove the oil fill cap for the engine, which is right here. And then right beside of it is the plug for the transmission. We're going to remove both of these. That way we can let a little air in. When we start draining, it'll drain easier. So let's do that. In order to remove our transmission plug, we need to use the 3-8 Allen, like so. This next step may not apply to you, but me, I have a Running Panther skid plate under my bike. So I need to get it removed. And in order to remove it, I just don't snap it off the frame. All three plugs that we're going to remove here today are 5-8s. The first one we're going to remove is the engine, right here. 5-8s, our transmission, which is right here, which will be 5-8s. And then our primary, which will be on the other side. I'll show it more in detail here in a second, will be right in here. Right now, let's get our engine oil drained. While the oil is draining, I'm going to come to the front and remove this front shroud away from the radiator. I don't have to, but when it comes to cleanup time, it'll make everything easier. I can clean up better. Just be more thorough. Now I want to take my little homemade drain for my filter and I want to place it back behind the filter, like so. Shove it back in there as far as you can. Then just take off the little cap that you need to remove your filter. Take your extension and actually run it up through where you just remove the cap and now remove your filter. Once you have the oil filter loose, remove the cap, remove the extension, take your cap, put it back on to your homemade filter, and then just loosen your oil filter. What this should do is let everything drain in this little homemade filter instead of making a huge mess on your bike. As you can see, it's catching all that oil, so you don't have a huge mess to clean up. As you can see, no drips, no drops, no mess. Now we can come up here. We are going to have to wipe off a little bit around the housing, but it's not that big of a deal. Nothing like it would have been if I just had taken the filter completely off and just let it run down. Now let's get some oil put up in this filter because I don't like running a dry filter and let's get it put back on the bike. Before we start the refill, we want to check our drain plug. The plug looks good. There's no metal shavings on it. We actually want to take this old O-ring off. I generally don't replace these, but about every two to three oil changes, so it's definitely time for it to be replaced with the new O-ring. Before installing it, put a little bit of fresh oil around it. Just get it moist, if you will, and then put it right back on to the drain plug. Now, some people will tell you to put some anti-seize on these plugs. I don't necessarily worry about that because I don't tighten them down that tight for them to need all of that, but if you're that type of person that worries about this, go ahead and do it. Now it's time to drain the transmission fluid. Which one did I say it was? It was right here, right? What size? Five eights. I've already got it broke loose, but let's go ahead and just finish breaking this the rest of the way loose. While it's draining, we're actually going to go talk about the bulletin that Harley-Davidson just released for the 23 and a half up road glides and street glides. Who would have ever thought that a two cent little part like this, a little zip tie, would cost Harley-Davidson all of these problems and thousands of dollars? It's crazy. Go back about a year and a half ago. On these 23 and a half up road glides and street glides, we was having problems with the main wiring harness. The actual main wiring harness that come down in front of the engine and actually went underneath the casing. Somebody forgot a zip tie or somebody just didn't do something correctly or something and well, it started rubbing the sheathing. It would cause a ground out issue and it would be a no start. Now, not only could it be a no start, I'm sure it could probably go deeper as maybe even catching on fire. We didn't hear about that, but I'm sure it's possible. Now we fast forward a year and a half and we're having the same issue again with a zip tie, except this time it has to do with the wiring harness in the back next to your coil. Apparently, Harley-Davidson has come out with a bulletin called M1700 and what this does, the little zip tie that's on the back side of your coil, they're saying that it's actually too tight and it's causing a cutoff. It's causing the wire to be split and even causing the sheathing and the wiring all to break, which in turn is causing your bike to possibly run on one cylinder or shut off. This has been an issue, honestly, for quite some time. It's just not something that's happened in 23 or 24 or 25. It's through all year ranges. The thing is, I've seen people freak out, go in, they're not even having an issue, but they think in order to stop the issue that they're going to go ahead and cut the zip tie. And about a week later then they have an issue. I've seen other people like myself who's just leaving it alone, let it play out, see what happens. Some people, they're having the issue, some people's not. Now I'm not having an issue, knock on wood, that's not meaning that I can't go out here in a few hours and it break down on me. But here's what Harley-Davidson has recommended. From my understanding, they want you to bring the bike in. They're going to look at the plug. They're going to pull it away from the coil and they're actually going to see if when they remove that zip tie, if there's any problems with the sheathing. They're going to pull some of that sheathing back and see if possibly the wires are pulled away from the inside of the plug, if there's a bad connection, or they're going to see if maybe the sheathing and the wire itself has been compromised and bent and broke on the inside. If it has been, then they're going to replace about that much of the wire and the plug. They're actually going to strip the sheathing back. They're going to diagonally cut each wire and they're going to go in and solder and put everything back. If not, if they don't find anything wrong, obviously they're going to send you on your way. Or, and this or is what I'm going to do, is just leave it alone and let it play out. See what happens. If it leaves me stranded, it's on me. Like I said, it's all on me. I'll go to Harley Davidson. I'll get the little plug. I'll solder everything back in and I'll go on my merry way. M1700 is the bulletin if you want to check it out. Right now, let's get back to servicing this bike. The plug looked really good. There was nothing on the magnet whatsoever as far as shavings goes. I will probably check the fluid because this is the first time that I've actually changed it. Harley Davidson did change it at the thousand miles, but for me, I want to take a good look at it. Something that I need to be concerned about, which I don't think there will be because it all looks really good. The primary fluid has been drained. As you can see from the plug, there is quite a few shavings on the plug, which is to be expected. Don't freak out too much about that because your clutches are breaking in. Everything's getting worn and seated in real good. Probably the next change will be a little bit better, but always expect just a little bit of material coming from this area because that's just the way it's going to be with your clutches and stuff. Now we have five bolts that we need to take off from this primary cover, which are T27s. It doesn't matter which direction you take them off from. Myself personally, I loosen them all first and then I take off the outer edge and leave the top. This is so the cover doesn't fall and hit the ground and scratch your cover up, make a big mess. There is a rubber O-ring around this. Now you can replace that rubber O-ring if you'd like. I'm personally not going to right now. It's another one of those things that it's like the oil plugs. About every second or third time is when I will change it. Torque specs for this is 84 to 108 inch pounds, and the torque sequence is one, two, three, four, and five. Lastly, if you want to check your coolant, you got to remember, this is under pressure. It's just like a car. So if you're hot, if you've run it a long time, let it settle down before you bust this off, because you could get a face full of coolant, just so you know. As you can see, it kind of clips into place. All you got to do is just kind of pull it out from the top. Kind of easy. Don't try to jerk it no farther than that, and just press down, just like you would a radiator cap on a car, and just look and see if you need anything. Now mine is right there at the mark. It looks good, so I'm not going to mess with it, but you definitely do need to have some of this coolant on hand, just in case. If you do need to add some, it's very simple. Just put you a funnel down in there, and add till you get to where you need to be. So before I start this bike and actually check the fluids and make sure everything is topped off and there's no leaks, I want to document everything. I want to make sure that everything is wrote down. I already have the receipts. They're put up in a folder, but I also like to keep everything recorded. I want to know what I've did here today. Reason being, there may be a slim chance that this bike is still under warranty. And you guys know if you do your own maintenance, that if there becomes an issue, that most of the time Harley won't recognize that unless it's documented through them. So at least I have some sort of backup plan here. At least I have something documented stating when I've changed the oil, whether it's just the engine or whether I've changed all three holes, the mileage and exactly what I changed it to, whether it was from Sin 3 to Amsoil or whether it was from Amsoil back to Belray, whatever. It's all documented right here. That my family and friends is a wrap for this week's video. Another maintenance schedule down in the books. She's cleaned up all of her fluids that are checked and changed. And well, we're ready to hit the road, ready to lay down some more miles. Listen, if you have any questions at all about anything to do with this zip tie situation, don't take my word for it. Actually go to Harley Davidson's website, look up the bulletin M1700. It will tell you all the information that you need to know and you, you make up your own mind on what you want to do. Don't listen to me, make up your own mind. I love each and every one of you, but that's all I've got for this week's video. Are you ready? Huh? Are you ready? Let's do this. Peace. I'm out.