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Last two days as I sat in the driveway getting ready to go, she missed a beat here and there, for about a 1/4 of a second it sounded like she died.
Is this normal ?
Im thinkin they just dont like to idle and this was all it was saying.
I only have 50 miles on the bike so I wouldnt really know how they act.
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I've been in a big pissing contest with Thunderbird HD in Albuquerque over this.
I took the bike in for the 1K service and after that, it spit badly during warm-up
although it never had before. I got "The Shuffle" from the "service" department
and eventually called MoCo and opened a warranty complaint. Tbird
claimed that they hadn't done anything to cause the problem and it was just
"coincidence" that it started after they'd "serviced" it.
Uh-huh... yeah, right....
After 4 return visits, and one refusal to accept it when it continued to do it
after they claimed they couldn't get it to do it anymore, the amount of spit
back was down to the point that it ALMOST doesn't do it, but there was
still one or two pops.
HD has now issued a "cold start" update for the 09 1200's EFI. The update
may also cover other bikes and years, but I'm not sure. That was flashed onto
my bike, but it still popped.
After railing on them about just how effing stupid they were to not just get
ahead of the problem by at least changing plugs, I finally succeeded in
twisting their arms to make them do it. Yes, I could change the plugs myself
very easily, but I don't want them to come back later and claim that somehow
I screwed up.
After a LONG phone call to HD, the HD rep sent me an email recommending that
I take the bike and ride it for a week or so to let the EFI "teach itself" to use
the new update and that's where things stand at the moment. That gave me
the CYA I needed to make sure that they couldn't come back later and say
"Well, we were still working on it when YOU decided to take it and if you'd
have just left it with us, it would be fine".
I rode it for an hour or so this afternoon and it ran just fine, but we'll see what
happens when it's cold.. I'll give it a couple days to sort itself out and then
it'll be back to the dealer.
Reading all Soups' postings about the insane problems he's had with Medusa
convinced me that I'm not going to give them the slightest excuse on any
service or operational problem.
BTW, one plug was a bit darker, but both looked well within the normal color.
Need info on your bike. I have an 07 and it stutters when i first fire it up. something with the ECM running in open loop.
iNFO ?
09 1200 CUSTOM
no spitting or backfire, maybe you could call it a stutter. Just a split second of silence during low idle did it about 3 times last two days.
HD has now issued a "cold start" update for the 09 1200's EFI. The update
may also cover other bikes and years, but I'm not sure. That was flashed onto
my bike, but it still popped.
I'm not sure if they've actually issued a service bulletin or not but if you have the
dealer call HD directly, they will be able to give the dealer the update.
An occasional miss once in a while is really no big deal. These are two cylinder, V engines, and inherently arythmic in operation.
With a new bike, you're going to be noticing every little mis-fire and burble, everything. If you were to go down to a small airplane airport and listen to those engines at idle and low speed, you'd think half of them needed tune-ups. They're designed to run at a certain speed. Once they get up to speed, they run beautifully.
Harleys weren't conceived and built to idle. Even with EFI and ECM and CPS and etc., a 45 deg v-twin is not happy idling. Its waiting to run.
Don't worry about an occasional misfire at idle. Get out and ride and enjoy it.
(But don't be afraid to ask questions either. That's what these fororms are all about.)
My bike has exhibited this problem for over a year now since it was new. I have not made any modifications to the bike and I always wait for the engine light to go out before I start it up and let it idle. Most days it sputters and nearly dies between the first and second minute of idling, then runs okay. It has completely stalled one time at the dealership. My dealer has admitted it should not be doing this and has tried a variety of things to fix it (replaced ECM, IAC, engine heat sensor, etc.). The only successful fix I've heard of in an online forum was to buy a tuner and re-map the warm up software in the ECM. Sorry if I'm short on technical jargon as I am trying very hard to grasp this myself. My dealer has put the tuner suggestion to HD Canada but they have said they don't want to do it because it may void my warranty. I hope to return the bike to the dealer in the fall after riding season and try to get this fixed while it is under warranty. One more note, my husband's Softail is EFI and does not have this issue.
I'm not a mechanic, but the only time I noticed big issues with idiling was when the bolts that connect the exhaust manifold to the engine were very loose (one bolt was actually off). This lets air into the exhaust, messed with the oxygen sensor, which on the EFI models changes the fuel mix. The bike just had over 200 miles on it. I would consider this a fluke, but a fellow rider had his 2008 pipes drop while he was riding with the same problem just after 500 miles.
It's a Harley, this is what they do. If it's doing it after the motor is warmed up then you may have an intake leak or exhaust leak, but if it's within the first few minutes of starting it, it's the nature of the beast.
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Sputterin Sport
