2010 FXDC
Samson Powerflow
Ness Stage 1 kit with TTS Mastertune on AE-176

Do Dyna's enter an overheat mode? The other day I was washing the thing and when I got done I started it up and let it idle while I blew off the water with compressed air. After a period of time that I'm not sure of the idle went up and became erratic before dropping and getting more erratic - sounded similar to what a carb bike does when the main tank runs out. At the time I shut it down and tried to restart and it would not - wouldn't even crank but I attributed this to water, checked the relays and smaller fuses all of which were good then I finally pulled the main (40A) and blew that out and it fired up - strage because it had power to all the lights, etc.

So today, several days later I went for a ride, stopped a to check my messages and email while the bike idled and it bagan doing it again. Put the phone away and rode some more, a mile or so up the road at a stop sign it had an usually low idle, rode it a while longer and all seemed normal again. Stopped again and let it idle, after about 5 minutes it does it again - idle goes up, becomes erratic, then drops and sounds like it will shut down..........back on the road and try again - same things, got home and let idle again, does it again after 3-4 minutes but if shut off it restarts no problem and returns to normal idle. Went inside at that point. Is this a TTS issue (its in closed loop) or is it going into overheat mode? FYI - its only about 55-60 degrees outside today. Maybe I need a different map in TTS?

 

It has one but I don't think it should come on in 5 minutes @55*-60*, it is an air cooled engine that needs to be moving but it should last longer than that. Mine only came on twice in FL in the summer, both times in traffic. You should check your tune. I'm pretty sure I read in the manual if you blip the throttle once in a while it doesn't come on.

 

Yes. Mine engaged the other day in traffic that I couldn't get around, but only after sitting still for about 15-20 minutes. First sign is the single lope sound of the engine as one of the cylinders shuts down. Revving keeps it going, but can be a bad idea since it's just making the engine run hotter. After I got going and a little air in its lungs, it was fine.

 

Doubtful it's an issue with your calibration from the TTS. If it was, there would have been an issue from the beginning right after you flashed your ECM.

Sounds like it is a bad temp sensor.

 

So these symptoms are definitely OH mode engaging? Could the washing and failure to restart (crank) be related?

 

The OH mode you are talking about is called EITMS. It has two stages, it will kick in with AFR enrichment at 288*F. Then at 311*F it will skip fire and shut down the rear cylinder at 1-2 MPH. If you are riding it will revert to Limp Mode and basically give you just a little better than idle RPM's to get you to the side of the road to cool down the motor.

Will washing the bike create a failure to crank? Doubtful, but a bad temp sensor would as the ECM will read a false high temp resistance and keep you in EIMTS or Limp Mode and will keep you from properly cranking the bike.

I hope this helps with the explanation but this is just a guess. I would take a reading on that sensor and replace it if bad. If you don't know how to check the sensor, hook up your TTS and start DataMaster and do a data recording. Look at the engine temp and see what it reads when the motor is cold by viewing your computer monitor.

-wiz

 

Just to note that the factory usually disables EITMS by default on the dyna, TTS enables it by default. There are a couple was to eliminate EITMS as a potential source of your issue. If you blip the throttle, it will kick out of EITMS for several seconds. TTS also gives you the ability to switch it off in the engine parameters screen (I think thats what its called). You don't have to retune, just turn it off and reflash. If you are blipping the throttle and immediately having an idle problem, its probably not EITMS. The TBW bikes have a way to disable EITMS via the throttle.

Some of us have issues with the TTS implementation of EITMS (stalling) and just disable EITMS and perhaps modify idle timing a bit to cool the engine (TTS is different than the factory implementation, something about skip firing alternate cylinders vs just turning the rear cylinder off, I dunno which is better). Some have the patience to take the time to make the adjustments or fix the bike issue to make EITMS run OK.

If I ran on the highway for awhile, and then get stuck in traffic, EITMS was pretty quick to kick in. Otherwise it took awhile, 45-60 minutes on a +90F day in traffic.