I understand the reluctance to void the warranty; however, data logging would not void the warranty and could smoke out the problem but you rejected that suggestion out of hand early on. If you are taking the warranty route and relying on the dealer, good for you but why then come here asking for help? Just tell us the problem and that you are working through it with the dealer and will let us know the results; enough said and no drama. Why all the unnecessary BS about lugging, baffles, intake, lollipops, octane booster, etc. etc.? like you are looking for a solution from the forum but not really; a waste of our time.

I have said what I need to say; not a lecture JMHO on the situation. I will be watching the thread out of morbid curiousity but have no interest in continuing to engage; pointless, but I do hope the dealer techs come through for you.

As a side note. Detonation can crack a piston; another member recently posted something similar to what you are experiencing and the owner specifically requested a compression check, otherwise the dealer would not have discovered the problem and the bike would have been returned to the owner with catastrophic results; a trashed motor instead of an over bore and new pistons.

 

Something I learned long ago... If ya spot it, ya got it... Ya, why all the BS drama??? You tell me.

I didn't reject data logging out of hand... I never said anything about it. I don't have a data logger. That simple. Nothing more, nothing less.

I never suspected knock. I'm new to Harley... Swiss time pieces they are not. I came here asking questions about noise... You suggested knock and I AGREED WITH YOU. And then, I did the most ****ed up thing possible... I wanted to learn more about it, and asked more questions. GASP!!! Once we agreed what it was, now it's to what the cause is.... I didn't run to the dealer first thing... They were 3 weeks out... I asked what other causes were possible. You said tune... I'm not doing that just yet. I still don't think slipons require a tune, I don't consider that any major modification... Yet I still agree it's a possibility, and still consider it a path to pursue.... Next

I have agreed with most everything suggested... why all the BS drama? If you don't like it, don't do it. Simple.

 

OP, I been watching this thread, its getting a bit Jerry Springer in here...

I feel like we are missing something, like we are getting 1/2 the story... You said you were taking it back to the dealer" Did You? What did he say when you returned?

If the dealer is saying your mods, lack of tune and the 6,000 ft are NOT the problem
( many of us think it is ) what does he say the problem is? Why did he not fix it already under warranty? Is he telling you it's a normal sound, live with it? is he suggesting you ran it low on oil or something? Is he telling you you need the SE tuner and you need to part with $500? I can only guess so what gives with the dealer? Why will he not fix the bike under warranty or why has he not?

 

I already answered some of your questions.

The service writer rode it in the parking lot... It's knock. The tech went on a test ride, it's knock. I'm not lugging the engine. They don't have problems with altitude causing knock. They have zero problems with full stage one (which I don't have) causing knock without tune. The air filter changes nothing, and I don't have nothing more that normal slip on mufflers with an open baffle.

It's not normal. They don't think it's getting proper spark. They are changing plugs and wires. I get it back tomorrow and going on a trip over the weekend. They scoped the cylinders and they look new, good cross hatch. I'll have to take their word for it. I told them if it's not fixed I'm bringing it back for them to put on a dyno and figure it out. So far, they have had it for 8 days and that's all I got, plugs and wires. They maintain it isn't lean and doesn't need a tune. That's just what they say.

Again, I don't take what they say as gospel... But what they haven't done is blame my mods for denying warantee. They haven't blamed my parts for requiring me to buy a flash tune and holding my warantee hostage. And they haven't told me it's normal, but they strongly recommend I buy a SE tuner, to keep my warantee... All normal SOP for any dealership. Of course, they could just be lying and don't feel like doing the work to justify significant work. Who knows? We'll see.

 

Sounds like you may know more in a day or so, hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction.

 

Well I'm not that confident, because they are not acting like they know that is the problem. It's possible. They say it's not lean, but they didn't put it on the dyno so they don't know that... Or they are not saying. Maybe they put some fuel in to make it all go away. Who knows.... Errrr... Dealerships.

 

15 minutes on the dyno collecting the all important data will tell lots.

 

Why not go back to the last known good configuration that worked? What is so difficult about that?

 

Because I don't have a welder to weld my baffles back in. And if I did, I don't have the other parts of the baffles I didn't use and threw away. At this point I would have to pick up a pair of take offs. That's what.

 

Well, then buy a set of take offs. The dealer may even have a set if you ask nicely. It's not like you're looking for a set of mufflers for a 30 year old motorcycle.