This bike is 3 months old. 2018 Road King with stage one done by dealer at time of purchase. I have touched nothing.
I have been having problems since day one.
15 times in 3 months this bike has stranded me on the side of the road. A TOURING BIKE THAT CAN'T TOUR!
Here is what happens:
It will drive fine most of the time when cold or local short trips.
I get out on the road and after a couple hours the engine starts stammering and shaking. It loses most of its power, sounds awful and won't make it up hills.
I have to stop on the side of the road and let the oil drip down back to the pan for a couple minutes and sometimes it starts- running fine for a while then does it again the next time there is a load on the engine. Sometimes it keeps doing it until the bike rests for an hour or 2. Meanwhile, I'm stuck on the side of the road.

I take it to the dealer and by the time they get on the bike it is fine again and they say "nothing is wrong".
I am not lugging the engine (this happens at 3000+ rpms when going uphill)- EITMS is not on.

I have been to 4 different dealers in the 3 months since purchase.
Each time they ride it around the block or put it on the dyno and say nothing is wrong.
I have even written Harley Davidson (one month ago) and no response yet.

I am not crazy. I have been riding for 37 years and this is not my fault.
Every time I take a trip about 2 hours into it I am stranded because the bike will run so rough that I have to pull over because it won't do the speed limit or finish climbing a hill.
Someone please help. This happens over and over. I am at my wits end. This has been so frustrating and stressful.
Other people have ridden this when it happens and said take it to the dealer, they will figure it out.
The dealers are no help at all.
HELP! What do I do now???

 

sucks big time, but why do you keep taking it on trips? that's crazy...doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results

"15 times in 3 months this bike has stranded me on the side of the road"
"Sometimes it keeps doing it until the bike rests for an hour or 2. Meanwhile, I'm stuck on the side of the road."
"Every time I take a trip about 2 hours into it I am stranded"
"This happens over and over."

 

 

either keep pestering HD to fix the bike or pester them to buy it back

 

I saw this from someone else on a different problem but it may help you out.Video this happening so you can show it to the dealer.Use your phone or get a passenger to video it for you.I'd be sick of that crap too!

 

Solid suggestion. You could also video removing the crank sensor and show how much oil comes out. Maybe a bit of a hassle to do on a ride. But pull over in a parking lot and do it. Carry the largest measuring cup that will fit under the bike. Also have a qt of oil handy to top it back off. Would be hard to dispute video evidence.

 

Since you figured out when its happening. I'd ride an hour or so on the hiway then turn around and head back the same way to the dealer. Hopefully it it happens just before you pull in the lot. If not keep on riding till it does, then hit the service dept. It will be hard to dispute if its happening in their parking lot and they can see it first hand.

 

 

This. Sump the hell out of it and dump it on their doorstep stinking of burning oil. Do not let it cool down, don't let it idle, don't let it reclaim the oil out of the crankcase, they have to see it in the middle of the worst of the problem so the issue can be easily and properly diagnosed. Tell them to pull the crankshaft position sensor and measure how much oil.comes out, as per the sumping technical service bulletin.

Don't worry about damaging the engine, it's probably already damaged. They owe you a bike that can tour, and as long as you are under warranty, hey, if that means an all new engine then they owe you a new engine. But you have to get it to it's worst state, that's when they need to see it, and they will never devote two hours to get it to that point. Since it has happened repeatedly, you probably have a pretty good idea of what it takes to make it happen, so make it happen and then limp it over to the dealer, but try to avoid idling or cool-down, as that will reclaim the oil from the sump and then they won't see it in it's damaged state, so they won't be able to diagnose the issue correctly.

 

Either take the bike to a more competent dealer or show up with it sumping and pull the CPS, letting the boiling hot oil drain all over their floor. That should get some attention.

Your bike IS sumping. When the crank position sensor is removed, likely over a quart of oil will come out.

I know, it happened to me. I replaced the cam plate and oil pump with a Feuling race series and have 6k miles on it since and no sumping.

Until you get it fixed, this may help:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/milwa...mping-kit.html