I had the rear heat shield off my 2006 Heritage Classic and had the engine running for about five minutes. It has the stock muffler and header pipes. I looked down and noticed that the last 4 to 5 inches of the top of the header pipe, near the engine, was red hot. It was glowing red hot. I did not think any part of the engine could get that searing hot, and had not seen it like this before. Is this normal for a bike when not moving air past the engine?

 

Normal but not advisable.

 

I can tell you that when I brought my 14 home both front and rear head pipes glowed red after 2 minutes. Stage 1 and tuner has eliminated that

 

Carb or FI?

 

bike is probably running lean at idle and possibly low load areas. a tuner device can be used to richen things up, which will drop temps. I run my idle and low load at 13.1 afr. The stock HD tuning map had it set at 14.1 afr, substantially leaner and substantially hotter.

If idle and low load timing is too low or too high, it can cause excessive heat conditions. You want as much of the combustion energy to be used to push the piston down as possible. Any energy not used for that will be absorbed by the engine's metal in the form of heat (too much advance igniting mixture too soon), or be sent out of the exhaust via hot gas (too little advance igniting mixture too late). I run my timing at 18 for idle area. my stock HD timing was 24, which gave me elevated engine temps. If I go lower than that I'll start seeing hotter exhaust pipe.

granted i have a 103" but the principals are the same. have you ever done any tuning to the bike or just been ridin and enjoyin like we all do?

 

Well said. And if OP is carbed, changes can be made to the tune less expensively...no need for a tuner to get it right.

 

Well since we don't know if he has a carb or FI. Carb is a simple fix, the easiest way to find if your running lean or rich is take it to a dyno tuner and have them out a sniffer in the exhaust they should be able to tell you where you need to be not dead on but close...These days they are making it pretty easy to tune your own bike if you have FI but for me a fine tuned carbed bike just plain sounds and runs better but the key here is a "fine" tuned bike..lol. But I would much rather have my bike running rich than lean..Good luck but if I where you I would find a good dyno shop and get it dialed in!!

 

Yes, I have a fuel injected bike, which has never been to a shop for any kind of diagnostics. I guess I will need to take it to a HD shop, or buy that tuner. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

You can get a variety of tuners- Some like the V&H FP3 for ease and convenience, others like the Dynojet power commander / powervision, and there's also the TTS Mastertune. I have a Powervision myself and am a hard core tuning tinkerer.

You're looking at about the $300-$500 range for a decent quality tuning device- but it will pay you back in spades with a better running EFI bike. good luck and ride on-

note that a HD dealer is not going to do much of squat in regards to proper fuel tuning- all they can do is tune to epa standards. some dealerships ignore that but most adhere to it. if you elect to go to a shop instead of buy a tuning device, go to a quality dyno tuning shop with a DirectLink dual probe sniffer on the dyno. You'll get a one-time accurate tune for the bike, tuned properly. usually runs about $500. tough thing is there are a lot of BAD dyno shops and very few good ones. so always investigate their rep first.

 

La Dog is bang on!

Excessive heat is a sign of your bike running too lean.