alright, i have gotten much conflited advice from several people in person but only here i am getting consistancy.
yes i removed the tuner to root it out, as the 1 thing i have been told over and over is "tuners are a crap shoot".
yes i rode it without the tuner to check if the battery problem was resolved. again, bad info. it wasnt far and i wasnt stunt ridin, just checking. so now my next step will be to get it tuned on its own ECM, no piggy back crap. which will be done by an independent cause the HD dealer here is a damn travesty.
im kinda alone in this endeavor so i appreciate the clarification.
It may not be a matter of conflicting advice, as much as a matter of the application of that advice.... unplugging the tuner, to see if it's gone bad, only works if the engine will run OK without the piggy back tuner....
A stage one will run OK with or without a new tune... Stage 2 mods plus, (ie: changing cams or more) will NOT run well without a new tune. You can use removing the piggy back tuner as a quick check to see if it was working on Stage I mods, but not on Stage II or higher mods....
Once you add cams, or a big bore kit... anything more than just the air cleaner and exhaust... the bike WILL NOT run well without changing the tune and could harm the engine by doing so... too many changes for the OEM ECM tune to adjust to...
If you choose a piggyback tuner for cams or big bore kits, the bike will run well... but disconnect the piggy back tuner and the bike will run poorly..... SO.. if you suspect a bad piggy back tuner in this application, removing the piggy back tuner is NOT a good trouble shooting technique, because the bike won't run well without it on an OEM tune.... removing it tells you nothing... the bike will (and should) still run bad...
Does that make sense....???
With the advent of good flash tuners, and good available canned maps, I don't suggest using a piggy back tuner for mods above a Stage I..
Also.... if you are going to disconnect a part (like a piggy back tuner) to see if it affects the engine performance.... once you disconnect it, and it does not fix the problem, reconnect it before moving on to the next part... it's the only way to isolate whatever it is you are testing...
i understand hattitude, thank you. i recognize my mistake and and am moving forward thusly.
both cylinders look the same, still with its cross hatching and a nice coat of oil all the way around. the rings look good as well with no galling or errant gathering of/or missing metal. so i believe i stopped before i caused any significant damage.
i also paid close attention to any other wiring while tearing down to look for any possible shorts, this is all i found on the rear head.
ACR's are 80 bucks a pop but i do not know if ill be able to weather this properly for a solid repair. maybe some high temp RTV or some such?
Well, that went south in a hurry. From preparing to get a tune put back into it, to taking apart the top end.
I'm confused. Coulda easily checked the condition with a leak-down check.
well i dont exactly know if rippin out my tuner and getting the ECM tuned will fix my problem. the thing came with the tuner, i didnt put it on. all i have been told by some is "beware of those things (piggybacks) man." Nor have i singled out 1 thing that gave me an "ah-HA" feeling while going through this thats definitive of fixing my hesitation problem.
and yes i could have done a leak down or stuck a bore-cam in there to peep around. But as i said before, im neurotic. Plus, i already had a spare top end kit lying around from a delay order that came in months after i ordered it 2 years ago and i was bored sunday. this took a whole 3 hrs with smoke breaks.
08-09-2020 | 09:34 AM
