twice, i have noticed a very loud, metallic ping when starting my nightster. it sounds a lot like someone hitting he the engine with a ball-peen hammer. someone on a honda told me it is probably just a backfire. haha.

any ideas what it could be? maybe a sloppy pin under the piston? is there a known issue with 1200 lower ends? hell, maybe its something up top. i dunno. i want to see the dealer but not until i've got a good idea of whats going on. i dont want to get pushed aside because they don't want to own the problem.

its only happened twice in 10,000 miles. but both times were recent.

 

could be a few things. could be your starter first off...is this instantaneous like *ping* then turning over? or is it constant WHILE turning over and or evident after you get it started?

 

I have an 06 custom 1200 and it will do the same thing but only when hot.

 

i press start. she rolls over a few times (EFI) until a cylinder fires. the next cylinder pings really hard and she stops running. i press the button again and she starts up. the motor was hot during the worst event (it sounded like she was hit pretty hard, but hey, i'm sitting on the damned engine so maybe its not as bad as it sounds).

i've always felt this engine runs hot. i kinda wonder if the paint is holding heat in.

 

Yikes! I would get that bike to my dealer ASAP!

 

Could the engine being running very lean?

 

Sounds like a bad tune...that Ping you're hearing is....well....PING. lol. There are three things can possibly make this better...not guaranteeing any 100%, but these just seem to rub me the right way.

1. take it in and have it tuned or tune it yourself if you know how....bad mixtures can **** up your day and or there's a gremlin in your carb.

2. Change your plugs and readjust your mixture. Index them if you can. (shutit....yes, it DOES help PIGGY!)

3. When either of these are done....run sea foam through it to clean all the **** outta your heads.

 

well i got no carb, and nothing has been changed on this bike. no stage one or any of that. so if its tuned wrong, it came from the factory that way.

 

Hmm....sounds like a warranty visit to the stealer is in order then. ...And they ALL come tuned wrong from MoCo

 

If you can find an "INDEPENDANT" shop that has the software for your EFI mapping, you may want to get them to check it.
You'll probably get a better answer from someone that's not concerned with warranty issues.
Good luck!