Hey guys, long story short, Baby is running real rough. Here are the symptoms:

1. At steady throttle I have a lot of "chugging", sputtering, loss of power. If I roll on the throttle she pulls out of it.

2. When I roll off the throttle I get several small backfires.

3. Diag codes for the ECM are coming up as PO132, PO134 but the bike has after-market pipes and I never ran the diagnostics before, not sure if O2 sensor issues are common on after-market pipes.

Nothing mechanically has changed. She was running great until I rode 40 miles through a monsoon. Real heavy rain, it was ridiculous. After that the trouble started.

I have been through several full tanks of gas with the same results.

My theory: I fouled either my plugs of my Air filter from the heavy rain. To me it is acting like I am not getting enough spark or air.

The bike has 12k on the original plugs, changing them and the air filter tomorrow.

Am I on the right track?

 

I'd be looking closly at the fuse box, especially the two big black relays, with all that water and the ongoing water intrusion into the fuse box problem.
Other than that maybe your on the right track with the air filter, if it's saturated with water it could cause the problems you are describing.

 

I didnt think about the fuses or relays, will check them tonight. Yeah, I might as well have ridden under water.

Thanks for the tip!

 

If you have an air compressor give the relays and the entire fuse box a good blow job while your at it incase there is any standing water in there, and check the contacts carefully for corrosion. Also it's a good idea to use a bit of dielectric grease on all the fuse & relay contacts to help fight corrosion and keep water out next time.

 

Check the connector at the ignition coil. Some times water can get into them.

 

Hey wwnightster, I have the same bike andd the same problem. Seemed to happen after I rode through some heavy rain. At my wits end with how shitty its running, never consistsnt on when it happens. My be when it warms up it runs consistsntly worse. Idles fine but when I try and maintain the speed limit it spits and backfires on decel. Just recently it'll chug like its only firing on one cylinder. The bike shop says it my led bulbs messing with the sec. system (lol right) Harley dealership wants me to by the stock ecm and get rid of my thunder Max w/auto tune, but wont garentee the 350 dollar part will fix it, and I think its electrical maybe the coils bad. Already replaced the plugs,doing the wires next week or so. The damn coil is 130 at the dealership as well, and I don't know if that's even the problem. Also don't have original ecm so no way to verify tmax is the problem without throwing an expensive OEM part at it and hopeing for the best. Did u happen to find out anything more with your issue?

 

guys just for future info. i found the problem. the engine temp sensor ended up being bad. it progressivly got worse and worse until it FIIIINNNNAAALLLYYY threw a damn code. it cost like 60 bucks from harley and fixed it instantly. was a bitch to change out though....