After running my new Cobra PowrPro fi2000 for the last 3 days I kept experiencing problems on a cold start up.

The starter would keep clicking, but the engine wouldn't turnover. It would take a good 4 or 5 attempts to get bike to turnover. Once it turned over, it would idle very rough for a good 3 or 4 minutes until it warmed up. After engine was warmed up bike ran amazingly well. It thought this issue would go away after Cobra "learned" the bike but alas it did not.

I called Cobra today to troubleshoot the problem and they were super helpful. After being transferred to upper level tech support, they told me that the Cobra has an issue that conflicts with the bike's cold start up feature, which makes the bike run lean. The Cobra was essentially dumping fuel at it which was causing it stall. They are shipping me a new board (free) to install that should fix this issue. Since they are based in Las Vegas they never encountered this issue in their R&D which makes sense.

Just wanted to let anyone that lives in colder areas like myself (NYC) in case they experienced the same issue with the PowerPro. Other than the "cold start" issue the Cobra has my bike running like a bat out of hell.

 

What was the Temp outside when you started the bike up?

 

Must have been between 40-45 degrees. I'll let you know how it goes when I get the new board installed in the unit.

 

Doesn't cold start dump more fuel? It shouldn't be in closed loop so it should go off the tables which enriches the engine. So how does it run lean?

How does the new board "fix" that? Unless there is different programming, I am not sure how it would "fix" the issue. IF it is a new program on the board, how does it affect everything now? Was it set to run richer or leaner or what? From what I see the system checks O2 sensor readings, intercepts fuel injector pulse signals and input's it's own. If it is on cold start mode, I would think that the ECM will command a certain pulse width and injector pulse based on the program and NOT the O2 sensor since the sensor is not ready and cold. At least that is how my car functions so this extrapolation might be wrong.

Why should that make a difference? My 383 Vette runs in any temp that I care to drive it in. When we were a 1 car family back in the early to mid 90s because the wife didn't drive then, the car was able to run in all temps. Of course it was properly tuned. It ran in 20 below all the way to 105. I'm sure it would run a little more out of those parameters but it should run properly if tuned right. My buddy's carbed car had to 2 carbs. A summer carb and a winter carb to run somewhat right but FI should be able to adjust be it SD or MAF setup.

 

Well I installed the new board today with my old harness still attached and the exact same problem occurred.

I then disconnected all of the powrpro cables and put everything back to "stock" and she fired right up.

I called Phil at Cobra (high level support guy) to leave a voicemail for him so he could hear about the problem first thing on Monday. Unbelievably, he called me back about 5 minutes later to help trouble shoot. I was shocked that he took time out of his weekend to help me.

He had me try putting the Cobra harness in line with the fuel injectors but not the O2 sensors. Sure enough it fired right up no problem. He thinks its an issue with one of the cables of the O2 part of the Cobra harness. He is overnight-ing me a new harness on Monday so that I can install on Tuesday. Hopefully this resolves the issue. My O2 sensors are less than a year old on the bike so I doubt/hope its not on my end.

Either way I can't say enough good things about Phil and Cobra's tech support.

I will update this post after I get the new harness.

 

That's how companies should always be, there for their customers. Good to hear they are making it right. The coldest I have started mine was 50 degrees but...I know when I had the Fuelpack hooked up to it would start and run like it was gonna die. Now it just starts and runs perfectly, I really wanna hear that sucker run after you get the new harness in.

 

You have 2 sensors. Can you try connecting one and not the other and see which runs worse?

 

This is interesting....to say the least! In 30's my Cobra'd 09 FLHX has minor issues until warm. An occasional stutter and a high idle RPM. FYI

 

Update?? Did the new harness fix it?

 

I'm having a high idle issue w/my Cobra. It does it when the engines fully warmed up. I'll pull clutch in coming off highway or stopping @ a light. The idle drops a little but stays about 500-800 RPM's too high. Called their tech last week & he said there's no way the Cobra can cause a high idle. Said my TPS must be going out. I have 600 miles on my bike so I doubt that. When I talked to him I had about 40 miles w/the Cobra. Now I've ot about twice that. He said call back if it continues. I guess I'll be calling back. I don't have this issue when the Cobra isn't installed. Is yours fixed? Did you have any high idle issues? .