On the way to work this morning, about a 10 mile ride, I was traveling about 55 MPH. At about mile 6 the speedometer needle briefly pegs at 120 then settles back at 55 momentarily then the motor died. I coasted to a side road, stopped, turned the ignition switch off then on. I restarted it and finished my ride without incident. When I started heading home it only wanted to idle at about 500 RPM, normally idles at 1000. Every time I slowed for a stop it wanted to die. I had to keep feathering the throttle to keep the RPMs up enough to keep that from happening.

I don't know if this is related or not, but Friday I left out, cycled my lo/hi beam lights to activate the garage door opener to close my garage door without incident. When I returned home at the end of the day I repeatedly cycled the lo/hi beams and it would not open my garage door. I reprogramed the opener and it still won't work.

I don't know if these issues are somehow related or not and I don't know what might be causing the first issue. I plan on removing the fairing on my next days off and checking the opener to make sure it is still secure, but what should I be looking for on the other?

I do have the ThunderMax w/auto tune, but I have never had any issue with that and it has been on there for probably 20,000 miles.

Any help is appreciated.

 

I think your first problem may well be that the engine tempature sensor has gone bad. That would have nothing however to do with the garage door incident.

 

Have you checked your fuses. Check your battery connections. Did you get some bad gas?

 

I've had intermittent idling problems with my '07 FLHTC. Last year the engine RPMs stayed up around 3000 RPM after I had ridden for an hour or more. The only way to bring the RPM down was to drag the clutch and lug the RPMs down and then they would stay down. I stopped for gas with the same symptoms, they cleared for a while, but then it started malfunctioning again. I was about 50 miles from home and from the nearest HD dealership so I rode it back that way. After a while the RPMs weren't hanging up but at every stop the idle would drop to 500 rpm and either stumble badly or die (but would start right up).

Of course, by the time I got it to the HD dealership, it was running fine. They were amazed at the engine staying up at 3000 or more RPM and questioned operator error or thought it was a stuck throttle cable but neither was the case. The engine light didn't come on but they checked for codes anyway and found nothing. They did find the rear cylinder was running rich and replaced the oxygen sensor. That solved the problem for a year or so. It's been idling at 1000 rpm and the rpms hadn't hung up on me.

During the middle of a tour this spring, it went through a spell of it coming down to the 500 rpm idle and stalling during about half the time during one day in the middle of the trip. (No engine light) At a gas stop, I turned the ignition off and on about five times in a row thinking that might clear things. It didn't but later in the day, it cleared up by itself and was fine for the rest of the trip.

On a ride this weekend, the engine rpm stayed at 3000 or so rpm and increased to 4000 until I lugged it down with the clutch and it stayed at 1000 and didn't have that problem for the rest of the day. However, the 500 rpm idle with stumble or stall returned for most of the day. It must have stalled at five stops. By the time I got home, it was running fine and did yesterday and today. Very weird.

When this has occurred, the weather is fine and the bike has not been washed recently. I'm confident it's an "electronic" problem (like intermittent lack of a feedback signal) and not bad gas or a mechanical issue.

The oxygen sensor replacement seemed to work the first time. The problem now is the bike is out of warranty - unless the trouble is emission control related. I want to take it to the dealership that I bought it from, which is further away than the place that did the original repair. I'm concerned that if there are no codes and it's not acting up when I bring it in, they'll by Easter-egging with me paying the tab as the labor meter ticks.

Not much help except for the O2 sensor idea but maybe this helps. Good luck.

Anybody else have similar problems???

 

Hey HOJONES, how 'ya doing? I bought some grab rails from you back in October of '06 for my new '07. Wifie is still grateful for them. I hadn't seen a post from you for a long time and was wondering. I notice that you post less often than I do! I think some sit in front of computers and others ride.

Happy trails.