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Road King high idle and sputters while shifting gears.

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Old 09-17-2021 | 01:27 AM
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13 Road King
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Default Road King high idle and sputters while shifting gears.

I have a 2013 Road King FLHR with 91,000 mi.I bought the bike used from a used Harley Davidson retailer. It has a Vance & Hines two-into-one pipe and no tuner. I have no idea if the ECM has an updated tune or if it is even possible to do that.The bike is out of warranty and I like to do my own repairs as much as possible.I have done a lot of looking on the internet and am being led to either a whole in my fuel pump line, a cracked regulator, or a cylinder head temperature sensor.I recently went on a 1,400 mile road trip around lake Michigan and noticed after 6 or 7 hours in the saddle that the fuel pump was noisy. At first I thought I was hearing a vacuum leak but putting my ear to the tank it is definitely the fuel pump making the noise. My half hour commute to work does not cause the fuel pump to be noisy at all. It seems to be only if I'm in the saddle for hours. I have checked the codes and there are none. Here is what I am experiencing, this started about 3 weeks ago. This will happen if it is 90° outside or 50° outside. Outside temperature does not seem to affect it. And this happens on every ride, every commute. The first problem I ran across was the bike would crank and not start unless you let it set for a half an hour or so after riding. I noticed that the fuel pump was not priming when you turn the kill switch on and the ignition on. I found the system relay to be bad. I initially swapped relays and the fuel pump would prime. So I got a new relay and have not had the non-priming issue again.Now in the last three weeks I have been experiencing intermittently, a high idle of around 1,800 RPM and when I shift gears, let out the clutch and roll on the throttle it burbles for a second or two and then seems to run fine until I need to shift gears again. Sitting at a stop, intermittently, the bike will have the high idle which makes it difficult to take off without stalling the bike due to the burbling\misfiring at initial throttle.Other times, the bike will run perfectly normal with no issues at all. Even with the old spark plugs.I replace the spark plugs which definitely needed it especially the back plug which was black and had deposits on the electrode. After replacing the spark plugs the bike ran fine for only about a half an hour.When I got back home I pulled the plugs to look at them and the back plug was already getting blackened while the front plug was a nice white\tan color.In the back of my head, I'm wondering if the fuel pump caused the relay to go out. Does anyone have any suggestions before I start throwing parts at it, or ordering everything inside the tank and not having any of that be my problem. My motorcycle is my main form of transportation in the summer and even in the winters here in Indiana. I will ride down into the teens as long as there is no snow and ice on the road. I need my bike fixed, and running properly!Please help!
 
  #2  
Old 09-19-2021 | 10:00 PM
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TexasScooterTrash
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OK,V&H pipes but no mention of the air intake. More non-OEM stuff like Screaming Eagle, Vance & Hines, Ness Big Sucker etc? If you open up the exhaust and change the air intake to a more free-flowing units, being an EFI bike, you should have a "tuner" to re-calibrate it. Do the research you're own research, my 07 Dyna was EFI but I converted it to a carb cause it ran like crap. Rear plus is loading up so that should tell ya something. Either the spark is weak on the rear cylinder or the rear fuel injector is squirting too much fuel. Consider the puter controls both spark and fuel. New plugs helped for a short while. Might consider new spark plug cables and plugs.
 
  #3  
Old 09-24-2021 | 01:20 AM
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Ericson38
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Originally Posted by 13 Road King
I have a 2013 Road King FLHR with 91,000 mi.I bought the bike used from a used Harley Davidson retailer. It has a Vance & Hines two-into-one pipe and no tuner. I have no idea if the ECM has an updated tune or if it is even possible to do that.The bike is out of warranty and I like to do my own repairs as much as possible.I have done a lot of looking on the internet and am being led to either a whole in my fuel pump line, a cracked regulator, or a cylinder head temperature sensor.I recently went on a 1,400 mile road trip around lake Michigan and noticed after 6 or 7 hours in the saddle that the fuel pump was noisy. At first I thought I was hearing a vacuum leak but putting my ear to the tank it is definitely the fuel pump making the noise. My half hour commute to work does not cause the fuel pump to be noisy at all. It seems to be only if I'm in the saddle for hours. I have checked the codes and there are none. Here is what I am experiencing, this started about 3 weeks ago. This will happen if it is 90° outside or 50° outside. Outside temperature does not seem to affect it. And this happens on every ride, every commute. The first problem I ran across was the bike would crank and not start unless you let it set for a half an hour or so after riding. I noticed that the fuel pump was not priming when you turn the kill switch on and the ignition on. I found the system relay to be bad. I initially swapped relays and the fuel pump would prime. So I got a new relay and have not had the non-priming issue again.Now in the last three weeks I have been experiencing intermittently, a high idle of around 1,800 RPM and when I shift gears, let out the clutch and roll on the throttle it burbles for a second or two and then seems to run fine until I need to shift gears again. Sitting at a stop, intermittently, the bike will have the high idle which makes it difficult to take off without stalling the bike due to the burbling\misfiring at initial throttle.Other times, the bike will run perfectly normal with no issues at all. Even with the old spark plugs.I replace the spark plugs which definitely needed it especially the back plug which was black and had deposits on the electrode. After replacing the spark plugs the bike ran fine for only about a half an hour.When I got back home I pulled the plugs to look at them and the back plug was already getting blackened while the front plug was a nice white\tan color.In the back of my head, I'm wondering if the fuel pump caused the relay to go out. Does anyone have any suggestions before I start throwing parts at it, or ordering everything inside the tank and not having any of that be my problem. My motorcycle is my main form of transportation in the summer and even in the winters here in Indiana. I will ride down into the teens as long as there is no snow and ice on the road. I need my bike fixed, and running properly!Please help!
Injectors are leaking, not clean shut down between pulses, for the cylinder with the back spark plug. Run some strong Sea Foam treatments through it first, it could straighten out, but sounds like over rich, and idles up with too much fuel.
 
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