I have a 2009 Harley Road King stock except for the HD Stage 1 air cleaner, Vance & Hines Ovals slip-ons and a FuelPak. This work was all done by the dealer at the time of purchase. The bike now has approx 100 miles on the clock. Today I replaced the Stage 1 air cleaner with the Screaming Eagle Heavy Breather. It was my understanding that no changes in the settings of the FuelPak were necessary (Tech support from V&H). However, the bike runs bad. There is definite exhaust note change (not as loud) and you can hear the suction of air through the breather (I’m guessing that is normal) The most disturbing part is the presence of smoke from the exhaust and at idle the bike runs rough and is close to stalling. Any idea what might be happening?

Thanks - Ed

 

While the SEHB will breath better at full throttle, it should have virtually no effect on lower rpms. These things are so simple a cave man could install them, but go over the whole thing making sure all holes needed for head breathing are open. If all is well, you have another engine issue.
Ron

 

The Heavy Breather is just that... A HEAVY BREATHER....

It adds about 1 whole AFR point to the lean side....

I normally add (With the SE Tuner or the TTS), anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of displacement to compensate for all the additional air....

V&H Tech support is severly mistaken and is erroneous in their passing of that information to you....

Your best bet is to reinstall the SEAC, until you can get a different tuning device or better support from V&H..

 

From my experience the engine will idle fine with the breather sitting on the bench. This is why I can't see why the breather itself is causing the idle problems as in my ref to lower rpms. You can alway put the other one back on to confirm this, since it ran ok before.
Ron

 

Only thing I can think of on 09 is knocked the wiring plug loose on left side of TB.

 

Thanks Guys...It was an easy install and I couldn't believe the bike ran bad after it. Open throttle it seemed ok. I sent another email to V&H to hopefully get a different answer. Also, I think I may remove it and put the other one back on to confirm that I don't have another issue.

Ed

 

Checked that - all seems tight

One thing worth mentioning here - Upon further investigation the bike seems to run much hotter. The idle seems fine when it’s cold and then much rougher when it’s hot. (this happens rather quickly at idle, which didn’t happen before). Also, when it gets hot it blows white smoke.
Ed

 

You are running in a seriously lean condition and creating some major damage to the engine by running it this way. The smoking is a sign of major distress. Did you at least have a stage 1 download when putting the Stage 1 components on? The The Fuel Pack won't have the ***** to take care of the original factory lean ,plus all the extra air you are throwing at it now.
Ron

 

The pipes, fuelPak and air cleaner were installed by the dealer....I'm assuming they did what they were supposed to do.....It ran fine before I installed the heavy breather kit.

 

If it was ME doing it, and the luck that I personally have... maybe over tightened something and cracked TB? God! I hope not. But the differences between SE and super SE A/C can't be that great as far as install.

No question, though. Something IS wrong and don't ride it like this. Ron is right about this.

I want you to look at something. On a stock 09, there is a metal 'bridge' between the cylinders. This is to help support the stock football. When installing a SE A/C one is to remove this bridge. If it isn't... maybe it is affecting something? Especially like the breather system. The smoke could be the engine no longer has a breather system and internal crankcase pressures are WAY too high. Your breathers HAVE to work. It's the white smoke thing that's throwing me somewhat. But positive crankcase pressures so would make it hot fast and idle bad as the pistons fight through the pressurized air.