I am going to vent here, please bear with me

My local HD guru was handed my bike with a P0263 code, I gave him a Delphi injector connector and told him to have fun, as we both suspected the frayed wire issue had finally caught up with me.

Guess what, it was not a wiring issue, the Power Commander III USB sh*t the bed causing the code. It wouldn't code with just the stock ECM, the shop had a spare power commander they put my map in and it didn't code.

That would lead most tech to suspect the unit was bad... so I boxed it up and of to Nevada it went.... a couple of weeks later and the unit shows up with a note... no problems found.

SO this afternoon I get ambitious and decide t swap out the power commanders so I can give the shop back their spare... install the freshly tested unit DynoJet sent back and guess what... it is still tossing a code, the same one I sent it in for.

So I call Nevada, didn't even use their toll free number...20 minutes on hold, get a human on the phone, 2 minutes into the call we get disconnected.... another 2o minutes on the phone, get a human, nothing we can do for you, we will have the quality control guy call you on Monday.... he isn't in today.

So out comes the unit they tested and said was good, the one they charged me to test and ship btw, I start the bike with the stock ECM, no codes, put the loaner PCIII back in, no codes.

Needless to say I am not a happy camper.

Now to the subject of map availability on their website.
I know my bike is not typical, stock pipes, stock ECM, Ness Big Sucker run as an open element air cleaner, and I just added S&S 509 gear drives.

There is not a map that is even close. If you have big bore, high lift, straight pipes and lots of head work... the maps are a dime a dozen. Got stock bore and compression with mild cams and intake mods... nothing. I'd even take a map that had slip ons and similar parts (SE203's, Screaming Eagle air cleaner) but there is NOTHING on the website.

I really don't want to drop money for a Thundermax, My stock pipes are set up to accept O2 sensors so it wouldn't be hard to do, but at this point this bike should do better than 63 HP and 73 torque, the numbers from the dyno pull 3 weeks ago.

I'm just really p*ssed at DynoJet screwing up the diagnostic and sending the unit back in the same condition they got it..BROKEN, and the lack of support for the maps.

rant over.....

PS anyone want to chime in on the Thundermax 309-460?

 

Email dynojet support and let them know what your setup is and if they can send you a map. They sent me a custom map within two days. Now being that I bought my tuner from Fuel Moto, Jamie happily helped me tweak the map even more.

 

I agree with this. They emailed me a map within 3 hours.

 

How old is this PCIII?

Also, did you buy it new and install on the bike?

The PCV is miles better and electronics on high vibrating bikes don't last forever either.

 

9 years old, unit has 14K miles on it
Bought new and professionally installed

Dyno Jet says not our problem, but we will dell you a PC5 for 200 bucks. for 450 more I can have a THundermax.

I am ASE and ICAR certified in a whole slew of stuff, I was a radio guy in my youth, I can troubleshoot anything correctly, it is a specialty of mine. I deal with bad ECM's and sensors out of value all the time...

My gripe is that the spare PCIII in the bike has no problems, and it is older than the one I sent back. 9 years old and 14K miles on it... I would not want DynoJet products in my airplane...

their response:
he unit you returned to us for testing and updating is over 9 years old at this point and as a service to you we updated it and ran it on a test bench and live bike with a known good electrical system for testing prior to returning it to you. The Power commanders are designed to work correctly on bikes with electrical systems that are up to factory specs. If the bike has an electrical system with components that are marginal or the battery voltage is weak to begin with and you introduce an additional component into an already weak system that may just barley work ok stock, the additional resistance created by adding the extra piece may cause the signal to weaken to the point where you will start having problems. As electronic systems age the resistance in the circuits increases slightly which even further compounds the problem. This is why an older power commander in the circuit may cause problems but another unit that may be newer will not. This is why the electrical condition of the bike is critical to insure these type problems will not occur. The main thing to check is the battery voltage under a cranking load to make sure it does not fall below 10.5 volts. If it does then it is perhaps time to check the charging system on the bike to make sure it is fully charging the battery, or even replace the battery if necessary.
Even though your unit was tested here and passed testing on a known good bike we can offer you the same customer loyalty program we would offer a customer whose unit failed testing and was no longer within warranty. That program allows you to purchase a new upgraded PCV unit that would fit your bike at a greatly reduced cost of $199.00 directly from us. The $25.00 test fee previously paid would be applied to the purchase and we are able to; transfer any existing maps to the new unit. If you would like to take advantage of that program please let me know.

 

9 years old? Yea, it has served it's purpose. 9 years of high vibration and heat, not bad.

199.00 for a PC-V? Jump on it.

 

I went with the Thundermax, the bike has never run this well, it is still self tuning, I may have to go in and change a couple of things like warm idle ( it is a little low for my liking) and the hot start is not quite dialed in, but if it doesn't self tune I will try to retard the timing a bit on start up

I am really happy with it so far though

 

Good to hear. Don't think negatively of Dynojet, that piece you had was 9 years old. You bought it used, who knows what was done to it previously. They make quality items.

 

This thread is as close as I have been able to find so far on a ThunderMax Review...

So six months into your ThunderMax, what do you think? you still liking it?

What has your experience been with it at elevation changes of say thousands of feet different from where you may normally ride?

I personally have found the stock Harley ECM deficient in going from sea-level to 2500 feet (which I normally ride) to 6000 feet, and very noticeable from 5000 6000 feet on a 7% grade ascending at 70MPH.

I'm looking into buying a 309-460 ThunderMax with AutoTune for 2001-2010 Softails for my bone stock, unmolested FLSTSI.

Thanks in advance.

 

Don't waste your money with thundermax. I bought it and I was told to select a map and ride..... I bought it from a trusted source and he selected map. I also tried a couple other maps.Well that worked great LOL. I had my *** handed to me by a guy running a stock 103 with a cam. I'm on a 124ci. I knew I could get a bit more power out of it so I had it dyno tuned with tts. I had the tuner run a base tune with the tmax. He ran 5 runs 103hp and 110 tq out of a S&S124.

My tuner was able to get 123hp and 133tq with a slipping clutch. Thats huge!!!

Spend your money on a tune and don't fall for that autotune BS. A waste of 800 bucks.