I'll spare ya the long story but the problem with my 15 Limited has turned into a fight between my dealer's service department and Vance and Hines. I have a FP3 and dealer says it's the tuner and V&H says it's something else. Dealer wants to put a SERT on it with no guarantee that the problem will be resolved. Consequently, I'd be on the hook for about $500 because it marries to the VIN (as does the FP3). Anyway, I need someone who knows WTF they're doing and talking about between central Iowa and central Illinois. I'm on the border between the two states and am willing to go half way across either to get this resolved. Thanks,

Mike

 

I, for one, would like to hear the long story. I have an FP3 and if the dealer is saying the FP3 caused an issue that they won't cover under warranty, I'll bet there are a lot of FP3 owners who would like to know hear the long story, too.

 

It's not a warranty issue so much as it's they can't get it running correctly. I have a post on here with a Youtube video I took showing the problem. I can post the long version in a few hours when I get back if you want to have something to read before bed Usually I go into TOO much detail and ramble on....but it's free therapy for me.

 

I'll look for your previous post and the YouTube video. But, just so you know, my wife's from Iowa, so I'm used to the rambling.

 

Is her name Rose?

 

Nat "King" Cole.

 

Ok...remember you asked for it First of all, I'd like to say that if there's a problem with something, I will find it, zero in on it, and it will bug me to no end until it's fixed. And no, I don't have to have all of the soup labels facing forward in the cabinets. The story goes the dealer delivered my 15 Limited while there was still snow on the ground and prior to delivery one of the things they did was put Street Cannons on the bike. At the time, I never noticed a problem since it was still cold and shortly after a couple of rides when it warmed up, I decided I wanted something a bit louder and ordered an FP3, dresser duals, and hi-output mufflers. It took a good month before I guess I started to pay attention in detail but I noticed when I got behind the bike the pipe on the left seemed like it was running well but the one on the right sounded like it was sputtering and popping. Maybe the louder exhaust made a problem that was already there more pronounced? . I contacted Vance and Hines and we uploaded, downloaded, and tweaked maps countless times but nothing changed. I was then referred to Chris Neely who i worked with for a couple of weeks but again, nothing changed so I sent him a link to the above video and he said something was definitely wrong. Took the bike to the dealer and the guy I talked to said he could hear it but wasn't sure what it was. My first thought was no $hit. They tested it for an exhaust leak and an intake leak but both were fine. Got a call a couple of days later and they said they put it on the dyno to do a "sniffer" test and said the air/fuel mixture was good and that it was a "cold idle issue" and there wasn't anything they could do since I didn't have the SERT on it.....come and pick it up. Fuming all 40 miles to the dealer, I wound up getting the general manager involved along with the service manager as to why this can't be resolved. I questioned them about the cold idle issue since you can't adjust the front and rear cylinders independently as far as the idle goes so why does one sound good but not the other. No answer. After a half hour discussion, they agreed to work with Chris Neely and see what they could do. Two days later, I got a call...."we applied the changes that Chris suggested and I think we got it. It might not be 100% but it's much better than it was". "Does one side sound like the other?" I asked. "Yes". I said I'd be up and check it out tomorrow. Tomorrow came and I grabbed my cheap sunglasses for the ride home, got into the kids' car and off we went. A few miles down the road I looked down and noticed the frame was broke on my glasses. Told him this wasn't a good sign for things to come. Got to the dealer and we sat outside while I finished my cigar. I couldn't help but think that it wasn't fixed. As we walked through the overhead door to the service department I told Ashley that I hated to even walk in. She asked how I was and I told her we'll see. She said that they have the emails from Chris and the service tech took it for a ride and it sounded good. I said it sounds ok when you're riding it it's when you're standing behind it that you can hear it. I went over and started it up. Same as it was when I dropped it off. "Do you hear this?" She said she could so I shut it off. She must have fallen down and hit her head that morning because she asked me if I wanted to take it. A simple no was all I could say. I left and shortly after getting back to town the general manager called and talked about the SERT but again no guarantee that it would change anything and he would have the service manager call me shortly. He called and said (this is interesting) that after I left, he started the bike and heard the same thing I did but it didn't sound like that yesterday when he listened to it.....yet no one had done anything to it. I thought for sure I was going to black out but I managed to ask how could that be? "I honestly don't know" he said. After asking if I was still in town, he wanted me to stop back and listen to it because they had just flashed "their" stock map back into the bike and they "thought" it sounded better. Said I was back in Muscatine and I already tried flashing the stock map back into it from slot 0 on the FP3 numerous times and it didn't help...and besides that a stock map would run too lean so it's of no use anyway regardless of how it sounds. He said they must have an updated map from what I did I wound up telling him screw it throw the SERT in it and then you can deal with Harley about it if it's still bad but then shortly added what if Harley comes back with "you added aftermarket pipes and exhaust that aren't ours". Sure enough......he said that Harley might say if you want it to run like stock, leave it stock. I told him I didn't know what to do. He wound up saying that he wanted to try a few things (?) before putting that other tuner and will try that on Monday. He also said that it might be a "harmonic" in the muffler. I'm still trying to figure that out. I sent Chris an email letting him know what was going on and that things were no better. He answered and said that it clearly wasn't an FP3 issue and they need to find out what is going on. So, as I said it has come to a pissing match between the dealer and V&H. The worst part, besides the obvious, is we're leaving on the 22nd of August to go to South Dakota and Wyoming and don't have a lot of time to take it from dealer to dealer until I find someone with a magic wand. I told my wife that I would give them through this coming week and if it's still not fixed, I'd take it to the Iowa City dealer (40 miles the other way) and see what they could do. I stopped in the Iowa City dealer today and was talking to a service tech and he suggested I get a replacement FP3 as they have seen a few people with bad fuel packs and they had to get a different one. I don't think they were the FP3's though. I'd like to say thanks to Chris Neely for answering emails on the weekends and the 4th of July. As far as I know, the things that have been checked are:

EITMS is disabled, the O2 sensors are in the correct locations, no exhaust or intake leaks. I metered the plug wire on the rear cylinder and it was within spec according to the service manual...along with countless FP3 adjustments with Chris Neely. Thanks for listening to my story and maybe someone can shed some light on the issue

 

About 300 miles northeast is one of the best Harley tuning companies in the country. A pretty ride to. Fuelmoto USA. Little Chute, Wi. One day up, one day there and 1 day home.

 

I know it would be a pain in the ***, but did the dealer ever suggest putting the bike back to stock? Chances are, even if you did put it back to stock and doing so didn't change anything, they'd claim the engine was damaged due to the aftermarket head pipes, mufflers and FP3. I think you're between a rock and a hard place. I feel for ya, dude. I wish you the best.

 

Definitely something to consider. I'd hate to pull it out of the dealer and take it up to Fuelmoto only to have them tell me it wasn't tuner related...which would be my luck. If I can get it nailed down 100% that it's in the tuning that could be the answer