First thanks to everyone for all of the information I've found so far. I purchased a 2008 Road King last week and I seem to be having a few issues. Before this I rode a Suzuki VL800 for about 9 years and I've always found forums to be helpful.

The first issue I detected was a grind and clunk on start. Not knowing much about Harley sounds I suspected something might be wrong. After reading a bit I took it to the dealer so they could listen and it was the compensator, I opted to install the upgrade per your suggestions. I did have some concerns that this should have been detected by the dealer before they sold it to me but hey nobody is perfect.

My next issue is a bit more troubling. On my first long ride I experienced an erratic idle, what felt like dead spots, and a loss of low end power. The bike was fine to ride as long as I maintained high RPMs but it coughed, sputtered, and popped a lot. I again returned to the forum gather information on the diag codes and pulled the diag codes P0131 and P0151. A little later it was fine and I rode it to the dealer again.

I described this issue to the dealer because the bike is going into service for the compensator anyway. My main concern was damaging the bike. I was told it lost it's map and they would re-map it on service. No problem it seemed fine and I felt comfortable that it would all be resolved when serviced. I rode it the entire next day with no issues.

This morning I rode to work all was well, but on the way home (about 25 miles in) I stopped at a light and the idle dropped and I had almost no power. Rolling on the throttle increased RPMs but it struggled to get rolling. It started surging and dropping and was nearly unridable in traffic. It continued this light to light until I managed to get it home.

When I returned home I shut it down and immediately restarted it. The idle seemed fine but I didn't trust the bike enough to ride it. Checked the codes again. I have P0131 and P0151 but now I also get PN 32933-08, PN 68924-07, PN 67557-08A.

The bike has 27K miles, SE Pipes, SE Pro Super Tuner, and the sales guy said a heavy breather. Note these were all on the bike when I bought it. I don't have any service manuals yet so I'm not going to dig into the toolbox yet. I also purchased the extended warranty.

I guess I'm just looking for any ideas? Also should the dealer have caught this on pre sale inspection? I wanna trust my dealer but I also want to have some idea of what the heck is going on. Or to be real honest I want to make sure I actually get to ride this year if I'm making payments.

In basic terms (Car terms) feels like it's starving for fuel or dropping a cylinder. It seems to happen when the air temp is 80-90 but the bike never seems to get hot. My Suzuki ran much hotter and was water cooled.

Thanks in Advance,

Chris

 

First thing I think of is the ECU (ECM) is not holding the dealer flash code for some reason. Is the battery good? Also, have you gone through a tank of gas yet? Maybe bad fuel?

 

Did the bike come with a warranty? I would suspect so.
Should have been gone over by them before you got it.

 

Don't know what the first PN is, but the second is the Smart Security System and the third is 5mph calibration, speedo. No idea if those are bad or just coming up due to the codes.

 

First, thanks for the rapid reply.

I did buy the extended service plan because it had no warranty, kinda funny I felt stupid when I bought it but I feel better about it now. I figure they'll take care of it but I've read about 30 different posts of similar issues and am afraid of spending the entire season in and out of service. My dealer service is always busy and customers seem happy so I assume they do a good job. Just a little tense because I've never had a car or bike to a dealer for service. Was a mechanic by trade for quite some time.

I've never had the gas tank below half a tank until now. I have been topping it off each time I ride and I figure I've run about 7 gallons though it. I was told high octane so it's been 92-93 the whole time. If it were bad gas I would expect it to happen more often, or is it that that computer adjusts after time? I prefer carbs myself something about mechanics that seem easier than circuits. The first time I was out about 6 hours before it happened. This time only 20 minutes or so.

The battery was replaced when I purchased it. It was dead from sitting and I wouldn't sign till it was running. It was easier for them to replace it than to charge it. It acts like something in the computer but I'm not losing any other electrical and if the bikes running and all the lights function what would pull the power from the ECM?

Again thanks for the input and the speed. I'm gonna go check all my connectors to be sure everything is tight and without corrosion. Maybe I have a plug lose. I'm down to a quarter tank of gas so I'll run it a bit lower and fill it with all new gas. I hope it's something simple, I'm not worried about the cost of service just a continued loop in and out.

Chris

 

Also Guntoter thanks for running down the Part numbers. I can't find the third one either except to say it's discontinued.

 

P0131 and P0151 are front/rear O2 sensors low voltage (lean). It seems that maybe that air cleaner and pipes were installed without a proper tune? OR maybe an exhaust or intake leak? I would almost bet on the first case. Are you sure it has a tuner installed?

 

I can't be sure of anything, but they handed me a box and told me that not to lose it because it held the key to all my changes and cost about $500.00. I got the name SE Pro Super Tuner from the box. Now I was told it was installed and the part is in the box but beyond that I have no clue.

If it wasn't installed and I had those mods wouldn't I have the behavior all the time instead of intermittently? In all fairness the dealer did say they would remap it, I assume my map is saved on the tuner? Should I buy the software and cable for this tuner? Does it learn?

Would it help to get a part number and description of what it looks like? When this thing runs right it's got tons of power but when it's wrong it's very wrong.

 

I assume that the dealer won't tune it they will only use a default map. What is required to get it tuned or is it something I can dial in myself with this proper software?

 

CJ, I know very little about the SE Tuner (I have run Power Commanders since owning FI bikes). However, I know it does marry to your ECM and if the dealer gave you the box with the dongle in it, then it probably had a tune done. It sounds like it isn't done right though. I think you could purchase software to hook up and take a look, but I would try to make the dealer make it right. There could be an issue with temp sensor maybe also??? Not sure. So definitely go to dealer. another option would be to ask an indy tuner to take a look see (but that would be $$$ assuming the dealer is making it right for NO $)... bump for others more in the know to take a look.