2000 Ultra, 20,100 Miles
All stock EXCEPT:
Slip Ons
Intake

This thing seems to be running like crap and supposedly it has never ran like that before... ill give the QUICK explanation.

Owner of bike is a truck driver. He rides like 5-6 times a year on 200 miles trips to his farm. He recently wanted more miles put on the bike so it doesnt sit and rot. His son, friend of mine just sold his BUELL and is riding the ULTRA until he gets a new bike. With that being said, he has put about 1,000 miles on the bike in the last month.

At first it ran fine, throttle was reponsive, etc.

This last weekend we went for a 100 mile trip and when we first started the the bike it was idling around 500-600RPM and sounded like crap... once we revved the motor a little it seemed fine, so he decided to just drive it and maybe it just needs to get the dust knocked off....

10 mins later it dies at a stop light, and we push to side of road and restart - starts fine and we go cruising.

After we arrive at destination my buddy asks me to trade bikes cause he thinks something is wrong with it, and wanted my opinion.

Holy crap this bike runs horrible, and HOT. Keep in my the only comparison i have to compare it to is my 13flhx.

Things i noticed:
1- clutch is crap -coming from a 2013flhx, this clutch felt really,really MUSHY. maybe some type of adjustment needed, or a new clutch? at take off, if I did not let the clutch out slow and keep revving it, it would DIE.
2 - this bike is a furnace - even at 70 on the hwy - it was unbearable to me compared to my SG
3- oil pressure seemed low, i dont remember the readings exactly, but the guage would be at 1/4 mark at idle, then go to the 3/4 mark during driving... seemed a lil lower than my bike "Could oil pump be bad at 20k?"

My take is, its running hot. Are there any "surefire" first things to CHECK as we begin to analyze and try to fix her up before doing any more damage? Please send out your advice!!! COuld it be running lean and that causing the problem? Should he do a tuner and correct the lean conidition? it seems to have progressively gotten worse, before "droppping it at the stealership" to get fixed, my bud asked me to ask for help from you guys.


Thanks all in advance!!!!!

 

sounds like he may have got some bad gas or trash in the injectors....I would start with draining the tank into a clean clear bucket to see if there is anything floating around in there....then go back with some fresh 93 oct gas and some Chem 12 injector cleaner in the tank. use the whole can.. you'll need a service manual for the next thing, but take the A/C off and clean the little holes in the throttle body: top of the openings, one on each side. place the tube from the carb cleaner in the hole and clean until clear....whip out the throat of the TB and wait a few minutes. then start and see how the idle is...May have to adjust the cold and hot idle also. MM EFI is a bit picky.......that gives some place to start......also check your battery terminals.....remove, clean and replace...bad connections will also jack one up quickly....I won't worry about the clutch until you've got it idling good... oil pressure will be above 32 going down the road hot and sometimes looks like 2-5 at idle. as far as heat,,,,,don't know about that....unless there is something really wrong with it....if the above doesn't help, you may have to crack the cam chest open and look at the cam chain tensioners...if it has shot craps,,,that would change the way it runs also.....

 

Trying to compare a 2013 to a lonely 2000 is rather unfair.
The bikes will respond differently.
It sounds like bad gas/contaminated fuel and a misfire could make the bike over heated.
Dump and fill with fresh fuel
Zuteduff is steering you correctly.