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Engine Mechanical TopicsDiscussion for motor builds, cams, head work, stripped bolts and other engine related issues. The good and the bad. If it goes round and around or up and down, post it here.
Run out on the shaft was a real concern for me. Talked with the service manager at the dealership that put the new hydraulic cam chain tensioner kit in the bike. He assured me that it was SOP to inspect the run out on the shaft and that it was OK. On further inspection of the old oil pump, I found that the indication of galling was not what it seemed. It looked like hell, but when I ran a finger nail over it, there was not much there. Kind of a discoloration more than anything.
I am hopeful that the new injectors will have an effect. If not the bike will go up for sale.
I would not throw the baby out with the bath water. Think about it, are you going to sell the bike to an unsuspeting buyer like the dealer did to you? So, if you are honest and reveal the issue and the attempts to find a solution, how motivated do you think the potential buyer will be?
The service manager's comment about crank run out would give me cause for concern. While I am in the camp that agrees that if crank had slipped, the vibration would not come and go, the service manager's reply should have been "it is SOP to check crank run out when ever we blah, blah, blah and yours was within limits at .002"; not we checked and it is OK." Not saying a shifted crank is the problem but pointing out the lack of attention to detail of the service manager. A six pack says the run out wasn't checked and if it was, the guy who checked should be able to tell you what it was.
So I share your skepticism about the dealer techs ability or willingness to solve your problem and another six pack says they can't/won't and you are on your own to solve the problem. There is a solution and if you keep digging and coming back to this forum, another six pack says it will be found.
If the injectors were replaced, were the wires and connections checked? Hang in and keep digging.
With everything you've already checked, and the fact that this is intermittent, I wonder if you've got a funky ground somewhere. Forgive me if you've already done this, but I would very methodically remove and shine both ends of both battery cables and get happy with the quality of the connections. It's conceivable that your fuel pump (or something else like a MAP sensor) is getting just enough voltage to function and once in a while enough voltage to run well. If you get the same result after cleaning up the battery connections I would then resort to looking at whatever connectors you can find, throughout the bike, looking for a bare wire that will touch metal 'at times' and bleed current but not enough to blow a fuse or trip a breaker. Maybe you've got a connector with a bit of corrosion, who knows? It's something you can do that won't cost anything, and I'm not sure what else you can try.
After I built my 2008 96in to a 103ci. I rode it for a while. It had an erratic idle, the RPMs would not increase on a cold start, when riding Did not notice any extra vibration. I found that the ground underneath the starter was corroded, and for curiosity sake, I decided to check the fuses on the fuse panel. My motorcycle must have been ridden in the rain quite often. As I started pulling the fuses, one by one every single one of them were severely corroded. I clean the fuse panel as best I could, and I cleaned all the fuse connector points, Tada. No more warm-up or cold issue idols. Just throwing that out there.
Intermittent vibration?.....Video looks like a lousy idle....unless it's cammed...
Dyno numbers look like its ok under power.
Rear plug is almost white?
Ran worse after MAP sensor changed?
I didn't see any comment about the intake seals to the heads being looked at or replaced.
This is an area that enjoys a lot of change thanks to temp...and intake leaks that come and go are common.
Durometer of the mount is of interest as well....over on harley tech talk is a thread on this and a softer mount was found.
There's a lot of threads about guys changing front mounts, then being upset about increased vibration.
Pulled the induction module off the motor this past week and found a problem with the rear seal.
The brownish yellow is oil. Contacted my Indy with regards to integrity of the heads, specifically the valve seals.
He assured me that if the seals were bad enough there would be blowing smoke out of the exhaust and have a drop in the engine oil levels. Considers the oil to be coming from breather blow by.
Got the seals changed out and things seem to be running much better. The rear top end knocking seems to be gone and it seems that we are at an acceptably level of vibration.
I don't know if we are at 100% resolution of "My Problem", but I think it's going to be OK.
This seem to have been the real root of the problem. Would like to take it for a ride, but it may be a month or to before the snow is off the ground here.
Still questioning the non OEM map sensor. Service tec at the Dealership advise against using anything but Harley sensors.
All in all I am hopefully that this is pretty much " PROBLEM SOLVED".
Thanks for all the advice.
Will update with any other problems that I find with this issue.
Are you aware that HD heads have powder coating in the ports and combustion chambers and as the engine runs it gets dissolved into the engine - leaves it looking exactly like what your pic has. Just an FYI.
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