My 2016 Low Rider S was dyno' after the 500 mile break in and a Thunderheader was installed. About 650 more miles it went into idle mode leaving me stranded. The HD shop replaced the induction module, then the ECM and now they are trying the wiring harness. I am afraid they did something to it when dynoing or it's a Harley lemon. Any words of encouragement or of explanation would be appreciated.

 

At least this is all happening under the warranty and will get repaired at no cost to you.

 

True but it's still disappointing to have what seems to be a inferior bike.

 

Went by dealer today and was told wiring harness should arrive Thursday or Friday. They left me with the impression that all Low Rider S's will have the same harness problem. If so, Harley should recall to fix before someone gets killed.

 

Bike is not inferior as what they have changed has not solved problems, those parts were good Theyhave not found which is why they are changing things until they fix it. Hopefully the wiring is the problem.... And if it is the Dyno flushed out a problem early on that may have taken years of vibration under normal use to find.

 

Flip a coin whether or not the bike is a lemon or not. The dealer may be able to get to the bottom of the problem, and then they could spin their wheels for awhile before having to give you a new bike. I've seen guys with electrical gremlins literally wait a couple months while Harley and the dealer try to find an fix the problem, only to have to take the bike back as a lemon.

 

Sounds like they are throwing parts at it and hoping for one to stick. I hope i'm wrong, but I would guess the next post from the OP is "they replaced the wiring harness and the bike is still doing it". Good luck OP

 

I think the dyno guy fuked your bike up. Hope not though.

 

Really? Guess harley doesn't cover much in electrical courses for their techs...
Most time seen spent on electrical gremlins in the 10 years as a ford tech was 2 weeks...

Ford has what's called failure modes effects management- FMEM. IF certain conditions arise engine output is decreased in an attempt to prevent catastrophic failure, forced idle, or even shutting the vehicle off. For California emissions if excessive pollution conditions arise. 7 times out of 10 were faulty sensors. I remember the internally grounded out exhaust back pressure sensors on 6.0s that caused a forced idle and on California emissions 6.0s a wrench light. Unplug the sensor now the truck revs free. VREF signal shorted before the throttle pedal. EGT sensors do the same in 6.4 and 6.7 literally will shut the truck off.

For the 1 out of 10 times a legitimate mechanical failure did occur-usually was a restricted oil cooler with higher than expected EOTs, tone wheel walked on a cam or crankshaft, or plugged DPF from a failed EGR cooler or leaky turbo shaft seal, or oil growth from neglect or high pressure fuel system leak.

The other 2 out of 10 times were due to damaged wiring, short to voltage will cause easy pid data finds, as will open and shorts. Corroded pins causing excessive circuit resistance too. If I had a diagram with circuit descriptions I'm sure I could have a list of possibilities of what would cause an idle only condition.

 

Cant find a wiring diagram online for the Bike. However... Keeping this in mind, 2016. No miles. You just had the head pipes swapped out, which had 02 sensors and catalytic converters. MY best guess would be to make sure the harness for the 02 sensor(s) are not damaged. Say during removal of the sensors to be swapped into the head pipes, or if location is not exactly the same as the location in the stock head pipes. If the harness had too much slack to either 02 sensor, well it may have made contact with something and either rubbed through and shorted a wire out, or melted if making contact with the exhaust. 5 minute visual inspection would reveal that...

Being its fuel injected, I would bet money there is a VREF or other signal that returns to the PCM (this is that computer where magic happens... Its really not a computer, its a voltmeter with programmed strategies to take input, to process into an output) based on the 02 sensor readings, probably plays a roll in throttle body actuation, and fuel injector pulse width and timing... So if there is a damaged wire, wrong 02 sensor in the wrong pipe (install the wrong EGT sensor in the wrong location on a Ford diesel you just inherited a 40-70k dollar yard ornament or have funky drivability concerns)

Not knowing what Harleys emission/FMEM protocol is, this could also be a SOFTWARE/PROGRAMMING/TUNING issue. When the 6.7 came out kids with daddys money wanted 600+whorespower trucks... Buy an H&S or spartan tuner upload a flash and uh oh... 40-70k dollar yard ornament. Wont start all the lights on in the dash, corrupt file/missing/no communication with PCM to TCM BCM RCM etc... simply due in part to battery voltage dropping during KOEO file upload, and the battery saving strategy shut things down blanking out PCMs. Tow it in, hook the batteries up and upload ford as built data into the PCM now it starts and runs. Then upload the tuner voila RACETRUCK!

My first attempt at fixing this bike, least intrusive approach as possible, not wing parts at it. (this is why my fix it right first time score is so high with 0 come backs and yes I like to brag) Sounds like you got a tech fresh out of UTI or wyotech. (I hate those kids chased 4 out of the industry I wouldn't let touch a wheel barrow, couldn't fix anything more than a sandwhich and even then theyd find a way to **** it up)

Next would be to reinstall the stock head pipes, return to stock PCM tune, see if the problem still exists. If it does, then its either wiring which to check find the specs on the circuit resistance (typically 3-5ohms from PCM connector to sensor/actuator connector) then inspect component resistance (glow plugs were notorious for causing check engine lights find a lot with excessive resistance back up north) be it a relay, an 02 sensor, EGT sensor etc etc.