Hello,
I just picked up a 2009 1200 Sportster, after not owning a Harley for 5 years or so. I had a 1200 and a 883 from the mid 90's previously, so the Harley fuel Injection is new to me, but I have experience with the Bosch Motronic on the BMW's and various modern Ducati's I've had over the years.

Bike's only engine mods are V&H Short Shots and a K&N intake done by the previous owner.

I can't tell if it's just me, or the bike. Under light acceleration, at any RPM, in any gear, I feel chop and a slight hesitation like I'm not firing on a cylinder. If i'm cruising steady and not accelerating or decelerating, I feel a little bit as well. Under normal or hard acceleration, Feels very strong and great, like everything is just normal and happy. At idle it sounds normal if just a touch slow, but certainly acceptable. I get "popping" on decel and occasional popping at idle at a stoplight, if i'm coming off the freeway or a long stretch, Although the popping on deceleration I'm attributing to the short shots more than anything, it's the at idle i'm worried about.

Plugs got replaced by me yesterday, rear plug looked perfect but front plug looked very white, see attached picture. Although, everyone says on these fuel injected motors they are running almost this shade.

My guess is front cylinder is running lean, would my guess be correct? Or am I just used to riding euro junk and need to deal with it?

If I am running lean, is my best bet to try and tune it myself or go to the dealer/local shop and have them dial it in?
Plugged injectors or other issues possible? I scoped both cylinders when I bought it, valve seats look good and no cause for concern there. I haven't done a compression check.

Pic of old spark plug (HD Factory 6 heat plugs, replaced with NGK DCPR7E) And a pic of the bike.

 

Sounds to be too lean ....try duct taping the air filter up half way and retest ...tape up the front part if open toward the front when running down the road ...ethanol fuel don't run too good unless your under hard acceleration ...but my guess is it just too lean ...in cold air ...it will be worst ...
good luck ...

 

 

Do you know if the previous owner had a stage 1 tune done to the bike when the air filter and pipes were changed?

Your plug doesn't look too lean to me, was that last run at idle speed before the engine was shut off?

I doubt you have plugged injectors or you would see the check engine light and have stored codes.
Check codes procedure:
https://www.fuelmotousa.com/p-29661-...M%20XL%201200C

If you want to tune it yourself, check with Fuel Moto for a Power Vision tuner.
https://www.fuelmotousa.com/series-1...r-vision.html#!

You want to keep the engine running at least 2000-2500 rpms (so you are not lugging the engine)-

second gear not less than ~25 mph
thrid gear over ~30 mph
forth gear over ~35 mph
fifth gear over ~45 mph

 

plug looks ok to me also, unleaded/oxygenated fuel burns with hardly any color.
i will throw this out. first, i ride gravity so i do not own a efi hd but efi with feed-back have things in common. if the 02 sensor is going lazy, it could cause your issues. i would check its output and if normal, then start looking at the map then tps. do not over look the easy things like a bad hose or electrical connection.

 

Sounds to me like a lean misfire at light throttle. I had the same thing on my road king I got a tuner and added a little bit of fuel down low and idle and light throttle improved. It was a very basic tuner but worked for me in that situation until I can get it tuned. My issue was at right around where you would give just enough throttle to cruise slow in a parking lot.

 

That is almost exactly what I am facing, It's really fine on the highway but riding around a parking lot or light throttle it sounds awful. I have a Vance and Hines FP3 on it because of the short shots and intake- it helped slightly but not a ton. Did you change the VE figures or the A/F Ratio?

No problems with not lugging the engine, and just did a Stage 1 flash after fiddling around with it. Maybe a small difference, still not correct personally. The popping and general complaining is rear cylinder only it seems, according to my hand over the exhaust. No codes, ran a compression check both cylinders are at 180psi on the nose. (Throttle closed, air cleaner on, both plugs out.)

After a 2 hour ride today, no change on the plugs.

Thanks for all the help everyone, I'm still trying to figure it out.

 

I used a dobeck electronic jet kit and was able to add fuel to idle and light cruise circuit. With that thing its kinda like adjusting a carb.

 

So, by putting my hand over the pipes, the front cylinder has a good, steady sound, and the rear cylinder is irregular and rough. It coughs and chokes and carries on at any rpm. So.

Both cylinders have identical compression and both are strong, so valves are fine.
I swapped o2 sensors front to back, no change, so not o2 sensors.
No CEl.
Passes Ether test on intake and manifold gaskets.

I'm going back to a slightly plugged injector? Rear cylinder isn't getting the correct fuel best I can tell. If the front is running good that rules out all the other intake things like TPS, MAF and IAC.

I'm out of ideas at this point. Any other tests I can do?

 

You could swap injectors to see if the problem moves to the other cylinder.