Hi yall..im looking to buy a harley..finally, and the last couple ive looked at have had exhaust changes etc, and had ecm re-programmed. My question is. If i bought the bike, and wanted to change the tuning, are you required to have the same programmer, like in some cars/trucks? My diesel truck programmer is vin locked, and you cant access the ecm with another programmer, until i take the programmer thats installed on it back to stock, and unlock . Are the harleys that way?

Thanks

 

I have always put my tuners, software and manuals in the tour pak or saddlebags when trading the bike. Hopefully the new owner gets them. I suppose you could get the previous owners name and phone number and ask them about the tune and tuners before buying. Doesn't the dealer have to give that to you if you ask? The last bike I traded I included the PCIII, SERT, & TTS. It would be a shame if the dealer tossed that.

 

If your bike has been tuned with a TTS or SEPST, you need to ask the seller to throw in the vCI and cables. At the very least, the VCI.

 

thanks for the replies. One of the bikes i was looking at, was from a individual, i did ask if it came with the programmer, and he said he was the 2nd owner and didnt get it when he bought the bike. I passed on the bike, for several reasons, but thats what got me to thinking, what happens if you buy a bike thats been programmed, and you dont have the programmer that was used on it. Do you have to replace the ecm to get it back to stock maybe? Or can it be retuned with another programmer right over the existing tune? Makes me wander if i should just avoid efi, lol

 

When you buy a used bike that has been modified I guess you have to take a leap of faith that it has been tuned correctly. The used bike may have been originally sold by the dealer selling the bike. If so, they should have the service records, at least for the SE equipment that was probably installed at purchase.

If you do get a new tuner you can reprogram the ECM. I would get a tuner that allows you to datalog to be able to adjust your VEs and spark advance at a minimum. Or you can visit your friendly dyno guy, see what he recommends, and have him tune it for you and be done with it. You will have to know what you are running for headers, slipons, air cleaner mods, and cam information. Either way it's gonna cost you some dough.

 

If buying a bike that you 'know' has been tunes, just buy one with the 'tuner' included.