I have a 1999 road king. Just got the bike a fee weeks ago. Anyway, the engine light came on last week. Just went to dealer, read the codes, and they recommend unhooking the power commander. Do tuners go bad? Or does it need to be dynoed and dialed in again. And another question, say its junk, do they have a screaming eagle tuners that's compatible, or better? This one was put on the bike in 1999, I'm sure they have gotten better since then. Thanks for any input.

 

I think the problem you're going to run into is finding one of the new tuning products that will work on a ecm that old. For example, I just went to the Fuel Moto website and pulled up Power Vision....it doesn't look like it works on anything prior to 2001.

 

Thanks, that's kinda what I was afraid of. So my options are really limited.... thanks anyway.

 

Did they tell you what the codes were or just said what they thought you should do based on having some codes? It's at least mildly possible they're just trying to get some $$ out of you. If the bike isn't running poorly, you not be in bad shape....people in this forum can probably tell you how to address the issues you have if you share the codes that registered.

 

They said the recommendation based on the codes was unhooking the power commander. They did not tell me the codes.

 

Yes, Power Commanders DO go bad.

Just buy another PC3 and transfer the settings, no tune needed. PCs do NOT marry to a bike, buy a used one if money is tight. If that has a PC2 on it... you will HAVE to buy a used one, anyways, because they no longer make the PC2.

You do NOT want to flash tune this bike, anyways. 99s are a one year bike in a lot of ways. Plus... it's a MM bike and NOT a delphi, whole different deal going on here. For a 99? There simply is NOT anything better at all. That bike has a cam sensor set up.

A Power Commander is not bullet proof and after so many hits of water, they die. Just think how long the one on it must have lasted, tho. There is another reason to buy another PC. PCs have square pins on its add on harness. Harley's pins are round. PC did this to get a good signal from everything, see? Now the issue when completely removing a PC is now the bike's pins are kind of square and the plug assembly will be loose on the ECM without the PC in between. That needs fixed if trying to go another route. All new pins will be needed in both ends of the connectors.

Like I said, go find a similar PC, install it. Take a battery and fire up the old PC, get its settings, then write those settings into the new PC.

MM stands for Magneti Marelli. Italian company that make Ferrari stuff. Didn't pan out too well for the MOCO, tho. Zippers used to have a very expensive kit to replace these using a TMax at it's core. But those have been out of production for years and years. Came with a special Throttle body.

If all else fails... you will have to convert to a carb on this bike.

One suggestion here. If it IS a PC3? I would call up Fuel Moto and ask if you bought a new one from them, could you send the old one to them and THEY swap the settings for you. Some may know I have an issue or two with FM... but that has NOTHING to do with they have very very great service. Excellent service, in fact.

 

They got to the bottom of this mess. The first code had them unplug pc. After unplugging next code was to check timing. Timing all checked out. Timing was good, however, while in there they noticed the tensioners were worn out, almost to the metal. 50,000 miles on bike. So they replaced tensioners. After doing that the engine light came back on. It turned out to be the cam sensor. Sensor went bad. I guess it was a blessing in disguise. I had no idea about the tensioners. Now I know, ill check on em every 20,000 or so. And wurk, you're correct about these bikes. Very few options. Thanks guys for all your help trying to understand all this insanity... And don't forget to check those tensioners..