I have had the TMax on my 08 Custom since Sept. with 3k miles. I would not trade it for double the money. It tunes itself to humidity, elevation and fuel variations on the fly! I did experience the engine light in heavy traffic once in the middle of the hot hot summer and made sure I found a spot to stop and cool off. As far as the dip stick temp being so high, you should monitor the head temp. Would most likely be 20% higher than the oil temp. I am not too worried about the warrantysince under the stock conditions, the bike would constantly be "cooking" running so lean. I would go for the TMax since it saves you the cash from getting it dyno'd every time you make an upgrade or change a motor component. Just my opinion.

 

i was told that the tmax with autotune is a bit exaggerated it cant compensate for major engine upgrades..u still need a dyno if u want it setup right.

 

That's not "exactly" true. The T-Max WILL adjust for any and all upgrades you do to the engine.
But it does need a decent or reasonably close base map to work from.
The system was designed to continuously update or "fine tune" the engines fuel air mixture maps to reflect the "current" operating conditions and couldn't give a rat's rear end what engine its hooked to.
That "fine tune" part is the catch that those people were taking about, as it can only adust it within a range of plus or minus X% off the base map. I have heard that the adjustment is between30% and 50%. But I have not been able toverify those numbers so please don't quote me on it.

So if you were to put in a base map for a stock 96" engine, exhaust, and AC buthook it upto a 124" S&S motor with hot cams, drag pipes, head work, and a big a$$ed intake manifold system it will fry the engine just as badly and as quickly as a stock ECM setup would.
But put in a base map that's within its adjustment range and it will "fine tune" the engine as well and probably better than a dyno because its constantly updating the map on a firing stroke by firing stroke basis to reflect the "current" air temp, altitude, humidity, engine load, and engine temptratureconditions. Not the indoor static conditions that were in place last week, last month, or last yearwhen it was last tuned on the dyno.

 

if they dont have a base map that is close to your setup...then u need a dyno.

 

turul I would suggest calling the guys at zippers to chat with them about the need for doing a dyno. Yes, if you do mod your bike and you don't have a map that matches it, I guess a person could have it put on a dyno and spend the time and money. BUT I would bet money that Zippers would have a map for it, or would bend over backwards to provide a very close map that the Tmax would use and tune itself from. They would be the best people to talk to if there are any questions about the capability of the unit, I have been absolutely happy with the performance of mine.

Now, about the overheating thing. What did anybody say about what is causing the error code? Is it actually overheating or has the sender gone wonky? there should be something the dealer can check on the actual engine operating temp, at the time of the code, or at least change out the sender for you. Does it seem exceptionally hot to you when riding it? The bike should be giving other symptoms if it is running that hot. Pinging when running, radiating heat coming up at you and being uncomfortable, alot of clicking or tinging noises from the engine after shutting it down... that sort of thing.

 

The warranty if voided when you install the Thundermax. That's because you completely replacing the ECM. You are, in a sense, giving the bike a new brain. So if you blow your motor and they can link the motor blowing to the Thundermax being the cause, the motor will not be covered under warranty. However, if your brakes screw up or something not related to the ECM messes up, it will still be covered under warranty. Remeber that Harley has to prove that the damage was a result of the Thundermax. And another thing to keep in mind is that Harley hates doing warranty work. They will try anything they can to avoid doing work for free. So if you blew your motor, chances are they would try to find a reason to not warranty it. They would probably say that you rode the bike in a way it shouldn't be ridden or something like that. Apparently, I'm not having any overheating issues. My bike is acting just like everyone else's bike, however, mine is actually letting me know that the heads are getting hot because that feature is built into the Thundermax. Like the guy from Zippers told me, the stock ECM will let you just sit and melt your bike. I have no intentions of getting rid of the Thundermax. I love the way my bike runs with it. I can tell my bike has tuned itself when I get off the highway and get back into town. I can hear the difference in the exhaust as my bike starts to tune itself for in-town riding. It's amazing. I did a lot of research into which fuel management system was the best in my opinion, and the Thundermax w/AutoTune came out on top. I am not disappointed in the least. Only downfalls for '08 modelsare the loss of the low fuel light and the loss of the miles-to-empty feature. Neither of those is that big of a deal to me since I have a gas gauge and use the odometer most of the time to judge when I need to fill up.

 

When the light comes on, I don't notice any difference in the way the bike is running. But I'm also not actually "riding" the bike. The three times it has come on, I have been in stop-and-go situations with a ton of bikes trying to find a parking spot. I haven't noticed any excessive heat coming from the motor or anything else out of the ordinary. It feels no different than when the bike was stock, no different from the Deuce I traded for it, and no different from either of the Sportsters I've owned. Only difference is the light comes on. The light isn't on for any longer than about a minute before I shut the bike down. After talking to the tech at Zippers, I'm not worried about it anymore. I'm actually more comforted by the light coming on. I didn't know the stock ECM wouldn't let you know you're melting your bike. So at least now I have a warning.

 

Turul,

With over 400 maps, there is usually one close to what you have (from 88 CI to 124CI, fromstock cam to high lift). You can also set the TMax to tune you bike in increments, 5% -- 20% per riding session. Sessions seem to be pretty complete in 20 miles and 4 sessions seem to be all that is needed.Total of 50% on that specific map. Zippers is also very good at telling what comparable components are. The maps are built off of dyno tunes done by Zippers, and they continue to make adjustments through out the year and they are downloadable. There really is no need for a dyno tune, especially at $80 per hour, 2-3 hour minimum. Couple that with changes in your gear and the potential for several dyno tuning sessions, not a bad alternative. I'm sure SERT is comparable, just not as "user" friendly.

 

With regard to the warranty issue.

If something was to go wrong with your engine and you were running a Thundermax, would the dealer be able to tell if you swapped the original ecm back onto the bike before you took it in for repairs?

 

I'm not sure if they'd be able to or not. They might be able to read the codes and determine if the stock ecm was on the bike or not. If there was a problem with the bike, it would trip a code in the ecm. If you switch back to the stock ecm, there wouldn't be a code to match the problem your bike had. My guess is that they would be able to determine you had a different ecm on the bike when the problem happened. Again, though, I'm not 100% sure if they'd be able to determine that or not.