Hello. I work at an independent shop and am having trouble with a bike. And not sure where to look next. So thought I would ask here.

Bike is a 2014 FLHT. It's mostly stock with a SE airbox and slip on mufflers. The bike has been tuned with a Super Tuner. When it arrived it wouldn't start. First problem was an old battery that was getting weak. Next issue was fouled spark plugs. Got both of those sorted and the bike runs but is obviously running way rich. Like black puffs of smoke out of the exhaust rich. Makes sense why the plugs were fouled.

I check for codes and there are none. My first thought is Engine Temp Sensor. I've had those go bad and cause a similar issue. Hook it up to the PC and fire it up to watch the engine temps. Nothing seems out of place. The guy brought his VCI with the bike. So I download the map off of it. Check it out. Seems normal. Nothing sticks out. It's one of the base maps for mufflers and air cleaner. Has some tweaks to the VE tables but that's about it. So I open up the same map w/o mods from the SE software and flash it. Same thing.

We also have a Power Vision and Centurion Pro. Get out the centurion to check some of the sensors. Something catches my eye. It's trying to achieve an AFR or 13.2 That could be a big part of the problem. So I reflash it, and this time take it for a test ride with the PV attached so I can see whats going on. Due to my error I had the wrong AFR setting so I couldn't see that, but I did have it to where I could see the voltage from the O2 sensors. Both ranged from .5v to around 1.0v. Is this the normal range?

Got back to the shop and figured out why the AFR Target wasn't working (I had it in regular AFR instead of Lambda), and fired it up, and sure enough up to 170 degrees it was still trying to achieve an AFR of 0.900 lambda. Which looks like a 13.2 from what I can tell.

What could have the ECM trying to achieve this AFR all the time?

Before realizing the ECM is trying to run so rich I was thinking a stuck injector or something. But it seems the ECM is trying to run rich. Any ideas or suggestions of things to check?

Thanks in advance.

 

what is the idle afr after warm up is complete ...around 190 degrees..??? may need to set the afr to something high 14.3-14.6 and take all of the warm up fuel out that you can ...i think the most you can take out is down to 0.7 till about 170 degrees ...if the warm up fuel is high say 1.2 and the idle afr is low say 13.8 ..it will be running too rich ....at mid 12s ....check that and may still need to lean the VE at idle ...in the 20-35 map range ...
have you check for an intake manifold leak at the heads ???
good luck ...

 

Hello springers4ever. I appreciate the reply. I've not measured the actual AFR, but it's obviously rich. It still has the stock 12mm o2 sensors. So I would have to add 18mm bungs to use the wide band sensors I have. Plus he already has the VCI and I don't want him to have to buy a PV license just to tune it with the PV. Especially since I'm feeling more and more like it very well could be the ECM. And to an idea as to how rich, I've ridden it maybe 20-30 miles and have used 1/4 tank of gas. I can basically watch the fuel gauge go down as I ride.

I rode it again after another reflash, and according to the log, the target AFR is 13.2 (.900 lambda) the entire time. From start up to around 200 degrees or so during the ride. Part throttle, WOT, Idle. It logged 13.2 as the target AFR. So unless there's something that would cause the ECM to try and run that rich (bad/failing sensor, etc.), I'm thinking it's either a bad ECM or the VCI isn't actually changing anything. Which the VCI "not tuning" could be the ECM not accepting it.

Again if there's anything else you can think of, I'd be happy to try anything right now. Thanks again.

 

Understand what your saying ...can/have you downloaded the current map and able to look at it and make any changes with the Screamin eagle software ?? tried a set of known good sensor's from another bike(may need to clean the org. sensors with carb cleaner) ??? lift the battery cables ,neg. first to try and reset/reboot the ECM ???
while its idling ...spray carb cleaner around the intake see if idle falls off any ...that will indicate a leak ...pulling more air, ecm trying to add more fuel ...
everything runs off the map sensor ...may try to replace it with a known good one ...

 

Hello again. Yes I checked the map it had flashed. If I remember the map was based off 621SHA203 with a few mods to the VE tables. AFR was set to around 14.4-14.5 for idle and cruise ranges. I even flashed the original 621SHA203 map directly from my computer. No change. I had checked for an intake leak. I had completely disconnected the ECM and cleaned the connectors.

Then you said MAP sensor, and I went, "Duh?". I figured it was something simple I was overlooking. So I checked again for an intake leak. Still no signs of a leak. Hooked up the PV and set it to show the MAP and sensor voltage. Sure enough it's showing 99.97 kpa (4.04v I believe). I take the sensor out, unplug it, and check. 10kpa and maybe .1v. So the wiring seems okay. Clean the sensor and hook it back up. Still shows 99.97 the entire time. So I'm 99.9999% sure that's the issue. Unfortunately I don't have another bike with the same map sensor to borrow, but have ordered one. It'll be next week before I get it, but feel certain it's the culprit.

Again I appreciate the help. Not sure why the MAP sensor hadn't dawned on me. Makes perfect sense now. ECM thinks it's under a high load all the time. Definitely something I'll remember. Thanks.

 

Are you saying, with the engine running MAP kpa reads 99.97? MAP should report around 30-50kpa at idle.
Bob

 

Yes. Basically the MAP sensor is faulty and telling the ECM that it’s under full load even while idling. Hence why it was trying to achieve an AFR of 13.2. I don’t know why it didn’t cross my mind, but at least, with some help, I figured it out. I’ll report back once I have the new sensor installed.

 

Sorry it took a bit to respond. For those wondering a new map sensor did indeed fix it. I also used the sepst software to auto tune it again with the new sensor. I was afraid maybe it had been tuned with the sensor already going bad. As most of the changes from the base map, were small and in a very limited area. Anyway the bike runs great. Thanks again for the help.