Yellowing pipes
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Joined: Jul 2015
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From: Minnesota
Yellowing pipes
Purchased a street glide that has a spot on the chrome pipes that is starting to turn yellow. From research I've come to understand that could be from the bike running too lean. It does have a SE kit. What would I need to do in order to prevent any further yellowing or to make sure it's not running too lean?
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,800
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From: Houston, Texas
Pull the spark plugs and "read " them. There are charts you can google to compare your plugs to see if you are running too lean or too rich. Yellowing pipes usually indicates too rich or it's yellow before turning blue. Blue too lean. Sounds like you need a new tune. It could also just be cheap pipes and cheap chrome.
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Joined: Jul 2015
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From: Minnesota
Pull the spark plugs and "read " them. There are charts you can google to compare your plugs to see if you are running too lean or too rich. Yellowing pipes usually indicates too rich or it's yellow before turning blue. Blue too lean. Sounds like you need a new tune. It could also just be cheap pipes and cheap chrome.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,800
Likes: 307
From: Houston, Texas
The best thing you could do is find a reputable independent repair shop in your area that does dyno tuning. Ask them what tuning device they recommend and then tell them about what you are looking for in a tune and your riding style. They will tune the bike based on your wants and needs and you will have a great running bike. If you are a do it yourselfer, look at a company called Fuel Moto. They can sell you a Power Vision tuner with a preloaded map to fit the modifications on your bike and it will be plug and play. I've never used them but they are a sponsor here and I have never read a bad word about them. Only glowing reviews on their customer service. FYI - If you are still under warranty, any of the above will void the engine part of it.
You can keep the SE Super Pro Tuner and tweak it some and it might help. It's not going to hurt the bike as is but if the pipes have already discolored, it will continue to get worse if left as is.
Good luck!!
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From: Minnesota
In my opinion, which is really worthless, the SE Super Pro Tuner needs to be tossed in the trash ( I did ) and replaced with an aftermarket tuner. The EPA made Harley restrict their tuner to only EPA compliant tuning. Even a good tune with the SE Super Pro Tuner is going to be on the lean side.
The best thing you could do is find a reputable independent repair shop in your area that does dyno tuning. Ask them what tuning device they recommend and then tell them about what you are looking for in a tune and your riding style. They will tune the bike based on your wants and needs and you will have a great running bike. If you are a do it yourselfer, look at a company called Fuel Moto. They can sell you a Power Vision tuner with a preloaded map to fit the modifications on your bike and it will be plug and play. I've never used them but they are a sponsor here and I have never read a bad word about them. Only glowing reviews on their customer service. FYI - If you are still under warranty, any of the above will void the engine part of it.
You can keep the SE Super Pro Tuner and tweak it some and it might help. It's not going to hurt the bike as is but if the pipes have already discolored, it will continue to get worse if left as is.
Good luck!!
The best thing you could do is find a reputable independent repair shop in your area that does dyno tuning. Ask them what tuning device they recommend and then tell them about what you are looking for in a tune and your riding style. They will tune the bike based on your wants and needs and you will have a great running bike. If you are a do it yourselfer, look at a company called Fuel Moto. They can sell you a Power Vision tuner with a preloaded map to fit the modifications on your bike and it will be plug and play. I've never used them but they are a sponsor here and I have never read a bad word about them. Only glowing reviews on their customer service. FYI - If you are still under warranty, any of the above will void the engine part of it.
You can keep the SE Super Pro Tuner and tweak it some and it might help. It's not going to hurt the bike as is but if the pipes have already discolored, it will continue to get worse if left as is.
Good luck!!
Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 610
Likes: 82
From: Indiana
I bought through a dealer an almost new repo auction 2010 96 twin cam with 103 kit, cams and SE pro super tuner and Rush baloney cut mufflers. Within a month the mufflers and the shields on the headers started to turn yellow. We suspected too lean a mixture. Since I did not have the original pro super tuner unit itself, I purchased another and had the dealer tune it on a dyno. Rush was kind enough to comp me another pair of baloney cut mufflers (THANK YOU RUSH) and the dealer provided the shields. After 10 seasons of riding there is not a bit of yellowing that has recurred.
Last edited by dakotared; Mar 22, 2021 at 05:53 PM.
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Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 70
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From: Minnesota
I bought through a dealer an almost new repo auction 2010 96 twin cam with 103 kit, cams and SE pro super tuner and Rush baloney cut mufflers. Within a month the mufflers and the shields on the headers started to turn yellow. We suspected too lean a mixture. Since I did not have the original pro super tuner unit itself, I purchased another and had the dealer tune it on a dyno. Rush was kind enough to comp me another pair of baloney cut mufflers (THANK YOU RUSH) and the dealer provided the shields. After 10 seasons of riding there is not a bit of yellowing that has recurred.
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Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2011
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From: Indiana
orange SE super tuner pro
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2006
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From: Utah
Umm... that's interesting... to my past learning I would suggest that lean is white... good is tan... black is rich.
I used a ThunderMax and after they got rid of one support guy that couldn't answer my questions, I tweaked the AFR (cam, air cleaner, and pipes) and I was very happy.
I used a ThunderMax and after they got rid of one support guy that couldn't answer my questions, I tweaked the AFR (cam, air cleaner, and pipes) and I was very happy.
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