'07 FLHRC... As long as I can remember, my bike made a very subtle pinging when I got on it a little. I figured it was some sort of pre-detonation or something... bike always ran great otherwize. Did the stage 1, and the subtle ping was still there... again barely perceptable if you didn't know the bike. Unusual sound though, so it was always in the back of my mind.

Well, on a roadtrip this weekend... couple of hours into the ride on a hot day and almost no gas in the tank (light was on), the pinging started at cruising speed on the highway (never did that before). It was pretty bad. I got off the road, gassed up, checked things out, and the bike went back to 'normal' only pinging when I get on it. Huh?! Figured it must be 'bad' gas and perhaps lending cred to my detonation theory. But WTF?! why is the bike doing this at all? It's tuned right on, I use good gas, maintain the bike way above HD standards, and I have 'pebbles' rattling around my engine?! apx 8K miles.

Any thoughts? I'll take the engine down if I have to, but never thought too much of the noise until it escallated on me in the middle of nowhere (didn't do much to inspire confidence in my relatively new bike). Advice/leads greatly appreciated.

 

sounds like the timing is off to me!! just my 2 cents

 

Are you running 91 octane or higher?

 

If so, get some octane booster and if ya still got the same problem it ain't the gas. If it goes away then ya know to change brands.

 

I think it would have pinged in the middle of nowhere because your fuel level was low.

When the fuel level is low the heat from the fuel pump raises its temperature more, and the hot day would have made it worse. Hot fuel is less dense and there would have meen a marginal leaning out of the engine. You filled up with cool gas from an underground tank and hey presto problem solved.

To stop pinging you can do any or all of three things:

• Use higher octane fuel
• Retard timing
• Richen mixture

the old 96 in my 09 pinged like all get out on any fuel less than 98 octane when it was stock.

 

The point is: pinging is not good or acceptable.

 

power commander and 2* taken out above 1700 rpm across the board was what it took on my 07. It was terrible.......Runs good now.

Mark

 

The 07 bikes are very sensitive to detonation due to a combination of lean AFR and ignition timing (even with Stage 1 download) It is very important to use 91 or higher octane fuel, and you will see best results with richening the AFR

 

Jamie may pm you a question?

 

You can email me at jamie@fuelmotousa.com