I bought a new 2010 Flhx oct 2010 I had the dealer install SE Forged 22942-00a pistons, new cylinders,245e cams,V&H true duels headers and high output slipon`s, SE heavy breather,SE race tuner, I started riding the bike this spring and I,m getting a bad engine chatter or knock at 2500 rpm and up until engine oil temp reaches 180 degs then it goes away took back to dealer they told me it was detonation problem and retuned the bike putting almost 300 miles on it doing that. Got the bike back last week took it for a ride it does the same thing as before bad engine chatter starting at 2500 rpm and stops doing that when the engine oil temp gets over 180 degs. I find it hard to believe that its a detonation problem when it goes away after the engine warms up.I,m at a loss at this point to what the H is going on. suggestions would be helpful.

 

Just a guess. At 180 degrees the oil cooler thermostat is opening. For some reason the oil may not be bypassing in the filter housing and starving the lifters. Just a guess. This is assuming you have an oil cooler.

 

Youre right, normally a detonation problem gets worse as the motor gets hotter.

Did they dyno tune it or put in a canned map ?... a too lean canned map can make a good motor sound like crap.

Fill the tank with highest octane fuel you can find then add 106 octane booster to the tank ( mix correctly). If you have a detonation issue due to a lean condition this will quieten it down. If it doesnt, then its either mechanical, oil pump or Race Tuner issue.

 

have you got your SEPST?

If so you can log the ECM data and look at the knock retard, see if it is mixture created or advance created knocking.

 

I'm thinking maybe valve train noise.

 

Yes I do have an oil cooler thats something else the dealer installed, if it wasn,t bypassing in the oil filter housing how would I know

 

I,m going to try that my buddy told me to try the same thing

 

I think this is the winner, now the question is why? I would swap out the oil filter asap and inspect the oil cooler install. The 180 degrees is a huge hint as to where the problem lies. I suspect either the oil filter goes into bypass temp there or the oil cooler thermostat is opening up. The other possibility is they blocked an oil passage somewhere and the oil filter or oil cooler opening up is compensating a bit.

 

I have a tendency sometimes to fear the worst. Could it be piston slap?

 

I looked in my service manual for the 2010 FLHTK at the oil cooler adapter. It does have two gaskets that could possible be installed wrong. I would pull the adapter off and get the original oil filter mounting nipple and just mount the oil filter in original location. If the gaskets are mounted wrong they could block the oil passage going to the filter. The cooler adapter mounts between the factory filter mounting surface and the filter by removing the factory treaded nipple and replacing it with a longer nipple with hex head to hold adapter in place when filter isn't on. These gaskets have windows in them and I could see how they would block oil flow to the filter. Hope this helps. Get a service manual and look up the oil cooler adapter and you will see a picture of how the gaskets align.