Engaged the EITMS the other day and went for a ride Saturday. A lot of stop and go traffic in hot temps....high 90's about 200 miles overall and it seemed to work well. Today I went for a ride on the open road, temps. not as hot and NO stop and go traffic. During the ride I kept getting an odd smell, not burning smell, just kinda foul. When I stopped to get gas, again after about 200 miles I noticed the front cylinder pipe chrome had turned brown! I noticed it right away when I got off the bike and you could see the reflection in the engine chrome.

It makes no sense the EITMS should cause this, its not supposed to work going down the road and wasn't, and when it does its supposed to make it run cooler not hotter.
I'm pissed to say the least....I disabled it and am going to head to the dealer tomorrow.

Any thoughts what could have caused this?

 

Doubt that the EITMS has anything to do with it. At 90 degrees your completely stock bike is going to run very hot, evidenced by your discolored exhaust.
I'd bet the dealer is going to say "that's normal".

 

I agree with nvsteve. Sounds like you over tested the capabilities of the EITMS. It only helps cool the rear cylinder and it did that perfectly, that's why the rear cylinder pipe isn't discolored and the front one is. If you are sitting in traffic for more than a few seconds on 90 degree days, you might as well just shut the engine off completely especially if you are running stock air fuel calibrations.

 

The EITMS does work while running down the road. I will only work when the bike is at idle. When you start turning the throttle to add fuel it shuts down.

 

Over tested what? Sitting in traffic didn't cause it! The pipes were fine. Enabled for some reason my pipes became discolored when riding on the open road, that makes no sense!

I agree the dealer will say it's normal although damn if I've have been able to find another one thats done it, I know lots of guys with completely stock bikes that haven't had the problem

 

is it the shield or the pipe that's discolored? If it's the pipe, it's going to happen.

 

The problem? What problem? If you think pipe discoloration is a problem you have never had a HD. The head pipe is cheap garbage pipe, it's supposed to discolor, that's why we have shields over them.

 

Definitely not the EITMS. Only works at idle when not moving and has nothing to do with the longevity of the bike. It is solely to increase rider comfort. The bike doesn't need it.

It does smell when on because some raw fuel can pass through the rear cyl, but it just has an unburnt gas smell.

Not sure what happened. I've ridden mine through the 115 degree desert without any issue, but it wasn't the EITMS. That was just coincidence.

 

You're right I've never had a Harley, just rice burners. I can understand it would be normal but if it's normal why did it take so long to do it, do it on a relatively short ride on the open road and I can't find another one discolored to the extent mine is.

The bike is and was running fine though....just seems odd to me issall

 

Not only HD headpipes. My V&H headpipe is discolored under the heatshield. In my years of Riceburners, my headpipes disolored on those too, even after re-jetting. Of course they had no heatshields.