Problems, Problems, Problems - 2011 FLTRU
Cruiser
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 121
Likes: 0
From: Missouri
So quit being so stubborn. Sounds like you caused the Problem. Chit can the led's and all the other mod's you have done. It's a process of elimination, a proper mechanic would know that. And quit trying to blame Harley for your problems.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 5,173
Likes: 177
From: East Coast
(For what it's worth) Here's my take on this:
Now hold on a minute there, partner...
It appears that some of the replies here are not really helpful. It seems some of you buy a bike to keep it stock and just hang chrome goodies on it, whereas others that want to do some mods poo-poo those that change anything. Are you nay-sayers getting kickbacks from the MoCo warranty department? OK, so, let me tell you a little about myself since I have been accused of just taking the bike to the dealer and throwing money at it.
Almost no one keeps the scoots bone stock, so the comment has only a small degree of validity. Agreed.
I am an ASE certified master technician. Some of my old jobs include rewiring over the road tractors, engine R&R for Cummins, Cat, and Detroit, and a line mechanic for 1 of the largest trucking firms in the US. I also work on computers and am not afraid of the computerized technology we now have in our vehicles. I can solder a circuit board or weld a frame.
If so, then you are leaps and bounds ahead of most of us in the garage. After the dealer raped me the 1st time on a 1,000 mile service, I bought a PitBull jack, a case of Amsoil, and started from there. If I knew what you knew about such tings, that scoot wouldn't see the inside of another shop unless my life depended on it.
I installed all the mods myself. The problems started with the heated grips. I followed the MoCo instructions verbatim, even called MoCo to confirm certain steps, and after a month, the TPS unit burned out. The dealership in Germany insisted that the grips were installed wrong, so we got on phone with MoCo, who confirmed the correct installation, and then the German dealer stated, MoCo is wrong. They replaced the TPS and disconnected the heated grips. And the probelms have spiraled upwards since then.
You might be very good, but no one is perfect. Go over each and every step again methodically.
Some of your are right. If I had left the bike stock, I probably would not be having any issues. But, who buys a bike to leave it stock? The only reason I took the bike into the dealer in the first place was for obvious warranty issues like having one of the radio control buttons fall out, the cruise controls quitting, the ABS light coming on, etc.
Again, agreed.
You CVO guys with your $40K motorcycles need to stay on the CVO board because obviously if you have that kind of money, you don't really need to mod anything. You just trade the bike in on the first annual service for another CVO. The rest of us need to know the issues before spending our hard earned $25K on a bike that MoCo is basically telling us cannot be modified or changed in any way what-so-ever unless a factory trained MoCo tech is hanging chrome on it.
I intend to put the old gauges back in this weekend. But let me tell you what MoCo Techs from Rommel HD said. And I quote, "Return the bike to complete stock, to include the badlands LED tail lights and turn signals, the Arlen Ness turn signal bar, the gauges and the sound system, or we will not warrantee anything anymore."
The problem is that too many mods were done simultaneously. There's nothing really wrong with that, but if a problem does arise, it becomes far more difficult to diagnose. I'd return the bike to stock, have warranty work performed, then do ONE MOD AT A TIME. Put in your speakers, play them for a week. Add the digital gauges, same thing. Same for other items until the culprit is found. It's the only logical way. The only rare concern would be that all the INDIVIDUAL non stock items are good, but there is an incompatibility between two or more of them. Again, with your training, you would be able to figure it out a lot easier than I could; despite my best efforts, I'm usually flying blind.
As soon as I get it back to stock, I believe I am going to visit the Victory dealer.
Almost no one keeps the scoots bone stock, so the comment has only a small degree of validity. Agreed.
I am an ASE certified master technician. Some of my old jobs include rewiring over the road tractors, engine R&R for Cummins, Cat, and Detroit, and a line mechanic for 1 of the largest trucking firms in the US. I also work on computers and am not afraid of the computerized technology we now have in our vehicles. I can solder a circuit board or weld a frame.
If so, then you are leaps and bounds ahead of most of us in the garage. After the dealer raped me the 1st time on a 1,000 mile service, I bought a PitBull jack, a case of Amsoil, and started from there. If I knew what you knew about such tings, that scoot wouldn't see the inside of another shop unless my life depended on it.
I installed all the mods myself. The problems started with the heated grips. I followed the MoCo instructions verbatim, even called MoCo to confirm certain steps, and after a month, the TPS unit burned out. The dealership in Germany insisted that the grips were installed wrong, so we got on phone with MoCo, who confirmed the correct installation, and then the German dealer stated, MoCo is wrong. They replaced the TPS and disconnected the heated grips. And the probelms have spiraled upwards since then.
You might be very good, but no one is perfect. Go over each and every step again methodically.
Some of your are right. If I had left the bike stock, I probably would not be having any issues. But, who buys a bike to leave it stock? The only reason I took the bike into the dealer in the first place was for obvious warranty issues like having one of the radio control buttons fall out, the cruise controls quitting, the ABS light coming on, etc.
Again, agreed.
You CVO guys with your $40K motorcycles need to stay on the CVO board because obviously if you have that kind of money, you don't really need to mod anything. You just trade the bike in on the first annual service for another CVO. The rest of us need to know the issues before spending our hard earned $25K on a bike that MoCo is basically telling us cannot be modified or changed in any way what-so-ever unless a factory trained MoCo tech is hanging chrome on it.
I intend to put the old gauges back in this weekend. But let me tell you what MoCo Techs from Rommel HD said. And I quote, "Return the bike to complete stock, to include the badlands LED tail lights and turn signals, the Arlen Ness turn signal bar, the gauges and the sound system, or we will not warrantee anything anymore."
The problem is that too many mods were done simultaneously. There's nothing really wrong with that, but if a problem does arise, it becomes far more difficult to diagnose. I'd return the bike to stock, have warranty work performed, then do ONE MOD AT A TIME. Put in your speakers, play them for a week. Add the digital gauges, same thing. Same for other items until the culprit is found. It's the only logical way. The only rare concern would be that all the INDIVIDUAL non stock items are good, but there is an incompatibility between two or more of them. Again, with your training, you would be able to figure it out a lot easier than I could; despite my best efforts, I'm usually flying blind.
As soon as I get it back to stock, I believe I am going to visit the Victory dealer.
Thanks Torquey...I am going to do start removing things one piece at a time and see what happens. I just got the bike looking the way I want it, but I guess that is not the way MoCo wants it..HA! And, no, my bike will never again see the inside of a dealership.
Sporty 66 - your a REAL help! If in fact you are riding a sporty, then you have no idea what anyone in this thread is even talking about. Yes, I can blame MoCo for not having enough vision to understand that people want to make modifications, and no, we all do not want the dealer making changes for us. Yes, I may have made some changes that were incompatible, and yes I will find those. BUT, MoCo purposefully created technology issues to keep us from modifying our bikes so we are forced to either chit-can everything, or buy a new bike. It's all about the "benjamins."
Sporty 66 - your a REAL help! If in fact you are riding a sporty, then you have no idea what anyone in this thread is even talking about. Yes, I can blame MoCo for not having enough vision to understand that people want to make modifications, and no, we all do not want the dealer making changes for us. Yes, I may have made some changes that were incompatible, and yes I will find those. BUT, MoCo purposefully created technology issues to keep us from modifying our bikes so we are forced to either chit-can everything, or buy a new bike. It's all about the "benjamins."
Road Master
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,049
Likes: 5
From: IOWA
As soon as I get it back to stock, I believe I am going to visit the Victory dealer
And when things don't go right when you start moding the Victory?
.
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Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,445
Likes: 2,816
From: Oklahoma
After following all of this I have two observations.
Especially after verifying correct installation of the heated grips, I would be furious at the German dealer for claiming to know more than the factory people and file for reimbursement for the denied warranty on the TPS.
After that, I believe your argument should be with the after market suppliers. They claim their stuff is compatible with YOUR Harley and it seems NOT to be the case. They are making a false claim, not Harley.
I too have installed some stuff, some Harley, some not. However, regardless of who makes the add ons, if I move a wire from where the factory put it and then it chafes and shorts, I did that, not Harley. From that standpoint, it seems you are avoiding responsibility for that portion of your problems.
Since your experience is with OTR equipment, I'll ask a question and make a point at the same time. Say a driver/owner bought a new tractor and installed a hopped up CB in it when he got it home. He comes back the next day complaining the factory radio doesn't work and you find that the excessive RF from the CB blew out the radio, would you say that was the warranty responsibility of the tractor or radio manufacturer or the new owner improperly installing the CB or it wasn't compatible with the factory installed equipment?
Now, I'm not suggesting that any of the add on stuff was installed wrong, just that if the stuff doesn't "play well" with Harley, it isn't Harley's responsibility, it is between you and the maker of the add ons.
Especially after verifying correct installation of the heated grips, I would be furious at the German dealer for claiming to know more than the factory people and file for reimbursement for the denied warranty on the TPS.
After that, I believe your argument should be with the after market suppliers. They claim their stuff is compatible with YOUR Harley and it seems NOT to be the case. They are making a false claim, not Harley.
I too have installed some stuff, some Harley, some not. However, regardless of who makes the add ons, if I move a wire from where the factory put it and then it chafes and shorts, I did that, not Harley. From that standpoint, it seems you are avoiding responsibility for that portion of your problems.
Since your experience is with OTR equipment, I'll ask a question and make a point at the same time. Say a driver/owner bought a new tractor and installed a hopped up CB in it when he got it home. He comes back the next day complaining the factory radio doesn't work and you find that the excessive RF from the CB blew out the radio, would you say that was the warranty responsibility of the tractor or radio manufacturer or the new owner improperly installing the CB or it wasn't compatible with the factory installed equipment?
Now, I'm not suggesting that any of the add on stuff was installed wrong, just that if the stuff doesn't "play well" with Harley, it isn't Harley's responsibility, it is between you and the maker of the add ons.
Last edited by btsom; Jul 25, 2012 at 09:02 AM.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 20,616
Likes: 4,440
From: anacoco, la
well, then my apologies to you sir. from your first post, it sounded like you had the dealership do all your mods for you. seems from your 'resume' you have the skills necessary to troubleshoot and fix this yourself. screw the dealer. and if you're still in germany, the german dealers do not have to follow the us warranty laws, so you're kinda at their mercy there.