I purchased a 2012 Ultra last July, and at 5000 miles had the dealer install an SE255 cam and tune it on the dyno. He assured me that they would do a thorough tune and not just install a canned map.

I was impressed with the bikes performance, except for the pinging between 2500 and 3000 RPM under light load. Light load could mean a slight grade or even a small headwind on a flat road.

I mentioned this to the service manager and he said he had never heard of any pinging problems (bullshit) and that it wouldn't hurt anything, but if it persisted, he would see what they could do.

My discussion with him, along with all of the info about this problem in these forums prompted me to do a little research on my own before taking it back to the dealer. I bought the cables and software (I purchased a SEPST with the bike) and hooked it all up. Upon loading the dealers MAP and the CANNED map, it became obvious the dealer had tuned in the VE tables and nothing else. AFR table and timing tables were identical to the canned map.

I richened up the AFR table and it did make a difference, and got rid of the popping, but did not get rid of the ping completely. I was hesitant to modify the timing tables because I wasn't exactly sure which cells were associated with where the pinging occurred.

Having read a bunch about the MyTune application, I went ahead and purchased it for $29.95.

I then hooked up the VCI and did a data collection run, focusing mostly on the replicating the conditions under which the bike would ping. I then pasted my timing tables into the MyTune software, loaded up the collected data, and it analyzed the data and made recommendations on changes I should make to the timing tables. More important to me, it identified the areas of the table where the pinging was occurring.

It recommended changes to 4 cells on the front table, and 4 cells on the rear table in the 2750-3000 RPM range. I made the recommended changes, re-flashed the ECM, and took it for a ride. The ping was almost all gone. If I pushed it, I could still make it ping, but what an improvement. I went back to the cells that I had modified and dropped the timing 1 more degree. I also dropped the timing 1 degree in the corresponding cells in the 2500 RPM range. I then set my AFR table back to what the dealer had (I had richened it) and this time I just richened it in the cells where the pinging was occurring. Re-flashed and went for a ride.

The pinging is completely gone! I even pulled a nice grade at 55 in 6th and no ping (not something I will do regularly, I promise).

Anyway, this is what worked for me and I am pleased with the results. Below are screenshots of the process.

This is what MyTune recommended...



These are the changes I made....

 

Do those high MAP numbers in the top chart indicate wide open throttle (or nearly so) at 2500 and 2750 rpm? I am under the impression the ECM won't allow WOT until 3000 and above. Has that been changed?

 

Thanks!
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Sounds very similar to my experience although I'm running a PCV and don't have any data tracking capability. I simply removed timing from the problem areas by reading the tach and estimating the throttle position. I had to remove as much as 4 degrees to eliminate my pinging.

Like you, but unlike many others claim, AFR changes didn't do much for my pinging. It needed timing adjustments.

 

Sounds like you got your $30 worth out of the "My Tune"! Nice job, I bet it feels good to have fixed your problem yourself and learned something along the way.

 

I do not know if they represent WOT or not. I know that in the SEPST documentation, its states that it is not necessary to record data at over 80% throttle. But I did hit WOT while it was pinging during my data collection run.

 

Map (Kpa) Represents load and not throttle position. Yes there is a setting to limit throttle opening to rpm.

 

Nice work Guzz.....

 

MyTune is a nice piece of software, I used it extensively when I was TTS tuning my Limited. It's important to remember that the detonation event starts prior to the MyTune registering the timing being pulled, and the ECM generally pulls more timing than is necessary. So looking at your rear cylinder, I'd pull 1/4-1/2 point of timing in the cells directly before and below the ones that registered the detonation, as well as a bit from the actual cells (depending on how much the timing was retarded by the ECM).

 

I agree. I used MyTune specifically for timing as SEPro won't adjust timing using Smart Tune, unless you manually go through all the recorded files and make manual adjustments based on knock events. $30 MyTune is a nice addition with SEPro.