Received my '14 Limited on Thursday, beautiful machine. Took it for a 10 mile ride (cold around here) on Thurs., yesterday (warmer) I went for a 75 mile local ride. Lots to get used to, major difference from the '06 Ultra I had before. The good news, no coolant leaks...at least not yet. One thing that bugs me, it has a very funky idle. I know, it's a Harley and I know they have new cams but the idle is very different from the Twin Cam 88 on my '06. Seems a little noisy and the idle is VERY uneven. My riding buddies insist I give it time to break in but just wondering if anyone else has noticed this...thanks!

 

I also have a '14 Limited and did notice the difference in idle between it and my '09 Ultra Classic. I have nearly 6K miles now and it seems to have smoothed out somewhat to where I don't notice it anymore.

 

I love the idle on mine. It's all cams. I wish I could day the same thing about the coolant leak. I've already gone through two thermostats.

 

my LIMITED is as smooth as glass........put some "stuff" on it yesterday and started it up and my buddy and I both remarked how smooth it sounded..................had one leak (thermo) it was fixed ..........glad i bought mine!!!!

 

Mine is pretty smooth. I would say the cam makes the difference. But not much fluctuation off the 1k rpm... I'm also two thermostats down.

 

My last bike was a 01 fatboy and I had to get use to the A motor and the idle at first on the limited. I found on mine it's not as rough after 1,000 miles. The synthetic oil in all 3 holes helped it out being smoother too. The idle was very erratic at first. I think once it breaks in you will see and feel a difference.

 

My ultra limited has a rough idle and I have about 1500 miles on it and still up and down it wasn't like that when I got it but now really rough I also had a water leak, clutch recall and thremo replaced other than that it is great. I'm getting ready to change the oil I don't think that will help but harley knows of the problem of the idle but does not have an answer does anyone know anything yet?

 

What problem are you referring to? I didn't think there was a problem, I just figured the new cams made the idle a little different than my '06. Just had mine in for the 1K service, tech took it for a ride, they ran it in the shop and nothing was said about the idle. The idle seems to be a little more "lumpy" (for lack of a better term), not as smooth as my '06 but not bad in a way that affects the performance. And the tach always stays right around 1000 RPM's plus or minus a bit.

 

I know "It's a Harley" but that is no excuse for an engine that idles and sounds like mine.
I don't mind (even like) the "loping" during idol but the missing, the compensator noise and generally sounding like a bucket of bolts is starting to grind on my nerves. (much worse after a several hour ride)
What the heck HD?

Service folks = Deer in the headlights.
Other riders = "Is that yours making all that noise?"
Performance = Good 2K and above but sometimes nearly stalls at idle.

Soon ready for my 5k - We will see then.

Not sure I would have bought a 14 if I knew I was going to get this engine.
Anyone else having any issues?

 

Stock cams are NOT big enough to give the bike a 'lope'. If you guys ARE getting a lopey idle, something isn't right. Sounds like surging to me. Last February, MOCO changed the calibrations for all of the 14s. Even all of the Screaming Eagle tune files used with the SEPST were deleted and new ones in their place. If you have a 2014 that may predate around March? I would go to a dealer and see if they have an upgrade for the tune calibration in the bike.

I was privileged to hear this conversation between Steve Cole and MOCO engineers at the VTwin Expo, so I KNOW the truth on this little one thing. IIRC the tune files were all originally 614 files, both water and air cooled. These were altered so much, they are now 617 calibrations.