I've been dealing with an annoying whistle from my right exhaust (rear jug) for the last 2 mos. I've checked the baffles in the muffler, exhaust clamps, manifold gaskets and all are good with no leaks. There is a definitive blowing and sucking in of air that you can hear when standing at the rear of the muffler. Checked the intake gaskets with WD-40 and saw no change in idle at all so that should eliminate that. Narrows it down to a stuck valve or a bad ACR or is there more to this that I'm missing. Will even lope at times like it's heavily cammed. Question about ACR's, even if they've been turned off, if the ACR in the rear cylinder head is indeed bad, will it allow compression to leak by and cause the whistling and occasional weird idle that I'm hearing??? The bike seems to run good but could've been this way since I bought it last June. Just never really noticed till I changed exhaust. Also the right muffler will turn sooty at the tip while the left side stats clean. Any thoughts????

2010 Limited with some stuff

 

Nobody has a clue?

2010 Limited with some stuff

 

to find exhaust leaks, find a smoker or a hippie

use a lit cigarette or incense stick and move the tip around the suspect area.

watch for the smoke being interrupted


mike

 

Doesn't the exhaust go into a common exhaust pipe then splits again. Maybe what you are hearing is the left exhaust pulse then the right and an exchange of exhaust gases.

 

What Mike said.... Use some smoke source and put it all around the engine. If you have any type of exhaust leak, it will blow the smoke.

I had a complete ACR failure because it worked it self out of the head. Ended up having to replace the head. In my case, I thought the head gasket haid failed or the header had fallen off.

 

Ok to clear up what I'm asking...there are no leaks of any kind on the exhaust (true duals) or intake gasket. There are no leaks around the ACR's. You can audibly hear air being sucked into the muffler and when exhaust is pushed out it causes a whistle. You can also hear the engine stumble when it does this. What I'm wanting to know is can a bad ACR allow compression to slip by while the engine is running or does this sound more like a valve sticking.

2010 Limited with some stuff

 

I hate to leave this to the feeble minds of the dealer techs but I think I've at least narrowed it down to 2 possibilities.

2010 Limited with some stuff

 

I dont know if this helps you, but when my motor was built with ACR's in a MVA head, the builder broke the solenoid on the rear cyl and didnt seat it all the way in the head. The results was a loud zapping sound like an arc welder set on high. The noise was compression leak in my case

 

acrs vent directly into the exhaust port inside the head just about where the header pipe bolts onto, so i doubt u will hear and kind of a leak inside the exhaust pipe. possible has the acr started to loosen off in the cylinder head, and is leaking around the base, or even though u think your header is tight in the head it is actually leaking, I cant go back and look at post while typing but, did u change the exhaust header and the new header had the squared off end instead of the stock tapered end used with tapered gaskets in the head where they meet up. some people have left their tapered gasket in and used a new header with the squred ends, not sure these will seal very well.
I have had my vance hines not seal well using the new flat gaskets for these type of ends a cpl of times and can be a real bitch to get sealed, I also double nut my flanges since the locktight doesnt seem to last on these bolts.
pretty hard to feel a leak with your hand when the head gets hot so fast good luck with the search.

here is how to check acr if its working and wil probably effect reading if base is leaking
u will need a compression guage, remove spark plugs and insert compression guage in spark plug hole leave 2nd plug out ..turn bike over get the reading, with acr working im guessing you will be in the 140-150 range .
the compression releases engage when the starter button is pushed. u will have to remove your gas tank to get at the connection to unplug your acr - automatic compression release on that cylinder. turn bike over again and take reading with the acr unplugged , the reading on a stock 103 im guessing will be about 180-190 psi ,, then do the 2nd cylinder reading the same way. , if it is leaking around the base u will see a lower reading while it is not plugged in . they are wired into the fuel pump circuit, so if a fuse is blown the fuel pump wont work either. believe its wire 19 on emc plug purple wire if recall when I added acr's to my bike with mva heads
pretty sure I dropped about 40 psi when I did my test.

 

here is pics of my mva heads i think u can just barely see the litle hole in the exhaust port in the one pic i have where the acr vents into, and other is a pic of where the acr bolts into, not sure u can tighten these once the rocker boxes are on, and i hope i never have to find this out, a bit hard to see with the glare but the hex head factory plug is in the head almost in the center of the top of head