Picked up my new bike today and got 6 miles down the road, stopped to buy my buddy some gas for riding me to the dealer and when I restarted the bike the engine light came on and remained on.
I called the dealership, Gulf Coast Harley in New Port Richey, Florida and they told me to drive it back to them (I would have preferred them to come and get it sinceI did not know why the engine light was on).
Had to leave it at the dealer.
I got a ride home from the dealership with their parts delivery guy (25 miles).
Just got off the phone with a service writer and they still don't know what is wrong and supposedly have been on the phone with HD all day.
I am debating on telling them to keep it and refund my $32k+.

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I would still be afraid to own an 08 after what we have all been through with the 07's. I would have waited a little longer to see if they pan out. Now is your chance to get out, hopefully it's just a fluke, but who knows.

 

I would asolutely push for a new bike. Immediately, and before re-taking delivery of this one.

 

Hang in there. Once bought a Ford Expedition and the engine light came on one mile from the dealership. Didn't come home with it the first day. Your H-D dealerwill be able to get to the source of the engine light though they didn't so right away. That you went down the road without anything really noticeable gives me the feeling that it shouldn't be anything major. So hang in there and this will pass. There aren't many bikes like this, in this color, coming from your dealer. Would mention I've had zero, nada, zilch problems with the black ice FLHRSE3 here.

 

sfarson, Not even the dreaded transmission clatter?

 

This is my sixth H-D and the tranny is oustanding. No clatter, clanking, or rattling at all. Was a little tight early on finding neutral while not moving, but that was and is it. Didn't even know clatter was reported by some.

 

Sfarson, Are you kidding me? Get off of the CVO section and Click onto the transmission section. There are over one hundred and thirty thousands hits, about the six speed clattertrap transmission.[:@]

 

Nope not kidding. Have never read a review criticizing the '07 trannies, or calling it out as clattering thing. Have read a few reports about 5th gear whine, but the straight cut gear is the source for this and I kinda like it. Not that is doesn't exist but I'm not ready to declareclattering a widespread problem. There are many more '07 owners completely happy not noting a problem at all with their trannies, including me. There's a silent majority. I'm a moderator at another H-D Forum and don't recall any significant threads on this. Forums are a magnet for problem reports but they aren't representative. If I let the web be the filter for truthI wouldn't buy a single bike. I wouldn't buy Honda CBR's for their fried stators, or BMW's for failed final drives, or Ducati's and electrical gremlins... and even H-D's for hot engines or awful trannies. Haven't experience any of the preceding because it afflicts a minority.

 

That's sound reasoning, SF, I for one like to hear it.

 

I called today at a little before noon to find out the status of my bike. The salesperson said that the problem had been corrected and the mechanic and the service manager had both gone for test rides and the engine light was staying off. He said to give them time to re-detail it and come pick it up. So I tried to get in touch with the service manager but had to wait until he got back from lunch so he could arrange for either me getting a ride over or delivering the bike. After reaching the service mgr. he told me he could not accommodate my transportation requests today, he was all booked up. I inquired about what exactly did he find wrong, and I do appreciate his honesty, he said nothing. No parts put on, they just unplugged and plugged the connectors back in and re-calibrated the throttle sensors that were in spec before, and that seemed to cure the problem but he couldn't guarantee the problem was fixed.
I told my salesperson I wasn't comfortable with the service mgr. answer, although I greatly appreciated his honesty.
In Florida there isn't a "lemon law" or "3 day rule" for motorcycles.
My salesperson empathized with my concerns and said he thought the dealership would refund my money.
I called Fletcher's HD in Clearwater, FL. They have one and I told them I wanted it.
I called my salesperson back and he said that they would definitely refund my money after talking to the GM.
I said I would be in later to bring back all the extra stuff they give you with the bike and pick up my check.
On the way to Gulf Coast HD New Port Richey, FL I stopped by Fletcher's looked at the new bike I'm getting and gave them a deposit. I called my salesperson back to tell him I was on the way and inquired about the bike I was about to give back to them and he said they had ridden it again since I had called earlier and the engine light was still coming on.
So kudos to Gulf Coast HD for being honest and refunding my money. It wasn't their fault. They didn't build the bike and they weren't getting adequate support from the manufacturer to solve it, at least not yet. I hope they figure it out because my new one from Fletcher's might do the same thing.
If anyone gets one of these FLHRSE4's please relate to this post how your engine light operates.