Power Commander disappoints today (( Update, sort of ))
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Tourer
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 331
Likes: 1
From: Fuquay Varina, NC
Power Commander disappoints today (( Update, sort of ))
Before I explain my experience today, let me say that this is not a complaint, whine or a negative opinion of the product. In fact I have had great experiences in the past with using Power Commander units. I have an 08 SG that I purchased a PCIII from Jamie @ Fuel Moto and since I already had a set of Supertrapp SE’s installed, he indicated that I could install the power baffles and not have to replace the cans. That was great news. Today was the day to install everything. Baffles went in like a piece of cake along with the installation of the PCIII and the 02 sensor eliminators. My bike has ABS so I had to do a bit of a mod to the ECM tray to get it all to fit, but worked out AOK. I already had an SE A/C sitting on the bench, so went with that vs. the K&N unit that Jamie supplies.
Shortly after the install I fired it up and thought I would take a spin around the neighborhood to make sure all was well. Fired right up and ran fine. I noticed when I was pulling out of my driveway; it felt like there was a bit of lag in the throttle, which made me think hmmmm that seems a bit different. There also seemed to be less of ability to blip, (if you can call it that on drive by wire) the throttle. I though OK, probably will need to get used to the new air and fuel delivery, and away I went. For the first 5-10 miles I felt that I was not seeing the WOW factor that had been reported on this set up so far, but remained optimistic and planned on driving around for a couple of hours to give it an honest evaluation. Here is where it starts to go down hill. somewhere about 15 miles out and maybe a half hour later, pulling away from a light accelerating modestly, the bike started to sputter and pop and actually felt like it was going to die out. It didn’t die, but that kind of put me in a frame of mind that I should not venture further, but stay closer to home in the event I had an issue. Well the issue happened, as I continued along my way heading back to the stable, the sputter and pop turned into heavy stumbling and backfiring and did not want to run. It died out a couple of times and really had me thinking I was going to need to test my roadside assistance. I popped the seat to see if anything looked unusual or even it somehow the seat may have been pushing the manual adjustment buttons. This didn’t see m to be the case, but I thought, I’m only a couple of miles from home now, why not unplug the PC and see what happens. Well, I got lucky. The bike fired up and ran fine, and I was able to make it back this way. I have had heard of folks in the past have issues if the manual buttons had become pushed due to tight fitting, so I thought, that must be the issue. When I got home, I hooked up the PC to my laptop and truly expected to find a bunch of off the wall numbers on the map. Since I saved a copy of Jamie’s map into my laptop before I did the install, I had something to compare it to. Well, they were exactly the same, So I’m stumped. Guess I will be checking in with Jamie on Monday to get his take on things.
After the engine cooled down some, I did pop the 02 sensors off and reinstalled the stock A/C and took it out for a half hour or so and it ran fantastic so I don’t think it was anything outside the loop of the PC. By the way, during all of the stumbling and backfiring issues, I never had the check engine light come on which I thought was strange. On the bright side of things, I am happy I was able to ride today. I'm located in south central NC and spent most of my life in Chicago so getting out in January feels like I'm getting away with something.
[font="times new roman"][size=3]Feel free to comment or voice thou
Shortly after the install I fired it up and thought I would take a spin around the neighborhood to make sure all was well. Fired right up and ran fine. I noticed when I was pulling out of my driveway; it felt like there was a bit of lag in the throttle, which made me think hmmmm that seems a bit different. There also seemed to be less of ability to blip, (if you can call it that on drive by wire) the throttle. I though OK, probably will need to get used to the new air and fuel delivery, and away I went. For the first 5-10 miles I felt that I was not seeing the WOW factor that had been reported on this set up so far, but remained optimistic and planned on driving around for a couple of hours to give it an honest evaluation. Here is where it starts to go down hill. somewhere about 15 miles out and maybe a half hour later, pulling away from a light accelerating modestly, the bike started to sputter and pop and actually felt like it was going to die out. It didn’t die, but that kind of put me in a frame of mind that I should not venture further, but stay closer to home in the event I had an issue. Well the issue happened, as I continued along my way heading back to the stable, the sputter and pop turned into heavy stumbling and backfiring and did not want to run. It died out a couple of times and really had me thinking I was going to need to test my roadside assistance. I popped the seat to see if anything looked unusual or even it somehow the seat may have been pushing the manual adjustment buttons. This didn’t see m to be the case, but I thought, I’m only a couple of miles from home now, why not unplug the PC and see what happens. Well, I got lucky. The bike fired up and ran fine, and I was able to make it back this way. I have had heard of folks in the past have issues if the manual buttons had become pushed due to tight fitting, so I thought, that must be the issue. When I got home, I hooked up the PC to my laptop and truly expected to find a bunch of off the wall numbers on the map. Since I saved a copy of Jamie’s map into my laptop before I did the install, I had something to compare it to. Well, they were exactly the same, So I’m stumped. Guess I will be checking in with Jamie on Monday to get his take on things.
After the engine cooled down some, I did pop the 02 sensors off and reinstalled the stock A/C and took it out for a half hour or so and it ran fantastic so I don’t think it was anything outside the loop of the PC. By the way, during all of the stumbling and backfiring issues, I never had the check engine light come on which I thought was strange. On the bright side of things, I am happy I was able to ride today. I'm located in south central NC and spent most of my life in Chicago so getting out in January feels like I'm getting away with something.
[font="times new roman"][size=3]Feel free to comment or voice thou
Cruiser
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 177
Likes: 4
From: Conroe, TX
RE: Power Commander disappoints today
In another post by GreyGhost https://www.hdforums.com/m_2645277/tm.htm, he mentions the lags in the throttle just off of idle also. I'm considering the Fuelmoto package but, the lag off of idle has me rethinking of doing a Power Commander. Is this a glitch a Power Commander problem or a problem with Fuelmoto custom maps?
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 5,256
Likes: 5
From: Concord, CA
RE: Power Commander disappoints today
I dont have a bike with O2 sensors, but mine did this on occasion until I got my tuning straightened out.
Every motor is different. Jamie's maps are close, but can not account for different tolerances in the engine, exhaust and AC.
PCIII is a great unit and works very well on many bikes.
Did you check to make sure throttle position is set correctly?
Every motor is different. Jamie's maps are close, but can not account for different tolerances in the engine, exhaust and AC.
PCIII is a great unit and works very well on many bikes.
Did you check to make sure throttle position is set correctly?
Cruiser
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 143
Likes: 0
RE: Power Commander disappoints today
The lag I mentioned is so slight, that if it had been like that from the factory, I would have never noticed it. Also, the bike pulls away MUCH smoother from a dead stop. You pretty much just let the clutch out and crack the throttle and your'e moving smoothly. Very low end acceleration is smoother also.And, at low RPM cruise (like around town) there was an ever so slight "lean surge" and now that is gone. I do believe some tweaking can make the running dang near perfect, and it is pretty good now. I don't know how well the TMax or the SERT work, but these mods are definitely worth the time and money.
Cruiser
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 143
Likes: 0
RE: Power Commander disappoints today
ORIGINAL: Rhubarb
I dont have a bike with O2 sensors, but mine did this on occasion until I got my tuning straightened out.
Every motor is different. Jamie's maps are close, but can not account for different tolerances in the engine, exhaust and AC.
PCIII is a great unit and works very well on many bikes.
Did you check to make sure throttle position is set correctly?
I don't know how to check the throttle position, I have the T B wire, and the setup sheet mentioned that, so I will make a call to Jamie and check it out. I have no doubt I'll get it dialed in to my liking, I'm **** like that, but it is much better than stock now.
I dont have a bike with O2 sensors, but mine did this on occasion until I got my tuning straightened out.
Every motor is different. Jamie's maps are close, but can not account for different tolerances in the engine, exhaust and AC.
PCIII is a great unit and works very well on many bikes.
Did you check to make sure throttle position is set correctly?
I don't know how to check the throttle position, I have the T B wire, and the setup sheet mentioned that, so I will make a call to Jamie and check it out. I have no doubt I'll get it dialed in to my liking, I'm **** like that, but it is much better than stock now.
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Road Master
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 975
Likes: 8
From: Houston
RE: Power Commander disappoints today
Sorry to read this, Mang! I can send you my map for comparison if you like?
I installed a new set today. The more I run these Rush pipes with the PCIII for my 08 SG, the more the Idislike the combination.Idespise the tin can sound these pipesmake and thelack of power compared to the ovals is like night and day. To top it off, the right pipe blued today!!I knew better than to buy these Rush pipes as the quality is **** poor but I did anyway. I should have stuck with the Oval's.
Next up, Bub 7's and headers, what I wantedto begin with.
I installed a new set today. The more I run these Rush pipes with the PCIII for my 08 SG, the more the Idislike the combination.Idespise the tin can sound these pipesmake and thelack of power compared to the ovals is like night and day. To top it off, the right pipe blued today!!I knew better than to buy these Rush pipes as the quality is **** poor but I did anyway. I should have stuck with the Oval's.
Next up, Bub 7's and headers, what I wantedto begin with.
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Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 331
Likes: 1
From: Fuquay Varina, NC
RE: Power Commander disappoints today
I think in my situation there is something more than tweaking is going to help. During the events of stumbling and popping today, ifI would have been in any type of traffic, I could havehad a very different story to tell. These touring bikes can be a little hard to maneuver when they are stumbling and learching around.The thingsthat have me concerned are that it really didn't seem to impress me at all before of the Stumbling and poor running issues started,and then the fact that before I pulled the unit off to get back home, I couldn't even keep it running. I was really hoping to see the map all over the board thinking the buttons were inadvertently pushed by the positioning of the unit. Idid have a bit of a laugh once I put my stock AC back on and pulled the 02 sensors, and took it back out to see how it would run. It was actually that much better than when I initially installed the PC.If I would havefelt that kind of improvement over stock with the PCI would reporting in with my satisfaction with a bunch of those smiley thingies attached. I know it doesn't pay to worry in advance or try to figure out how it's gonna go, but the last thing I hope I hear is that the unit will have to go back to Dynojet to be checked. If there is concern that the unit itself may have a problem vs. a mapping issue or something related to firmware, I'd rather start all over with another unit. My confidence in this unit at this point is in question.
A word on Jamie's new baffles, I really do like they way they tamed down the exhaust volume. The Super Trapp SE Baffles had a bit of ahammering/bark type thing going onthat got tiring after a couple of hours in the saddle.
A word on Jamie's new baffles, I really do like they way they tamed down the exhaust volume. The Super Trapp SE Baffles had a bit of ahammering/bark type thing going onthat got tiring after a couple of hours in the saddle.
Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 331
Likes: 1
From: Fuquay Varina, NC
RE: Power Commander disappoints today
You may want to try to listen to the Bub 7's before you jump. I'v had an opportunity to hear the complete system (no crossover) and a set of the slip on's (slip ons were on a 103") and thought they were both pretty loud. More than I think would be acceptable if you wanted to get anything of value out of the radio.