Reply With Quoteif its a race ecm it will have for race use only stamped on it... if its tuned you would have to look at the maps themselves to see...
This is the worse possible scenario, a bad situation that went away randomly. Now, I can't trust the bike.
I fired it up and it did the usual idle for 5 seconds then die. The third time, it stayed alive. The bike always does that when it's cold out and not warmed up(35 degrees). I haven't ridden it in 2 weeks due to snow, been sitting on a tender.
It cranked faster than normal, other than that nothing noticeable. Normally it turns over real slow, but this time the battery was fully charged. Then, I noticed it was idling low, like 900rpm-1000rpm. If I touched the throttle, it'd struggle and die though. If I went really gently, I could rev it up fine, but then bounce down to 500rpm on the way back and die. Which revs, it'd just fall on its face instantly and die. First gear instead of neutral, and it'd fall to 500rpm and die slowly. The only way to keep it running in 1st was to hold the throttle slightly.
This continued from 2 minutes to 20 minutes of trying to warm it up. It also persisted through TPS relearns, and the 08+ test procedure. Nothing.
Put it back in the garage, and went to go order new plugs. Came back, and started tearing it apart to see where plugs will go once the arrive. I just took the lid off, then lifted the inner airbox lid and base. Didn't touch a thing, only thing I did do was rub the sensor next to the filter with a cloth to clean it, I'm assuming it's an IAT sensor, nothing major.
With the outside airbox lid off, I fired it up. It cranked slowly like it used to (battery's going?). Idled fine, can rev the throttle fine. I thought extra airflow could be the fix. Put the outside cover on, restarted. Same. Everything works. WTF? I didn't change anything.
The only difference I can think of, is the battery voltage seemed to drop some. But, why would it struggle on a full charge, but run fine on a weak battery? Any ideas? I'm afraid to ride this thing now.
(On a side note, I found the previous owner put in a K&N filter. So, I'm suspecting I'm lean, but the thing sucks for fuel economy (30mpg). Any way to tell if I have a race ECM or tuned 08' ecm, causing me to run rich without an exhaust?)
if its a race ecm it will have for race use only stamped on it... if its tuned you would have to look at the maps themselves to see...
was prob cranking slow due to the cold, also mine runs like a POS untill it gets warmed up, but doesn't die.
the iat sensor was dirty;
mine had the same symptoms and it was a bad battery. exactly the same.
New plugs, check battery under load, and check battery terminals and grounding points....should be good to go. Since you did a TPS reset, you may have to struggle to get your learn-in ride in - but after the closed-loop learning it should be fine.
is the battery a warranty item? Can I just yank it out and bring it in, or do I have to ride the bike in?
I would say bring the whole bike in in case it is not the battery.
hd did replace my battery under warranty. but don't drive it to the shop as it could hurt your engine. i have a buddy with a xb12scg and he let me use his battery. once i put the new battery in my bike it ran fine. i too was worried about fouled plugs, etc.
I went out for food, and happened to see this store dedicated to batteries. They had one for the bike for $100, then discounted it to $91 to be nice. I figured screw it, might as well do it now instead of spending tons of money driving around and getting another HD battery. People seem to be having issues with them, I'm not putting another HD thing on this bike unless I have to.
Next time I see a HD shop, I'll exchange it though, and sell the new one. Will they exchange the battery if it's not on the warrantied bike? No real way to prove it was from that bike.
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