Review of 06 Power Commander PCIII

Installed the PCIII on my 06 Yesterday. I went for a short blast today, so this isn't an exhaustive review.

Summary

A+ Best $300 farkle, no question.

Quick ride review

Off-idle snatch is gone (or if it's there, I didn't find it).

Much smoother upshifts

Roll on at various RPMs feels much smoother

Hard acceleration . . . very smooth, pulls like a freight train (bit it always did that)

Installation tips

Took me an hour, but I work very methodically

Helps to have another set of hands, but not necessary.

I propped the tank up about 80 degrees or so. Disconnect the two leads to do this. It would be much easier if you took the tank all the way off but I was too stupid or lazy to figure out how to do that.

All connectors are disconnected by prying the flappy things (technical term) away from the connector vs pinching towards the connector.

The 02 sensor must be disconnected. It's black on the 06 vs gray as shown in Warchild's excellent quick and dirty instructions. Four wires. It's buried down along the right side of the frame so you may have to look for it.

There are no wire ties that need to be clipped to get at the big connector that controls all the action. There is enough free play to get it up and away enough to disconnect.

Just tuck every thing back in and close it up. Plenty of room.

I ran the grounding wire up through the hole in the heat shield where the other leads come through. From there, just over the top of the heatshield, under the frame brace, out through the frame, and to the battery.

There is plenty of length in all the cables and wires for easy routing.

Other than that, it goes just like the instructions (which bizarely say nothing about the 02 sensor).

A or AE?

Rickster said:

A or AE?

Click to expand...

Sorry, should have said. A.

Glad that everything went well for you. am doing this mod

very soon also.one question, do you have any other mod to the bike??

thanks

thanks.... looking for changes to off-idle snatch and any affect to the AE YCCS.

i too am interested in this

my questions are is your bike stock? assuming you used their download map, did it take away

the growl- flat spot around 2k?? did it smooth out the surging at all??? how about gas mileage,

any ill effects to it????

i have more but those are the important ones for me

peace all

tony

Have you already done the barbarian mod? If not do you still need to do the barb. mod or is the power commander used in its place? ( Sorry I am a non wrencher so I hope I don't sound too stupid) Everett

I did the Barbarian mod, but undid it prior to doing the install of the PCIII. I'm not an expert in these things, but I can't imagine that you would want to do both. The PCIII is going to be a superior solution.

I am not a mechanical geek. Just averagely mechanical and generally intimidated by things to do with engine management. With that proviso, I would say the install was very straight forward.

Everything to do with my engine is stock. I have lots of other farkles but none that would impact the PC (seat, suspension, etc.)

The PCIII ships with the 001 map which requires disconnect of the 02 sensor. I haven't got enough miles on it to be able to report on gas mileage.

It is my perception that the flat spot is GONE, or at least greatly diminished. For example going from off throttle coming into a slow speed, second gear corner and then back on the throttle, the snatch and lurch is gone. Power just rolls back on smooth as can be.

Thus far, there are no negative drivability issues that I can find. I have tried . . .

Starts and stops

Slow speed roll ons (off idle)

Run up to red line in first and second gear

Mid rpm roll ons (3500ish)

City traffic (first three gears)

Brief highway speed run

All better than stock. YMMV.

More testing to come, but that's what i know so far. I hope that helps.

Told ya so! :yahoo:

Do you need a laptop to put the program into the Power Commander or does it come with one already in it? If you do not own a laptop, can you still communicate with the Power Commander via a desktop PC or do you even need to do that?

:blink:

My PCIII came with the 001 map already installed. I just put it in and did the O2 sensor disconnect. Easy Mod.

The only thing it didnt come with was something to cover the O2 sensor plug while it is unplugged. I put a small plastic bag over it. Like the kind that nuts and bolts come in, 4 pac. type. I guess that covering it with electrical tape would work also. I did use an extra Zip tie to hold the power wire out of the way under the tank.

Since I had to gave the '06 I had back to the dealership a little early, I did not have time to install a PC-III in it. So... the big question I have involves this part of your post:

Off-idle snatch is gone (or if it's there, I didn't find it).

Click to expand...

You are referring to the well-discussed abrubt throttle, the "on-off" problem that '06 owners complain loudly of?

It is totally gone now?

If so, this would suggest that the "progressive throttle pulley" wasn't really the problem after all; rather, it was a software mapping issue all along. If this proves true (and your description sounds like it is), then it is obvious that introducing wire "shims" or other F.O.D. in the throttle mechanisms is completely unneccessary.

Yo Fred :exclamation: :dntknw:

Warchild said:

Since I had to gave the '06 I had back to the dealership a little early, I did not have time to install a PC-III in it. So... the big question I have involves this part of your post:

Off-idle snatch is gone (or if it's there, I didn't find it).

Click to expand...

You are referring to the well-discussed abrubt throttle, the "on-off" problem that '06 owners complain loudly of?

It is totally gone now?

If so, this would suggest that the "progressive throttle pulley" wasn't really the problem after all; rather, it was a software mapping issue all along. Is this proves true (and your description sounds like it is), then it is obvious that introducing wire "shims" or other F.O.D. in the throttle mechanisms is completely unneccessary.

Click to expand...

It's not the pulley. There's a noticeable and pronounced flat spot in the mapping.

Oh great...ANOTHER attack on the First Church of Throttle Shim.

Can't you religious bigots let people worship the way the want to?

RadioHowie said:

Oh great...ANOTHER attack on the First Church of Throttle Shim.

Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Well, no attack here, I promise. Still, I was always very, VERY leery of the shim fix (or any mod) that purposely introduces F.O.D. into an area full of mechanical linkages.

Back in the Day, when I was a Naval Aviation Maintenance Officer, if we so much as dropped a fastener or small tool in the area we were working in (cockpit, engine, airframe, whatever), the aircraft was considered "down" and un-flyable until the F.O.D. (foreign object damage) was located and retrieved... even if it meant tearing half the plane apart to retrieve it.

All you have to do is go to one Memorial Service for several of your close aircrew friends killed because of a flight-control surface or throttle was "stuck" in the wrong position due to F.O.D..... this will drive the point home real fast....

My ex-Navy ex-bro-in-law, a Viking pilot off the Forrestal, aka "Forest Fire' told me F.O.D. was Foreign Object Debris.

Is the term FOD regional in nature, hence the difference in yours and his definition?

Also, I always felt a little uncomfortable about the pulley shim for another reason...it was supposed to "smooth out" the throttle action, but in my mind's eye, I see adding the wire increased the radius of the throttle pulley, thereby increasing the lever arm effect of the pulley, effectively increasing the ratio of butterfly movement in relation to handgrip rotation. Speeding UP the butterfly action in relation to throttle grip rotation is NOT a way to smooth out overall throttle action. I would think it would have exactly the opposite effect desired.

In simpler words, compared to a non-shimmed throttle pulley, given 2 '06 FJRs, with the throttle grips turned exactly the same amount, the shimmed FJR is going to open the throttle MORE than the non-shimmed FJR. That doesn't sound like a smoother operating throttle to me. Sounds like a potential accident-waiting-to-happen. Especially with an AE.

However, if it's because the throttle pulley is oval, not round, and Fred's shim method smooths out the transition between small and large throttle openings, I can see the logic of using the shim, up to the point of putting, as Warchild puts it, FOD in my throttle area.

RadioHowie said:

My ex-Navy ex-bro-in-law, a Viking pilot off the Forrestal, aka "Forest Fire' told me F.O.D. was Foreign Object Debris.
Is the term FOD regional in nature, hence the difference in yours and his definition?

Click to expand...

Nope, your bro-in-law is wrong.... FOD = Foreign Object Damage (though you will see it as "Foreign Object Debris" in some writeups)

There's even a web site dedicated to FOD: https://www.fodnews.com/

Warchild said:

Since I had to gave the '06 I had back to the dealership a little early, I did not have time to install a PC-III in it. So... the big question I have involves this part of your post:

Off-idle snatch is gone (or if it's there, I didn't find it).

Click to expand...

You are referring to the well-discussed abrubt throttle, the "on-off" problem that '06 owners complain loudly of?

It is totally gone now?

If so, this would suggest that the "progressive throttle pulley" wasn't really the problem after all; rather, it was a software mapping issue all along. If this proves true (and your description sounds like it is), then it is obvious that introducing wire "shims" or other F.O.D. in the throttle mechanisms is completely unneccessary.

Click to expand...

I don't want to become the definitive source and referee on this one . . . got no dog in the fight. All i can say for sure is that I did all the actions I listed in this post and the lag, hesitation, flat spot, spasam, shit fit, fargle, gurggle, or whatever you want to call it that I experience previously when rolling the throttle on from idle or just above idle or any other low rpm running is no longer there. I will stipulate that the sun might have been in my eyes or I might have been dreaming about Pamela Anderson during each of these throttle applications, but yeah . . . the PCIII seems to have eliminated the problem. Put down the shims and put in the PCIII.