Mr. Long
Member
This is my wife's bike.
Purchased from dealer a few months ago (no maintenance records from previous owner other than that the oil had been changed before the trade-in)
Runs great, other than needing a TBS.
2008
30,000 miles
stock air filter
Two Brothers exhaust
PCIII
O2 sensor disconnected
After lots of reading and lurking on the forum (my experience is with v-twins), I finally decided it was time to get a baseline maintenance schedule established.
Last night I did the following:
-Oil change with Rotella T6 5W-40 synthetic + K&N oil filter
The old oil still looked good, confirming that the previous owner had indeed changed it. Old filter was a Fram.
-Final drive oil change with Mobile 1 75W-90 synthetic.
Oil came out looking clean, but the drain plug had about a 1/8" of gray sludge on it.
-Removed the tank so it was easier to see everything.
-Removed the AIS and replaced with Dave's sexy block-off plates.
-Capped the airbox port with a short piece of hose and a plastic cap.
-Replaced the stock CR8E plugs with CR8EIX.
The old ones
(Starts with #1 on the left)
-Pulled the air filter.
Looked fine other than some slight discoloration and some dust, so I hit it gently with the air compressor and reinstalled.
-TBS
Here's the sync tool I'm using. Easy to use.
Hooked up the hoses and then reconnected the tank (propped it up)
Upon startup, the engine immediately started to make a ticking sound every few seconds or so.
Sounded exactly like my Raider exhaust ticking as it cools.
It was perfectly audible over the sound of the bike in the garage.
The bike also hesitated when I blipped the throttle.
It even turned off a couple of times.
Thinking that the pump might be starving for fuel (the tank was already on reserve) I held the tank down low, and it seemed to help, but not completely.
At that point, I decided to go ahead with the TBS.
Initial readings.
#2 was about an inch lower than 3.
After syncing everything to #3, readings were level across the board and the bike ran smooth (other than the strange ticking sound).
I buttoned everything up and rode the bike a couple of miles to a gas station to fill up.
The bike was still fast, but the throttle response was definitely worse. It would lag and then ramp up the RPM.
Power delivery not smooth like before.
I got back home and it was too late (for me) to determine which change(s) caused the issue, so I decided to hit the sack since I had today off.
My wife was already sound asleep anyway.
So this morning, my wife decides she wants to ride to work.
Yes, you can slap me around for being evil, but I decided to let her ride her bike to see if she would notice the changes (I only told her I tuned up the bike)
About an hour later, while I'm already writing this post, I get an angry call from my wife.
Wife: "Put her back the way she was!"
Me: What do you mean?
Wife: "Sassy" has no sass. Her throttle response is terrible, she idles low, and she wants to shut off when I stop at a light!"
So now I'm heading downtown to her work to swap bikes and bring Sassy back home to troubleshoot.
The first thing I'm going to do is pull the irridiums and clean and reinstall the stock plugs.
Any other ideas while I'm out?
Thanks in advance.
Purchased from dealer a few months ago (no maintenance records from previous owner other than that the oil had been changed before the trade-in)
Runs great, other than needing a TBS.
2008
30,000 miles
stock air filter
Two Brothers exhaust
PCIII
O2 sensor disconnected
After lots of reading and lurking on the forum (my experience is with v-twins), I finally decided it was time to get a baseline maintenance schedule established.
Last night I did the following:
-Oil change with Rotella T6 5W-40 synthetic + K&N oil filter
The old oil still looked good, confirming that the previous owner had indeed changed it. Old filter was a Fram.
-Final drive oil change with Mobile 1 75W-90 synthetic.
Oil came out looking clean, but the drain plug had about a 1/8" of gray sludge on it.
-Removed the tank so it was easier to see everything.
-Removed the AIS and replaced with Dave's sexy block-off plates.
-Capped the airbox port with a short piece of hose and a plastic cap.
-Replaced the stock CR8E plugs with CR8EIX.
The old ones
(Starts with #1 on the left)
-Pulled the air filter.
Looked fine other than some slight discoloration and some dust, so I hit it gently with the air compressor and reinstalled.
-TBS
Here's the sync tool I'm using. Easy to use.
Hooked up the hoses and then reconnected the tank (propped it up)
Upon startup, the engine immediately started to make a ticking sound every few seconds or so.
Sounded exactly like my Raider exhaust ticking as it cools.
It was perfectly audible over the sound of the bike in the garage.
The bike also hesitated when I blipped the throttle.
It even turned off a couple of times.
Thinking that the pump might be starving for fuel (the tank was already on reserve) I held the tank down low, and it seemed to help, but not completely.
At that point, I decided to go ahead with the TBS.
Initial readings.
#2 was about an inch lower than 3.
After syncing everything to #3, readings were level across the board and the bike ran smooth (other than the strange ticking sound).
I buttoned everything up and rode the bike a couple of miles to a gas station to fill up.
The bike was still fast, but the throttle response was definitely worse. It would lag and then ramp up the RPM.
Power delivery not smooth like before.
I got back home and it was too late (for me) to determine which change(s) caused the issue, so I decided to hit the sack since I had today off.
My wife was already sound asleep anyway.
So this morning, my wife decides she wants to ride to work.
Yes, you can slap me around for being evil, but I decided to let her ride her bike to see if she would notice the changes (I only told her I tuned up the bike)
About an hour later, while I'm already writing this post, I get an angry call from my wife.
Wife: "Put her back the way she was!"
Me: What do you mean?
Wife: "Sassy" has no sass. Her throttle response is terrible, she idles low, and she wants to shut off when I stop at a light!"
So now I'm heading downtown to her work to swap bikes and bring Sassy back home to troubleshoot.
The first thing I'm going to do is pull the irridiums and clean and reinstall the stock plugs.
Any other ideas while I'm out?
Thanks in advance.