Could be an exhaust leak right at the headpipe... my '98 did weird things like that when the gaskets dried up.
Stumble or Harley rumble?
Been putting some miles on my new (to me) road king. First harley and Im more of a chevy small block gear head. Quick specs, '02, 17k, stock AC and SE pipes, no tuner. I get popping on decel. My concern is that when I am cruising at a low speed/rpm ~2100, it sounds like its missing. It has good power and smoothes out above 2500 rpms and cruising is great. Is this just due to the lean factory settings I read about? I checked the front motor mount and it looks in good shape. Bike has a lopey idle at 900. Just newbiness, not knowing what to expect out of a Harley?
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2002 is first year for Delphi. With stock air cleaner and nothing but SE pipes, as long as head pipe gaskets are good and flanges are tight, the noise you hear is simply normal noises of SE pipes on that bike, as the ECU for the 2002-2006 models ran a little on the fat side. The SE pipes have good baffling, but they do reduce exhaust velocity, and that reduces backpressure. The result is "Berbbling" out the exhaust at times and especially on decel.Been putting some miles on my new (to me) road king. First harley and Im more of a chevy small block gear head. Quick specs, '02, 17k, stock AC and SE pipes, no tuner. I get popping on decel. My concern is that when I am cruising at a low speed/rpm ~2100, it sounds like its missing. It has good power and smoothes out above 2500 rpms and cruising is great. Is this just due to the lean factory settings I read about? I checked the front motor mount and it looks in good shape. Bike has a lopey idle at 900. Just newbiness, not knowing what to expect out of a Harley?
Even with my 2009 stock pipes (same as Police pipes on pre-2009 models) and a stock air filter, I get that noise occasionally, and my system is as watertight as a frogs assh*le.
The bike seems "jerky" and breaking up at 2100 rpms, because that's just as the powerband of the stock cams change, and start to get into the power making ranges. Because of this, and the lean-ish mapping the ECU in the midranges has regarding power, it has this "stuttering" feel, until a fuel-adder is placed on the bike and more fuel is added. That tends to smooth this transitional area right out and eliminates the jerkiness.
Idle should be at 1050, not 900. What I would suggest is taking the air cleaner element out, washing it (stock elements are washable-replace in bike DRY....NOT OILED) and using some carb cleaner, spray up inside the IAC pintle at 12 O'clock, inside the throttlebody. If the IAC pintle (Idle Air Control) gets carboned up and dirty, your idle can be low and low end drivability issues can be amplified.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to check for leaks and do a little cleaning as suggested. The air cleaner is new, but I'll still give it a look.2002 is first year for Delphi. With stock air cleaner and nothing but SE pipes, as long as head pipe gaskets are good and flanges are tight, the noise you hear is simply normal noises of SE pipes on that bike, as the ECU for the 2002-2006 models ran a little on the fat side. The SE pipes have good baffling, but they do reduce exhaust velocity, and that reduces backpressure. The result is "Berbbling" out the exhaust at times and especially on decel.
Even with my 2009 stock pipes (same as Police pipes on pre-2009 models) and a stock air filter, I get that noise occasionally, and my system is as watertight as a frogs assh*le.
The bike seems "jerky" and breaking up at 2100 rpms, because that's just as the powerband of the stock cams change, and start to get into the power making ranges. Because of this, and the lean-ish mapping the ECU in the midranges has regarding power, it has this "stuttering" feel, until a fuel-adder is placed on the bike and more fuel is added. That tends to smooth this transitional area right out and eliminates the jerkiness.
Idle should be at 1050, not 900. What I would suggest is taking the air cleaner element out, washing it (stock elements are washable-replace in bike DRY....NOT OILED) and using some carb cleaner, spray up inside the IAC pintle at 12 O'clock, inside the throttlebody. If the IAC pintle (Idle Air Control) gets carboned up and dirty, your idle can be low and low end drivability issues can be amplified.
I was in the same boat a couple weeks ago with my '03 FLHPI. Had the same stutter feeling around 2200 rpm. I replaced plugs and wires, cleaned air filter and throttle body and it really helped. Still have a little but much less than before.
Mike
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Mike
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Quick update. Cleaned up the IAC, not very dirty and verified it was working. Fired up and the idle bounces between 900 and 1000. The new issue is that it stumbled, twice. It tried to stall and caught itself. First time for this.:mad
How can you tell if you have an exhaust leak from the headers, would you be able to feel it if you were to put a hand near the cylnder heads?
From what I've read, you can take a length of garden hose (3'), and place one end at your ear and the other near the exhaust. Should hear a 'tick, tick" if u have a leak.
I thought if you put a garden hose up to your ear you'd hear Sea breeze's . Like a Sea Shell ....:eek
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Welcome to the Forum
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Hope you get it figured out
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Welcome to the Forum
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Hope you get it figured out
OK.....check basics.....
What color are plugs?
How old is fuel?
Fuel filter?
What color are plugs?
How old is fuel?
Fuel filter?
Quick update. Cleaned up the IAC, not very dirty and verified it was working. Fired up and the idle bounces between 900 and 1000. The new issue is that it stumbled, twice. It tried to stall and caught itself. First time for this.:mad
What changed? I mean, what did you do?
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I pulled the plugs last week and they were white (lean)OK.....check basics.....
What color are plugs?
How old is fuel?
Fuel filter?
Fuel is fresh with 4oz of sea foam.
Don't know about the filter.
The pintle comes out and retracts after I go from "run" to "stop". Doesn't do anything when I turn on the ignition and hit the run button. Is this correct?
Yes.
Open gas cap. Turn ignition on. Look for spray from crack in white corrugated fuel lines.....
Open gas cap. Turn ignition on. Look for spray from crack in white corrugated fuel lines.....
Inside the tank? Not sure which lines you're referencing?Yes.
Open gas cap. Turn ignition on. Look for spray from crack in white corrugated fuel lines.....
Thanks for the help.
Never mind, did a search and found the info. I'll check it out, thanks again.
My '03 RK did the same thing. Horrible while crushing thru town. I put a Power Commander 5 on, got a good map and she's perfect now. Mine was all due to being lean.
Efi has fuel hoses in tank. If the feed line cracks, and does, it fails to supply engine with proper fuel amount. Lean condition follows.
Tuner is in the future for sure, but I want to get familiar with the bike and make sure it's healthy. I'm not a big fan of paying for things I should be able to do. I was told I couldn't work on my Mercedes CDI (diesel) and I've gotten pretty cozey with it over the past 4 years. I'll check around in the tank when the fuel gets low and if there's an issue I'll replace the lines and filter. Found a pretty good youtube video on it. Thanks again!
OK, quick update. I bought a Superchips Vigilante to flash the ecm. I figured for the little performance upgrades I have and that it is also a code reader, I couldn't go wrong for $150. So, I reflashed the ecm with 'other' slipons (they only have one brand listed, which escapes me) and stock AC. The decel popping was still there, maybe a little less between shifts, but the idle was up to 1000+-. I figured since the popping was still present, I reflashed again with the 'branded' slipons. Didn't work out. Went on a ride to the Flight 93 memorial with speed limits of 35 and 25, and it was hell trying to go those speeds. I reflashed back to stock and the idle dropped back down to 900+-, but the low end torque was back and I could cruise at low speeds with less issue. I emailed Superchips, but it's likely going back this week. I had the bike idling and fiddled with the front injector wiring and couldn't get it to stumble, so I guess I'll be going into the gas tank.
Oh, and as far as the 'bobbles' go. They were more prevalent with the specific slip on tune, which I feel was too rich, but it did stall at idle once after I put the tune back to stock.
Oh, and as far as the 'bobbles' go. They were more prevalent with the specific slip on tune, which I feel was too rich, but it did stall at idle once after I put the tune back to stock.
Previous post with regard to cam change at 2100 rpm's is true. You should not be running at that RPM, it is too low. You should be shifting at 2500-2900 RPM's, and cruising in the same range 2100 rpm's is lugging the engine and is hard on the motor and promotes premature compensater wear and failure.OK, quick update. I bought a Superchips Vigilante to flash the ecm. I figured for the little performance upgrades I have and that it is also a code reader, I couldn't go wrong for $150. So, I reflashed the ecm with 'other' slipons (they only have one brand listed, which escapes me) and stock AC. The decel popping was still there, maybe a little less between shifts, but the idle was up to 1000+-. I figured since the popping was still present, I reflashed again with the 'branded' slipons. Didn't work out. Went on a ride to the Flight 93 memorial with speed limits of 35 and 25, and it was hell trying to go those speeds. I reflashed back to stock and the idle dropped back down to 900+-, but the low end torque was back and I could cruise at low speeds with less issue. I emailed Superchips, but it's likely going back this week. I had the bike idling and fiddled with the front injector wiring and couldn't get it to stumble, so I guess I'll be going into the gas tank.
Oh, and as far as the 'bobbles' go. They were more prevalent with the specific slip on tune, which I feel was too rich, but it did stall at idle once after I put the tune back to stock.
So cruising rpms are 2200-2500 or so?Previous post with regard to cam change at 2100 rpm's is true. You should not be running at that RPM, it is too low. You should be shifting at 2500-2900 RPM's, and cruising in the same range 2100 rpm's is lugging the engine and is hard on the motor and promotes premature compensater wear and failure.
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