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Author Topic: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit  (Read 2609 times)

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Marty811

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Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« on: March 02, 2018, 09:11:18 AM »

Towed my 2017 CVO Limited down to Texas Hill Country from Rapid City SD on an open trailer. The engine faltered after about 15 miles on the first ride and the engine light came on. We headed for the nearest open dealer, (Monday) to diagnose. The tech said that the codes stored were old codes and couldn’t tell what the issue was. He rode it and it missed for him. Their was a miss on the front cylinder and was diagnosed as a bad coil, at 6100 miles! They had to overnight the coil in from another dealer. Turns out that wasn’t the issue after all. They changed out the ECM, still no dice. Finally replaced the front spark plugs on a whim and that solved the problem!
Had Extended warranty and rented a standard limited for the 3 days they had the bike for the $75 allowance so I wasn’t left bikeless. That stock 107 impressed me but was glad to get my 114 stage 2 back.
I wonder if towing the bike down on an open trailer could have caused this?
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r0de_runr

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2018, 10:19:12 AM »

How are you out of initial 2 year warranty?

Did you tow your bike in gear?

That rocking back and forth could have some effects, like bleeding down the lifters.  Not sure about plugs.  I doubt water was the culprit.
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Marty811

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2018, 10:27:48 AM »

The extended warranty kicks in immediately to run concurrently with the manufacture warranty. It has added benefits such as the increased bike rental allowance as well as $200 towing allowance as well as meals and lodging.
Still have this year on my Harley warranty.
Towed the bike down in Nuetral in a wheel chock with the travel mode on.
Ran into some wet weather and snow on the way down.
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skratch

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2018, 12:36:14 PM »

as it runs concurrently with the factory warranty, the towing (which you obviously didn't need), the bike rental, and the housing/food allowance would be taken care of by the esp.  but the bike should have been fixed under factory warranty, so i hope they didn't charge you the $50 deductible.

you did use the food/housing allowance didn't you?  if you didn't, and still have the receipt, you can get up to $150 per day back.
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Marty811

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2018, 01:40:20 PM »

The repair was under factory warranty and didn’t cost me a dime.
Didn’t need the food and hotel since we rented a place for a month in Bandera.
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skratch

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2018, 03:37:32 PM »

yeah, but it coulda helped pay for your rental?
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grc

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2018, 04:08:20 PM »


Shotgun diagnostics strikes again.  Be thankful you weren't having this done on your dime.

Just towing the bike on a trailer isn't going to cause spark plugs to fail or foul (did they say what actually failed).  How old was the fuel in the tank? 

Many people in my little corner of the world, including me, had similar issues with our gasoline powered snow throwers, tractors, etc. a few weeks ago, and the only plausible explanation was a bad batch of gasoline.  Everything ran fine one day, the next day the engines had a severe miss and stalled.  Repair involved thoroughly cleaning the fuel systems and replacing plugs, but I still don't know if it was a problem with the alcohol in the fuel or perhaps water in the fuel.  The issue was widespread, so I doubt this was just something that happened at one gas station. Refineries around here have a history of screwing up batches. :nixweiss:

Jerry

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Marty811

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2018, 06:01:15 PM »

The fuel was old, took it in for Winter Storage in November last year. The dealer was supposed to put Stabil in it before storage.
Funny thing is I had it dyno tuned over the winter. You would have thought that a
Miss would have turned up at that time. Filled it up down here and the miss started 10 miles later.
My buddy filled up at the same pump and had no issues.
The tech said that the plugs looked fine.
You’re right, 3 days at the shop scratching their heads trying to diagnose the problem plus the new not needed coil would have been big bucks!
On a side note love the way the bike runs after the dyno tune. Much more responsive now verses before with the canned Harley map.
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iski

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2018, 03:53:47 AM »

Glad you got it straightened out.  Have fun, those roads around Bandera are a blast to ride!
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Para Bellum

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2018, 08:42:57 PM »


Funny thing is I had it dyno tuned over the winter. You would have thought that a

On a side note love the way the bike runs after the dyno tune. Much more responsive now verses before with the canned Harley map.
The dealer didn't give you a hard time about the non-HD fuel map?
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Marty811

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2018, 09:11:51 AM »

Nope, I told them right off that I just had the bike tuned using the Harley Street Tuner. I didn’t want them flashing the ECM back to the stock settings.
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Para Bellum

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2018, 06:50:24 PM »

Nope, I told them right off that I just had the bike tuned using the Harley Street Tuner. I didn’t want them flashing the ECM back to the stock settings.
That makes sense; IIRC, the Street Tuner can't change the map outside of EPA approval?
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grc

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2018, 07:24:04 PM »

That makes sense; IIRC, the Street Tuner can't change the map outside of EPA approval?

That's correct.  The only settings that can be modified are those that legally fall within the open loop mode.  For instance, EPA has never strictly controlled the mixture settings for wide open throttle.  The areas they do dictate are those that fall in the closed loop areas, like idle, cruise, light acceleration, etc.

Jerry
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CVOFla

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2018, 01:37:26 PM »

It's not a good idea to winterize your bike with fuel in the tank that contains ethanol. It's starts to break down in 30 days, you can extend it with additives but still. The best think to do is run straight gas sometimes called boat gas. It's usually 89 octane but it will last a year without an additive.
You can find it with the app called Pure Gas.
 You can also remove the ethanol from your 93 octane fuel by mixing water with the fuel whaaaaaat. Yeah it will absorb the alcohol and sink to the bottom where you can drain off the water alcohol mix. Its easy if you have a fuel can that has a bottom drain like a SureCan. You can see many examples of this on Youtube.   
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Marty811

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Re: Engine Light On- Spark Plugs the Culprit
« Reply #14 on: March 07, 2018, 04:24:34 PM »

I agree it is better to put the bike away with pure gas in th tank. In my case I did have the good stuff in the tank. Out in the Black Hills of South Dakota where Ilive it is very easy to get the nonoxengenated 91 or higher octane gas. In fact it’s hard not to. Maybe because of the biker traffic, especially during the rally.
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