Hello All, we are here in Gardiner, MT just North of Yellowstone NP. This is the first chance to get online since leaving Wednesday Morning. We are doing fine, HOWEVER, the same can not be said of the bike as it is back at the Harley dealer in Billings!
It all started Thursday, but let's start with Wednesday, we made it to Toledo, OH only hitting rain from Syracuse to Erie, PA. On Thursday, we hit a vicious bump in South Bend and from then on occasionally heard a loud squeak...which I could not isolate. I will come back to that one later. We got to St. Paul where after leaving the Harley dealer, the bike started acting up. We were in traffic, the idle revved high then I started having sputtering...really weird stuff. We turned around and went back to the St. Paul dealer but it was almost 6 and they were winding down. But they did take a quick look at the bike. They hooked it up and found a Fuel Management error code. They attributed the problem to heat management and low fuel. They did a 12 mile test ride and it was fine.
We left St. Paul and shot up to St. Cloud where we stayed the night. The next morning, I started the bike and once again it was revving at >2000 rpm but we continued on to Fargo, ND where I talked to the service department who I was not impressed with so I left. We made it to Jamestown where we ended up killing 5 hours with the service on the bike. They found bad MAP and Engine Temp sensors. While there I noticed that my seat bolt was missing so I bought another thinking it was the cause of the earlier mentiones squeak on bumps. We left Jamestown at 4 trying to get to Billings that night. The bike was running great...right until we were in the middle of nowhere at the ND-MT border. then the bike would once again sputter and it sounded like the rear cyl. shut down. shift and adjust the throttle and I kept going but once again I had an error code. In Glendive, MT, we pulled off the road and got a hotel for the night not wanting to break down in the dark.
In the morning the bike was not running well and we only could do 62mph before the engine would sputter...this also happened at hills. I started to wonder if it was the power commander as it now started to appear at different throttle positions. We limped into Billings where the dealer first hemmed and hawed because of the PC. Then the Service Manager stepped in, I pulled off the PC and showed him that there was a problem. They took the bike in and worked on it for several hours. Now, they believe the Throttle Position Sensor is bad...and they don't have one! Earliest they will get it will be Tuesday Morning from HD.
Then the tech pulled me in to show me my tire...it was chewed up down the center from the mount for the seat bolt. I need to talk to them more about this as last night I starting wondering if the shocks are letting the tire get too close to the fender. And my taillight is out, probably a bad wire....from the same issue.
So we rented a car for a few days and will head back to Billings by Monday Night after at least DRIVING through Yellowstone and the Tetons. The trip is in shambles at the moment but we intend to try and make Burlington by Friday Night. Hope to be able to post again tonight.
/Bill
Author
Topic: WFP - from Sea to Shining Sea (Read 11547 times)