Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[NC Rd King]

I'm new to the forum and searching for some help. I have a 03 FLHRSEI2 Road King purchases new in 03. Two years ago I had the local HD dealer install 10.5 SE pistons, SE251 cam, and a power commander III. I'm running Reinhart pipes. I've been dealing with sparknock and a sharp engine ping with throttle roll on at all RPM's. The dealer has tried to re-map several times, and by the way not shy about charging for his time, but with no luck. Last week I was told that I had a perfect map, each cylinder tuned separatey. That if I added Octane booster it would cure some but not all of the problem. This is not acceptable, I'm not running a hot setup and the dealer says that he can't do anything about the setup and that I needed to go back to stock pistons. HD claims that  the 251 is for higher compression so who do I believe? Is any one familar with this set up and have you had any problems? My SAE numbers are HP101 and TQ 107. Please Help!

[muddypaws]

I road my bike in MN and it was stock and whan it got in the 90's it would ping. I moved to VA and the ping went away. It had to be the gas in MN that's the only thing I can think of.

[04se103]

NC Rd King Welcome to the site when you get a chance go over to New Member Introduction Board and Introduce your self over there. New Member Introduction

[erniezap]

Welcome to the site!  I was running a similar setup for a while:  10.5:1, head work, 575 cam, PC III, and had the same issues that you are running into.  Tried different things but the bike was just a ping monster.  Intalling the Daytona Twin Tech Autotune system helped some, but I believe that it was just either bad head work or a bad combination of parts.  I ended up redoing the motor over the winter to a 124" with 10:1 and a bunch more work.  The bike doesn't ping at all, runs great, and I'm happy now.

I know it isn't what you want to hear, but there have been a few of us that have run into the same problem that you are.  You might want to ask Twolane what he ended up doing since I know that he ran into the issue as well.

[Ironhorse]

Ernie is right on the mark with that one. If tuning won't solve the issue, it's probably a poor combination of parts. My OEM build of SE203 cams, HD 95" kit, and SE head gasket was also a ping monster. Going to the AMS kit their heads and 96" pistons with 26G cams and a slightly thicker Cometic headgasket got rid of the ping, even with a poor tune.

[SCRM-R]

Also consider that it may the tuning device.  Mine had the ThunderMax in it for two years and couldnt' get the ping out.  I removed the TMAX, put in a Race Tuner, got a good tune, gained 15 hp and 15 torque over the TMAX and all pinging is gone.  Just wanted to relate my experience...

[Smuuth]

I'm new to the forum and searching for some help. I have a 03 FLHRSEI2 Road King purchases new in 03. Two years ago I had the local HD dealer install 10.5 SE pistons, SE251 cam, and a power commander III. I'm running Reinhart pipes. I've been dealing with sparknock and a sharp engine ping with throttle roll on at all RPM's. The dealer has tried to re-map several times, and by the way not shy about charging for his time, but with no luck. Last week I was told that I had a perfect map, each cylinder tuned separatey. That if I added Octane booster it would cure some but not all of the problem. This is not acceptable, I'm not running a hot setup and the dealer says that he can't do anything about the setup and that I needed to go back to stock pistons. HD claims that  the 251 is for higher compression so who do I believe? Is any one familar with this set up and have you had any problems? My SAE numbers are HP101 and TQ 107. Please Help!

I had a 2003 Road King with a seemingly incurable pinging problem after I had done major engine work including bigger bore and gear drive cams.  I finally fixed it by getting rid of the Power Commander and installing a Thundermax, then having it dyno'd by a shop that knew what they were doing.

[johnsachs]

NC RD KING,
First thing do or have someone do is a cold cranking compression test.Do it properly,and post the #s,and what altitude it was done at. 
Then someone will get you the proper answer to your problem.
John

[NC Rd King]

NC RD KING,
First thing do or have someone do is a cold cranking compression test.Do it properly,and post the #s,and what altitude it was done at. 
Then someone will get you the proper answer to your problem.
John

Thanks for the input, I will have the compression numbers tomorrow.

[ragrep]

I'm new to the forum and searching for some help. I have a 03 FLHRSEI2 Road King purchases new in 03. Two years ago I had the local HD dealer install 10.5 SE pistons, SE251 cam, and a power commander III. I'm running Reinhart pipes. I've been dealing with sparknock and a sharp engine ping with throttle roll on at all RPM's. The dealer has tried to re-map several times, and by the way not shy about charging for his time, but with no luck. Last week I was told that I had a perfect map, each cylinder tuned separatey. That if I added Octane booster it would cure some but not all of the problem. This is not acceptable, I'm not running a hot setup and the dealer says that he can't do anything about the setup and that I needed to go back to stock pistons. HD claims that  the 251 is for higher compression so who do I believe? Is any one familar with this set up and have you had any problems? My SAE numbers are HP101 and TQ 107. Please Help!

If you live in North Carolina- you might contact T-MAN performance with your questions and consider taking your bike to him for a proper assessment and tune.

T-Man Performance
205 Pitts Street
Kernersville, NC 27284
PHONE: (336) 993-7068
FAX: (336) 993-7082

E-mail us:
info@t-manperformance.com

[NC Rd King]

Compression on the front cylinder is 230 lbs, the rear is 225 lbs, the elevation is 160 ft. I hope this helps!
Thanks.

[erniezap]

Sounds too high to me!

[johnsachs]

Compression on the front cylinder is 230 lbs, the rear is 225 lbs, the elevation is 160 ft. I hope this helps!
Thanks.

It ain't like "too much fun".
Too much compression is your problem.You can tune/map the hell out of it,and you'll never get anywhere.You need to bring the cranking compression down to the high 180's or 190 tops.  What heads are on it ?SE ?
John

[NC Rd King]

Bike has OE SE heads, the compression #'s are cold. Latest news from the dealer is the compression is fine. He changed the gas today to 100 octane racing fuel and the problem went away. I told him that was an inconvenient and impractical fix! What's the next step, he said go back to stock pistons! Wife said it's time for a new bike, I may take her up on the offer!

[erniezap]

Thicker head gaskets or a different cam (to lower the "corrected" compression) could work...