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[crowgo]

  2011 FLSTSE2, have owned 12 weeks, 7 weeks in shop.  1700 miles and is virtually impossible, 90% of the time, to locate neutral (no difference engine ON or OFF).  Extremely hard to shift all gears.  Anyone with similar experience? 

[tomjetty]

Ask your dealer about the lemon law.

[DESERTBEAR54]

Switch over to Redline in The P & T. Makes shifting much easier and riding,riding and more riding makes everything smoother!!

[crowgo]

  In Illinois, motorcycles are exempt from the lemon law, a complaint can be filed against the dealer with the Attorney General's office  $30 Grand on a car is protected but not on a MC, go figure.  What about Redline vs Warranty?  I'm pretty sure the MoCo will appreciate the free advertising!!! 

[sadunbar]

  2011 FLSTSE2, have owned 12 weeks, 7 weeks in shop.  1700 miles and is virtually impossible, 90% of the time, to locate neutral (no difference engine ON or OFF).  Extremely hard to shift all gears.  Anyone with similar experience? 

After 7 weeks, I think I'd insist they swap out the transmission.  It's a reasonable request.  If they balk, take it up the chain with Customer Service at the MOCO.

[Midnight Rider]

  2011 FLSTSE2, have owned 12 weeks, 7 weeks in shop.  1700 miles and is virtually impossible, 90% of the time, to locate neutral (no difference engine ON or OFF).  Extremely hard to shift all gears.  Anyone with similar experience? 

Redline will not effect your warranty...it exceeds the standards of Syn 3 by a long way.  In fact, my local dealer sells it and actually recommends it.

Neutral becomes easier to find with more miles, and the Shockproof helps a LOT.  The "hard" shifting...is this your first HD?  They don't exactly click into gear like some of the other bikes out there, but it shouldn't be "hard", though that is a subjective term unless you have something to compare it to.  I've not heard of any "hard" shifting HD trannys, but there's always the first time.

[jjohn581]

I've had my 2011 conv about 2 months and have similar problem finding neutral compared to my 03 Fatboy.  Did find it easier to find while rolling rather than a complete stop.

[sadunbar]

Redline will not effect your warranty...it exceeds the standards of Syn 3 by a long way.  In fact, my local dealer sells it and actually recommends it.

Neutral becomes easier to find with more miles, and the Shockproof helps a LOT.  The "hard" shifting...is this your first HD?  They don't exactly click into gear like some of the other bikes out there, but it shouldn't be "hard", though that is a subjective term unless you have something to compare it to.  I've not heard of any "hard" shifting HD trannys, but there's always the first time.

If the dealer's had it for 7 weeks, either there is more to the story, or they agree there's issue and can't diagnose it or fix it.  

After 7 weeks, I'd either go up the chain at the dealership or the MOCO...

[NW Knight]

My wifes is much worse think it might be design flaw.  FLSTSE2 Purchased Jan 2011, been in shop total of 5 times and still less than 1K miles total due to so may weeks in shop.  Continues to exhibit same problem of loosing the clutch activation after long rides.  On Saturday it happend once again while I was riding it  100+ miles.  Last time in shop they replaced all hydrylic lines, clutch cover and even the clutch to no avail.  To me  seems like very slow air leak into system, and wondering if it's a design flaw by putting hyd clutch on Z-bars making fluid level challenge to maintain.  Anyways I'm just starting to persue lemon law (valid for MC's in WA)  after 5 documented repair attempts to a severe safety issue.  I have lost patience and wife has lost all confidence in her bike.  Looks like in about 100 days I'll learn the outcome from starting this process.

thanks,
/.d 

[crowgo]

  For the record, not a newbie, currently own 3 and have ridden HD's since 1965, and, not 7 weeks straight, this is the fourth time in the shop for the same complaint.  The dealership owner rode it over a 3 and a half week period and said he had a blister on his foot from shifting. Have already been up the chain with the MoCo, their recommendation was to rebuild the clutch master cyl and later replace the same (both have been done).  Now they want to disassemble the trans and inspect for "Out of Spec" parts.    Thanks for the scoop on Redline.  The Attorney General's office said even though it isn't covered by the lemon law, I can file a complaint against the dealership, although I don't think it's their fault.  After finally obtaing the goal of owing a CVO, it's not the Creme de la Creme you're lead to believe,  it's more like the Puss in the Pudding!!! 

[grc]

Hard shifting and difficulty finding neutral can also be a clutch problem, not just a trans problem.  If the clutch is dragging and not releasing completely, that needs to be addressed first.  Could be a problem with the hydraulics (many of us went down that road), could be mechanical.  If the clutch checks out OK then the trans is the next place to look.  A decent tech should be able to come up with a valid diagnosis before four attempts, and it shouldn't be a case of "don't know, we'll just give it back to you and hope you don't darken our door with that complaint again".  I do not for the life of me understand these dealerships who agree there is a problem but when they don't know how to fix it they just give the bike back to the customer.  If it's NFG and they don't know how to fix it, they should be on the horn to H-D immediately for assistance.  THEY should be the ones driving the process to get it fixed. 

Better fluids in the primary and the trans can help both clutch and trans operation, but they won't "fix" something that is truly defective.  Once H-D and the dealer finally fix the real problem, then look at using specialized lubes in each hole instead of the same stuff in all 3 holes.  There are plenty of threads on the site about oils and lubricants.


Jerry

[crowgo]

Thx Jerry for the emphasis on specialized lubes, I'll look into it.  Also forgot to mention, when checking the axial movement of the clutch pushrod, we found .070" movement, not the .080" minimum in the manual.  The MoCo said that was a misprint and should be .060" minimum (sounds like a copout to me), why hasn't anyone seen a TSB on the misprint?  By the way, the dealership's owner's bike .087" axial movement.

[NW Knight]

I also concur that the Clutch when id does decide to operate is at the very limit of it's operational tolerences.  On my wife's the clutch only engages at the final 1/8 of lever travel.  Since there is no way to compensate w/ the lack of adjustments on  hyd clutch that means it's near non operational before it has a chance to heat up/degrade etc...  anyways  a cable clutch could likely easily be adjusted to resolve.

[grc]

Thx Jerry for the emphasis on specialized lubes, I'll look into it.  Also forgot to mention, when checking the axial movement of the clutch pushrod, we found .070" movement, not the .080" minimum in the manual.  The MoCo said that was a misprint and should be .060" minimum (sounds like a copout to me), why hasn't anyone seen a TSB on the misprint?  By the way, the dealership's owner's bike .087" axial movement.

The minimum spec for axial movement of the release rod was 1.65mm (0.065") back in 2005, and I'm unaware of any official change since then.  But of course the minimum isn't the optimum, which is closer to 0.090". 


Jerry

[Shovelhead]

For the record, not a newbie, currently own 3 and have ridden HD's since 1965, and, not 7 weeks straight, this is the fourth time in the shop for the same complaint.  The dealership owner rode it over a 3 and a half week period and said he had a blister on his foot from shifting. Have already been up the chain with the MoCo, their recommendation was to rebuild the clutch master cyl and later replace the same (both have been done).  Now they want to disassemble the trans and inspect for "Out of Spec" parts.    Thanks for the scoop on Redline.  The Attorney General's office said even though it isn't covered by the lemon law, I can file a complaint against the dealership, although I don't think it's their fault.  After finally obtaing the goal of owing a CVO, it's not the Creme de la Creme you're lead to believe,  it's more like the Puss in the Pudding!!! 

I concur with that statement 110% !!! 

After my experiences with my '08 CVO, I have no intention of buying another new H-D !