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[JRC68]

A bought a 2012 FLHXSE3 in mid October, and at lower RPM's (under 2500) in first and second gear the bike will cutout (backfire through the AC).  This doesn't happen with any regularity, I never had any issues like this with my 96's.  I bought a TTS and headpipe from Fullsac, along with a set of Rineharts before I bought the bike, thanks to all the wonderful information I have found on this forum.  I brought it back to the dealership I purchased it from they test rode my bike, felt the problem and suggested that I purchase a header and tuner from them and this would fix my problem, didn't tell them that I had already bought all these parts.  I then brought the bike to the dealership a little closer to home and they can't seem to recreate the issue.  Has anyone had problems like this happen to their bikes, I would hate to bolt all of this stuff on and reprogram the ECM and still have the issues I'm having (I'm quite sure they could find the problem at that point and it would be directly related to all my aftermarket parts).  HELP!

[mjb765]

Sounds like you have a problem that the dealer does not want to bother to try and find. Don't bolt any aftermarket stuff on yet--they will say that it's causing it for sure!!! The bike should not backfire out of the air cleaner staright from the factory so they need to fix it.

[JRC68]

I agree, the district guy will be at the dealership tomorrow to look at the bike, I'll wait to see what he says.  It's real nice in Kansas right now, and they have had my bike for 3 weeks, not that I'm impatient or anything.

[samule]

My 2011 FLHXSE2 would backspit through the air cleaner at take off. Was so lean, until i installed the Fullsac stage 1. Went to take off from a stop sign at low rpm and would get that cough spit.

[cahdbiker]

JRC68, if it back fires thru the air cleaner doesn't that mean it is firing  when the intake valve is still open? If that is true then your problem could be faulty computer. Maybe some of the smart guys can chime in on this one.CAHDBIKER

[JRC68]

Well the dealership or district representative seemed to be able to find anything wrong, imagine that. Talked to Steve at Fullsac, really nice guy, am going to flash the ECM today and see if that straightens anything up.

[firefighter156]

Well the dealership or district representative seemed to be able to find anything wrong, imagine that. Talked to Steve at Fullsac, really nice guy, am going to flash the ECM today and see if that straightens anything up.

The dealer couldn't find anything wrong??  After having it for THREE weeks.  Imagine that.  Gotta love them dealers.  Actually, your TTS with a good tune and after market equipment will likely make it run just fine.  Isn't that ironic?

[lagman]

Had same issue with same bike 2 months ago dealer says "its running like it should" even had stalling issues. these new cvo's are dogs straight from the factory, Fullsac Headpipe next week.   had to get through Christmas first.

[2018_FLTRXSE]

I'm inclined to say its the OE lean condition.. install the fullsac setup and TTS and see where that leaves you....

Mine did that and went away after the upgrades.....

[lilcoot]

Add me to the list.  My new 2012 FLHXSE3 did this, too.  Spit back through the AC a few times, seemed to happen mostly when motor was cold and at low rpms.  I heard about it online somewhere and since this is my 1st HD, thought it must be just another HD idiosyncrasy I'd need to learn to get used to. 

After installing a new pipe and fuel controller, the spit back thru the AC hasn't happened again.  I'm really interested to find out why this is happening, and why it seems to be happening on the Street Glides more.   

[JRC68]

Well got the TTS installed and my issues went away, I'm really disappointed in the MOCO at this point. As I stated when this post began I never had issues with my regular harleys.  You would think that the flagship bikes would be perfect right off of the showroom floor.  The other disturbing thing is the lack of 2 dealerships to even acknowledge that an issue was present. I would like to thank the people who chimed in on this forum and Steve at Fullsac for helping me get this problem resolved.

[Jerry/MD]

Glad to hear you fixed the problem. No doubt, the bikes straight from the factory are set lean and really don't perform well. I can't tell you how many new ones I see leaving my local dealer with after-market exhausts already installed.  What a shocker! With the power the EPA has.....it will only get worse. 

[cahdbiker]

JRC68, They should all run perfect right off the showroom floor CVO or not. Nothing is perfect, but HD quality control prior to shipping obviously needs some attention. They know we will keep buying their products and they know we will keep spending money on tuners. EPA is not an excuse. Look at how many cars you can buy these days that haul ass right off the showroom floor and you don't have to immediately change the intake exhaust and reprogram the computer to get it to do so. CAHDBIKER

Well got the TTS installed and my issues went away, I'm really disappointed in the MOCO at this point. As I stated when this post began I never had issues with my regular harleys.  You would think that the flagship bikes would be perfect right off of the showroom floor.  The other disturbing thing is the lack of 2 dealerships to even acknowledge that an issue was present. I would like to thank the people who chimed in on this forum and Steve at Fullsac for helping me get this problem resolved.

[JCZ]

This issue has been beat to death on this forum since the 110s came out.  Basically, in short, the MoCo was on a quest to keep up with the competition by coming out with bigger and bigger motors.  At the same time they are air cooled, they also had the challenge of complying with the EPA and CARB limitations and restrictions.  In order to do that, they had to tune these bikes way over to the lean side.

For the dealership or the MoCo to admit theres a problem and fix the problem, they'd have to tune them a bit richer, no longer meeting EPA restrictions.  It's all up to the owner.

By the way, somebody posted above that these bikes are dogs from the factory.  In stock format, my 2010 SESG with the 110" motor was the fastest "stock" motor of any Harley I've bought over the years (been riding since the early 70s but didn't start buying new till late 80s).  The only problem was it didn't have the legs on the top end and the heat issue.  JMHO.

[grc]

Had same issue with same bike 2 months ago dealer says "its running like it should" even had stalling issues. these new cvo's are dogs straight from the factory, Fullsac Headpipe next week.   had to get through Christmas first.

Does anyone else find this BS from Harley to be just a little tiring?  Stalling or hesitation are SAFETY concerns, and in the automotive world they usually result in safety related recalls.  But somehow Harley has been getting away with this chit for years, and the customers always wind up paying through the nose to fix the problem by performing illegal emission system tampering.  The automotive folks figured out how to make emission controlled engines run without stalling or running like crap decades ago, and the regulations Harley has to meet aren't even close to being as severe as the ones the auto guys have to meet.

As long as everyone keeps accepting the BS "normal" responses from H-D and it's dealers, nothing will change.  If nothing else, it would be nice if everyone who has these problems would at least spend a few minutes visiting the NHTSA website and filing a complaint/report about the problem.  Perhaps if enough folks raise some hell they will at least question Harley about their sorry crap.  Oh, and one more idea.  If we must pay through the nose to "fix" Harley's crap, there is no good reason why we should give that money to them.  Don't buy their SEPST's, spend your money with the aftermarket.  At least we can take the profit motive away from them.


Jerry