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[cliffy]

All of a sudden my 2011 with 18K miles will not idle. It was OK the day before (a long ride) but the following evening I took it out of the garage started her up and it would not idle. Apart from not idling it seemed to run OK though I noticed that the red alarm light was very very slightly on.

The dealer thinks it might need a software reset / download, which they plan to do on Friday. It has an SE Tuner. I was wondering if anyone else has had an issue with engine idling?   

[Jasray]

Our bikes have electronic throttle by wire and the idle sensor remembers the last throttle position all of which means that when you hit your kill switch to turn the bike off, if you accidentally move the throttle AFTER you turn the bike off, the sensor will remember the new throttle setting next time you start it up.  To reset turn the bike to run, but don't Start it.  Let all the indicator lights come on and go off (about 20 seconds) then turn the run switch to off.  Do this four times before actually starting the bike and dont touch the throttle during this.  That should reset your throttle back to stock

[Pewter]

My 2012 Softail Convertible stopped idling altogether. It needed a new BCM module under warranty to fix it.

[muddypaws]

He is right about the fix. Drove me crazy with high idle until someone told me how to fix it.

[cliffy]

Just got back from local dealer. He downloaded the software into the SE Tuner. This apparently took several attempts but it took it eventually. The bike now idles ok and runs well. Before it was running a bit rough. I (and the dealer) don't understand why it should suddenly fail. It was working fine one day and then the next day there was a problem. There were no alarm codes.

I did try the throttle reset procedure that Jasray suggested, but it made no difference. 

Anyway it seams to be working OK now. I'll take it out for a longish ride this weekend. 


   

[Jasray]

Cliffy, happy to hear you have her up and running.  You would think after 100 years the MoCo would have figured this stuff out.

[USMC Diablo]

I'm glad I came across this post.  I was heading up highway 1 in CA last weekend and the bike performed awesome.  However, after getting through about 40 miles of lowish speed, 2nd and 3rd gear riding, my 2012 Convertible was idleing at around 2,000 RPM and it was freaking me out.  We were about 700 miles from home so I was obviously nervous about the situation.  I thought it was just hot and stopped for a break, but come to think about it I probably reset the sytem the way it was explained without even knowing it.  Thanks for the info!

[porkypig]

 Jasray, how did you find out about this issue with the idle?  Today I finally took my bike in to have the seals on both sides of the saddlebags (anybody else have a problem with the seals curling up?  I would imagine so, since I had the same issue with my '11) and when I got the bike out of the shop, I started it up and it immediately went to 3,000 rpm for about 5 seconds then went back to settle about 13-1400 rpm.  that's the way it performed all the way out to my house.  At intersections it wouldn't go below about 1300 rpm.  so  I let it sit for a couple hours and then started it up.....right back to 3K and down to 13-1400.  Shut it off and turned it back on and did the same.  Called the shop and asked them if they did anything that may have caused it.  You guessed it......we didn't do anything that would have caused that.  Imagine that.  But bring it in and we'll look at it.  Ok.  Finally rode it into town to get gas thinking that may change things.  Fat chance.  Got some gas and then it suddenly returned to acting normal.  Dropped by the shop and they (the service writer) sat on the bike and mockingly flipped on the switch and pressed the go button.  Normal.  Did the same thing a number of times.  Normal.  But they took it back in th shop and looked at it again.  then the writer brought it out to me and told me the wrench told him he'd heard that some of these fly by wires have some sort of memory issue that if you roll the throttle it takes a little while for it to relearn it's idle speed.  I'm thinking the writer may have "rolled" it if anybody did.  Never had that happen at all and I have just over 10k on the bike.  When I turn it off, my hand position is such that I really don't even have a good grip on the throttle.  Just ends of fingers touching the throttle as my thumb flips the button to off.  So, in this case, my bike evidently just reset itself by starting the bike about 3 times.  Wierd!  But wierd is getting to be the new normal.   Pork.  How you doing CliffY???

[Jasray]

Pork,

The guy who dyno tuned my bike told me about it.  He noticed that I had a throttle rocker on my throttle grip and asked me about it.  I told him I like using it for longer rides (I know we have cruise control, but its an old habit) and he cautioned me that it made it much easier to accidentally advance the throttle after you turn off the bike.  He went on to describe the condition and the fix and its a good thing he did because sure enough three weeks later I inadvertently rolled the throttle as I was turning the bike off and messed up the idle RPM.

[SteveO]

The tuner is correct.