Print

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

[07springer]

Hi
I recently purchased a 07 fxstsse and am new to the owners group. The bike is virtually new,with only 695 miles.I know this is ancient history but ran the serial # on the HD site that shows no open or closed recalls,,yet I am hearing and reading horror stories about these engines,should i expect trouble,and then have to have this gorgeous bike molested by a dealer?
thanks 07 springer

[Midnight Rider]

Hi
I recently purchased a 07 fxstsse and am new to the owners group. The bike is virtually new,with only 695 miles.I know this is ancient history but ran the serial # on the HD site that shows no open or closed recalls,,yet I am hearing and reading horror stories about these engines,should i expect trouble,and then have to have this gorgeous bike molested by a dealer?
thanks 07 springer

The greatest number of problems were with the first year of the 110" production, which was '07.  And most of the issues did not show up until the bike had a few thousand miles on it.  The main issues were: rocker arms hitting the rocker boxes (needed to have more clearance); Oil leaks down around the cylinder base gaskets; some had leaks around the head gaskets too.  Not all bikes had all the problems, and I'm sure there are a few that had no problems at all...you only read about the problems.  HD had an "Enhancement" program which basically replaced the jugs, all gaskets, etc., but that "program" has ended to the best of my knowledge.  Whether you could force their hand to do repairs if you had an issue?  Maybe, but I doubt they'd just voluntarily do it.  To be sure, I'd have a dealer check your VIN number to be certain about whether the enhancements were done. From my understanding, the MOCO sent out letters to owners concerning all this, and allowed owners to set up a schedule to have the work done...surely, the owner of the bike didn't just ignore such a letter.

If not, it might be worthwhile to look into an Extended Service Plan, or keep a couple of grand tucked back "just in case".  You have a beautiful bike.  Put some miles on it...if it's going to leak, you'll see it...it's not like oil gushes out of the motor, but if it's around the cylinder base, you'll see it easily.  The head gasket leaks were generally harder to detect because any oil just eventually showed up as a brown deposit on the cylinder fins from the heat.

[07springer]

thanks for the response,I appreciate it looks like it could be anywhere from nothing to a huge problem. the bulletin i got from the local dealer shows  campaign 9606 gaskets only,and that has expired,there has been no wrench touched to the bike,im ok with a bit of  oil seeping i can clean that, it would be the lesser of the two evils. Im just real fussy about having it taken apart,its just too nice,I think ill ride it and see how it goes,although I used to ride  back in the shovelhead day when harleys didn't leak oil, they MARKED there spot!
tks again

[DCFIREMANN]

The greatest number of problems were with the first year of the 110" production, which was '07.  And most of the issues did not show up until the bike had a few thousand miles on it.  The main issues were: rocker arms hitting the rocker boxes (needed to have more clearance); Oil leaks down around the cylinder base gaskets; some had leaks around the head gaskets too.  Not all bikes had all the problems, and I'm sure there are a few that had no problems at all...you only read about the problems.  HD had an "Enhancement" program which basically replaced the jugs, all gaskets, etc., but that "program" has ended to the best of my knowledge.  Whether you could force their hand to do repairs if you had an issue?  Maybe, but I doubt they'd just voluntarily do it.  To be sure, I'd have a dealer check your VIN number to be certain about whether the enhancements were done. From my understanding, the MOCO sent out letters to owners concerning all this, and allowed owners to set up a schedule to have the work done...surely, the owner of the bike didn't just ignore such a letter.

If not, it might be worthwhile to look into an Extended Service Plan, or keep a couple of grand tucked back "just in case".  You have a beautiful bike.  Put some miles on it...if it's going to leak, you'll see it...it's not like oil gushes out of the motor, but if it's around the cylinder base, you'll see it easily.  The head gasket leaks were generally harder to detect because any oil just eventually showed up as a brown deposit on the cylinder fins from the heat.

Terry you forgot the most important problem. The liner in the cylinders moved in the early models. That is why the enhancement program had cylinders included in it.

You have a very nice bike 07springer. You may or may not have any problems with the motor but the cards are stacked against you. Check with HD and see if the enhancement was even done to this bike. It may be too latE to get it done now.

Good luck. Stick around here. There is a wealth of information floating aorund here and we are all here to help you spend your hard earned cash!!!!

Be Safe

THE DAWG

[07springer]

Tks Dawg, the mfg date on this one was 01/07 so a little later than some. there was a voluntary program to replace gaskets and thats not even specific ,that ended in 2010,but im sure every effort was made to downplay the problems when these letters went out so the owner probably thought it wasnt a big deal plus he never rode it after the first couple of weeks.This bike has never even been wet,so quite easy  to tell it has not been worked on at all.This is deja vu for me, I bought a new 1980 Wide Glide with the factory flame tanks back in the day,I just loved that bike to death ,but it was a absolute mechanical disaster,but back then that was almost the norm,I thought things had changed,but it looks like they may be still the same.But I said back then "if i ain,t ridin a harley i just ain't ridin" and that hasn't changed either  lol
tks you guys, hope to keep in touch,cant wait to light it up in the spring as i haven't rode it yet except into the trailer.

Don

[SERK3]

Hi
I recently purchased a 07 fxstsse and am new to the owners group. The bike is virtually new,with only 695 miles.I know this is ancient history but ran the serial # on the HD site that shows no open or closed recalls,,yet I am hearing and reading horror stories about these engines,should i expect trouble,and then have to have this gorgeous bike molested by a dealer?
thanks 07 springer

I have a 07 SERK with the 110, The recall was for gaskets and the ACR, From the time the letters came out we had 2 years to take it to the dealer, I took mine back with a week remaining, had no problems with any of the above but decided to take it back anyway, nothing to do with the jugs, cylinders were mentioned, MOCO (dealer) made the changes and have had no problems except for the heat these 110 generate.

Bottom line some of the 110 had problems and some have not, I still have mine and love it.

[Rooster]

I had headwork done on my heads before the campaign so I just got the new ACR's and new head gaskets and rings but no new cylinders. After the last go round which was the third time for head gasket and rear cylinder base leak it went in a box and is still in a box. And then the compensator went so replaced with the first new version and after 20k or so is still ok.

[SERK3]

I had headwork done on my heads before the campaign so I just got the new ACR's and new head gaskets and rings but no new cylinders. After the last go round which was the third time for head gasket and rear cylinder base leak it went in a box and is still in a box. And then the compensator went so replaced with the first new version and after 20k or so is still ok.

I forgot about the compensator going out on mine, It went out in the first 800 miles, But thats been over 6 years ago.

[grc]

The changes made to the Softail and Dyna 110's didn't include the new heads (valve guide change) that the Touring models got.  The most important change was probably the new style ACR's (automatic compression release).  Many of the earlier bikes had ACR failures due to the wiring melting among other things.  Cranking the engine without the ACR's operating is difficult and it leads to failures of the starter drive.  This is one thing I would probably change immediately rather than wait for them to fail.  The head gasket and base gasket leaks may never manifest themselves on your particular bike, so since the program is no longer in effect and you'd have to pay to make the changes anyway, I'd recommend just waiting to see if you need to do anything.

The compensator wasn't part of the Enhancement program, but it was a very poor design and had a very high failure rate.  You may eventually want to change it out for the latest design which still isn't great, but it is better than what you have now.  Once again, you may want to wait until you have symptoms of a problem.  Maybe by then Harley will have come up with another revision to the current part that finally addresses all the problems.

Jerry

[sadunbar]

The changes made to the Softail and Dyna 110's didn't include the new heads (valve guide change) that the Touring models got.  The most important change was probably the new style ACR's (automatic compression release).  Many of the earlier bikes had ACR failures due to the wiring melting among other things.  Cranking the engine without the ACR's operating is difficult and it leads to failures of the starter drive.  This is one thing I would probably change immediately rather than wait for them to fail.  The head gasket and base gasket leaks may never manifest themselves on your particular bike, so since the program is no longer in effect and you'd have to pay to make the changes anyway, I'd recommend just waiting to see if you need to do anything.

The compensator wasn't part of the Enhancement program, but it was a very poor design and had a very high failure rate.  You may eventually want to change it out for the latest design which still isn't great, but it is better than what you have now.  Once again, you may want to wait until you have symptoms of a problem.  Maybe by then Harley will have come up with another revision to the current part that finally addresses all the problems.

Jerry

I agree with all of Jerry's comments... 

Additionally, while many non touring bikes suffered from the failures being discussed, the majority of failures occured on the touring model bikes...

[07springer]

waiting is probably good advice,thanks,at least now i know what to watch for and catch it early.it seems heat may be a contributing factor in some of these problems as the subject comes up quite often.That is one problem im not worried about, being from Canada an all ill hope to get my jacket off a couple of times lol .No its not that bad, but you get what im saying,plus the springer is wide open,I see some of the models with farings etc look almost completely closed in,I  cant imagine stuck in traffic on a Aug afternoon inTexas,that must be scary.
Don