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[FLHTCUSE7]

Getting mine this week, cant wait to put some miles on it 

A lot of negative stuff going on here! Vast majority of negative comments come from people that don't own a 2014. Have some of them, including mine had a problem...yes...was mine taken care of right away without further issues..yes. I have said it before and will again. Best new Harley I have owned and I have owned 11 (my wife says 12) new Harleys in my life. Everything and I mean everything about this machine is miles ahead of my old 2007 CVO. I never had the issues with my 2007 that everyone talks about either. I guess I'm not that hard on the bikes or lucky?

I would hate to see someone trade-in a 2014 CVO they liked just because they fear what some write-up on this forum. Not saying that the bikes are perfect, they are just so much better than anything I have ridden. If a owner has a issue they need to take it to a good dealer and let them know that they don't want it back until its fixed. They kept my bike for a week and a half making sure everything they fixed worked perfect. I do agree that this should not have happened, but it did to SOME and I really believe the problem is more related to the fact that the tech's are not familiar enough and start trying things vs. right to the problem part. In my case they replaced the vast majority of the cooling system parts before they felt it was fixed, all I care about is that  it is fixed and I am so darn happy that I purchased the bike.

I see no indications that these will be problem bikes, none. My selling dealer can't keep the twin cooled models in stock, they have pre-sold thru their currant allocation. All it takes is a test ride and most are sold. The biggest issue many of the dealers are having is selling the trade-ins. They are stacking up. By the way; If I had owned a 2009 thru 2013 I seriously doubt I would have bought my bike, those are also great bikes, I don't think the ride and handling would be that different than the 2014. , the market for the 2009 and newer will continue to be good, its the 2008 and below that have been hurt the most. Please don't take this as a "blast" on anyone's parade, just wanted folks to know just how much I love the 2014's and that is coming from someone that has ridden a ton of miles and owned a lot of bikes.

Scott

[DCFIREMANN]

The coolant leak that he mentioned, if I remember correctly, was due to a clamp problem.   That is an entirely different issue than the one that is the subject of this thread, which is the cooling system puking from the overflow due to localized overheating and pressure buildup.

As for the fans, as best I can tell they are automatically controlled by the ECM which gets temp input from a sensor in the left radiator and road speed info from the speed sensor, and are not manually controlled.  It's likely that this puking problem could be related to the ECM not consistently turning the fans on when needed, for whatever reason (bad temp sensor reading, bad road speed reading, ECM error, etc.).  I don't have one (and don't intend to), so if I've missed something about how the fans work hopefully someone will enlighten me.

Jerry

Clamp and or cap. Now it is overheating problems. It does have something to do with the sensors and or ECM cutting the fans on.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

[CVOgliderider]

I talked to the head tech today about this issue and my bike peeing on the floor twice now. He said it is a reservoir capacity and reservoir design issue,
I asked him what is being done about it and he said he hadn't heard of anything coming down the pipe from MOCO yet... so I guess I will hurry up and wait...

[FLHTCUSE7]

That sound sounds like a poor guess. The shape of the reservoir would not create expansion.

[CVOgliderider]

That sound sounds like a poor guess. The shape of the reservoir would not create expansion.

I think his point was that the reservoir isn't big enough to handle the level changes caused by expansion and the overflow port also needs to be relocated
on the reservoir itself thus a design change.

[scottt]

I talked to the head tech today about this issue and my bike peeing on the floor twice now. He said it is a reservoir capacity and reservoir design issue,
I asked him what is being done about it and he said he hadn't heard of anything coming down the pipe from MOCO yet... so I guess I will hurry up and wait...

If the problem was design, they would all do lt, mine leaked and was fixed. They could not fix if design was bad. Mine is doing great. Love the bike.

[scottt]

Clamp and or cap. Now it is overheating problems. It does have something to do with the sensors and or ECM cutting the fans on.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

I have not had any issues with heat. Runs so much cooler than my old 2007. No pinging issues either. Night and day improvement.

Scott

[DCFIREMANN]

Scott it is not a problem on all of the bikes. I do know they are in the process of buying back one bike. I can try to get some more info today as I will be out riding with the tech in question. The Dealer that sold the bike has sold a few water heads and I do know that a few puked on the showroom floor before being sold.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

[DCFIREMANN]

I think his point was that the reservoir isn't big enough to handle the level changes caused by expansion and the overflow port also needs to be relocated
on the reservoir itself thus a design change.

Wrong answer, maybe!!!! You may have one of the bikes that has the overheating issue. I know the factory knows about it. But what it will take to fix the problem is any ones guess.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

[CVO Aqua-Glider]

Scott it is not a problem on all of the bikes. I do know they are in the process of buying back one bike. I can try to get some more info today as I will be out riding with the tech in question. The Dealer that sold the bike has sold a few water heads and I do know that a few puked on the showroom floor before being sold.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

Thanks for all your input Dawg.  Please do pass on any and all info your friend gives you.

[CVOgliderider]

Regardless of the root cause be it the ECM or anything else I just hope that they figure it out and bring a fix to the table so all of us can
ride and enjoy our bikes and not worry about them pissing themselves when we least expect it. I really love my new bike but it is hard to enjoy
the ride when you have a known unresolved problem with it that is always in the back of your mind.

[scottt]

Scott it is not a problem on all of the bikes. I do know they are in the process of buying back one bike. I can try to get some more info today as I will be out riding with the tech in question. The Dealer that sold the bike has sold a few water heads and I do know that a few puked on the showroom floor before being sold.

Be Safe

THE DAWG

I just feel certain that this is a fixable issue that has only become as big of a issue because the tech's just don't know what is wrong. From what I understand the factory is telling the dealers to start replacing parts until they find the problem. That is what they did in my case and the bike was fixed. Took them a little over one week but they got it done. The cooling system is really pretty simple, not that many parts involved.

As positive as I may seem on this issue I do have one strong recommendation. If everyone that has had a leak were too report the issue to NHTSA using their web site, the government (whenever they come back to work..UUG) will look into the whole situation and if they find something wrong will ask for a recall. This would add additional security to owners of 2014 twin cooled bikes that a unbias party has reviewed the issue. You can even see the complaints on the web site. Here it is: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

Go to the vehicle owner section on the safercar.gov web site and search for complaints. They call Harley Davidson "H-D". Two complaints have been posted regarding the coolant leak issue, as I said, if they get enough complaints about the same issue they will check it out.  You can also subscribe to their email notification by selection the bike manufacture and year for all recalls related.

Harley, like any manufacture will pay close attention to any issues from NHTSA, this should give anyone added peace of mind.

Scott

[Rooster]

Sounds kind of like an older dog with a bladder problem just a little leak now and then

[grc]

OK, I finally figured out why Harley has that feature where you turn on the ignition and open the throttle to more than 50%, then the fans and the pump operate.  This is used when filling and purging the air from the coolant system.  It wasn't intended that the customer do this on a regular basis after a ride.

The system is supposed to automatically keep the pump and fans running for up to three minutes after you shut the engine down, depending on coolant temperature.  If this part of the system isn't working, I could see where a one quart system could easily become over pressurized and blow coolant out the overflow.  If it's a design issue, as opposed to a defect in production parts that wasn't in the preproduction parts used in "testing", then it makes no sense that Harley didn't find and fix this long before they shipped the first unit to a dealership.  When I say it makes no sense, I mean that in terms of not making sense if in fact we were talking about a company that truly tests its products before releasing them to the public.  Based on recent history Harley doesn't have much of a reputation for catching the screw-ups in preproduction testing, leading many of us to assume they don't really do much testing or they don't have a clue how to design tests that will expose those defects.  Sad either way, and even sadder that they did it again on a relatively simple cooling system that they need to have the consumers embrace if they are to be able to continue selling their 110 year old design.

Jerry

[CVO Aqua-Glider]

OK, I finally figured out why Harley has that feature where you turn on the ignition and open the throttle to more than 50%, then the fans and the pump operate.  This is used when filling and purging the air from the coolant system.  It wasn't intended that the customer do this on a regular basis after a ride.

The system is supposed to automatically keep the pump and fans running for up to three minutes after you shut the engine down, depending on coolant temperature.  If this part of the system isn't working, I could see where a one quart system could easily become over pressurized and blow coolant out the overflow.  If it's a design issue, as opposed to a defect in production parts that wasn't in the preproduction parts used in "testing", then it makes no sense that Harley didn't find and fix this long before they shipped the first unit to a dealership.  When I say it makes no sense, I mean that in terms of not making sense if in fact we were talking about a company that truly tests its products before releasing them to the public.  Based on recent history Harley doesn't have much of a reputation for catching the screw-ups in preproduction testing, leading many of us to assume they don't really do much testing or they don't have a clue how to design tests that will expose those defects.  Sad either way, and even sadder that they did it again on a relatively simple cooling system that they need to have the consumers embrace if they are to be able to continue selling their 110 year old design.

Jerry

Just got done adding coolant to mine and performed the above.