[twaav8r]

I picked up my 06 Ultra at East Coast HD in early October. My daily commute is 120 mile round trip from Fredericksburg to DC along US 95 and on a 40 degree day I experienced idle decay and engine shut down due to overheated heads. Stop and go traffic is the norm on 95 and I need to fix this heat stroke problem before summer.
I am considering the parade fan from the motor company. I have also seen a new fan advertised at Whitts HD made by LeNale engineering.
Has anyone used either of these fans? I love my bike but I want to ride it and not have to park it along 95.

 

[joediver]

Not my experience

Hi there,

Picked up my RG in August and haven't had any of problems you describe (it was stock for the first 2500 miles.) Are you running dino or a syn oils in your scoot? Is the engine and?or exhaust stock?

BTW :welcome: to VTF!

 

[SSC]

Don't know about the fans. My 05 Ultra ran way hot. I did the 95 with headwork and it runs much cooler, even in stop and go traffic here in So Cal. Mike Roland posted something to the effect that the way the port and the heads are set up stock to meet emissions causes the bikes to run very hot. He said the first four inches of the exhaust pipe on the rear head was set to run very hot to burn off all the bad stuff.

Anyway I set up my heads based on this and the bike runs great. Don't get me wrong, the bike gets warm, but not hot. At the Laughlin run, getting across the bridge from Bullhead to Laughlin many bikes overheated and started to miss. I didn't have a problem and I have heard other people who have had head work and the 95 say the same thing.

Regards, SSC

 

[tlewis]

I picked up my 06 Ultra at East Coast HD in early October. My daily commute is 120 mile round trip from Fredericksburg to DC along US 95 and on a 40 degree day I experienced idle decay and engine shut down due to overheated heads. Stop and go traffic is the norm on 95 and I need to fix this heat stroke problem before summer.
I am considering the parade fan from the motor company. I have also seen a new fan advertised at Whitts HD made by LeNale engineering.
Has anyone used either of these fans? I love my bike but I want to ride it and not have to park it along 95.

I don't have my manual handy but your bike should have a heat management system that would prevent actual overheating. Can't recall if it is two or three phases. Perhaps that's the "idle decay" you reference. What did the bike do?

I've never used the fans but I've heard people speculate that they are just blowing hot air on the rear head. Don't know if there's any accuracy to that but can't imagine you'd be overheating in forty degree stop and go. What about an oil cooler instead of the fan?

BTW, welcome to the forum.

TL

 

[twaav8r]

thanks

My engine and exaust are still stock. 4000 + miles. The owners manual describes what I am experiencing as heat management but to me it seems more like emergency engine shutdown to prevent meltdown.
As you stated it is a three phase deal. It is dependent on head temp and the first step is a 100 rpm idle drop. The second step is an aditional idle decay along with enriching the mixture. The final stage is interupted or skipped ignition firering. All of this is suposed to cool the heads and the last step works best since the engine stops without ignition.
I have seen DC Metro motor units with the parade fan but havnt had a chance to talk to them. Maybe Batley HD or Washington HD works on thier units and can give me some insight. those motor units do a lot of walking speed parades.
I am interestd in info on the other fan as it is less than half the cost and doesnt bolt to the head bolts. It relocates the horn and can be used on any HD with the side mount horn. Lower cost' less labor and a beter looking fan are tempting if the fan will do the job.

 

[berserker]

Happening at 40 degrees seems weird to me.
I've never had the engine management come on. Was waiting for it at Sturgis. I do ride the interstate to work into Milwaukee, and have had some bad traffic. Oil cooler will help a little, not so much in stop and go, but will give you an extra 1/2 quart of oil.
So myself would start with cooler and syn oil. Drive to work earlier. Miss the traffic.

But at 40 degrees I wonder if it was working properly. Either that, or you must have been stop and go for a long time.

 

[LAF]

For it to kick in on a 40 degree day you must have been stop and go forever!

In those temps I am had pressed to get the bike up to 200 degrees on the oil temp gage no matter how hard I ride, or stop and go.

Any codes?

 

[GRock]

SIZE]Some day you guys are going to believe that these bikes are coming off the line running WAY TOO LEAN. It is an air cooled engine that DEPENDS on fuel to help keep the temps down. We dynoed a stock Ultra the other day that was just short of 16 AFR in some parts of the map. Not another part of the graph was below 14.3. You can buy all the fans, icepacks, air conditioners, and beer can holders you want, but you need to add fuel to the map if you want to get smoother, stronger and cooler ride. PERIOD .

 

[berserker]

Good point. My area is more with two strokes, but if you lean it out to much its going to burn a hole in the piston.

 

[joediver]

Good point Grock

So what I'm hearing it that the best thing to do is get the bike tuned properly even if he doesn't mod the intake or exhaust.

 

[road_king]

Putting a fan on a new stock bike would result in an attempt to treat the symptom not the root cause of the problem. Your bike should not be overheating in 40 degree stop and go weather. I would get the bike tuned first.-2$en#e-

 

[berserker]

Be interesting to hear next summer, if there is a lean condition in 2006 to meet EPA regs.

 

[xkvator]

twaav8r
i was having the same problems...complained to MOCO cust. svs. and they had the dealer send my ecm back to them to reprogram it and instructed the dealer to install cvo injectors.
haven't had the 95 degree weather since, but was in city traffic and it seems better...even some soot on the inside of the mufflers, so i assume they richened it up a bit.
you can look up my old posts about it.

 

[GRock]

absolutely it is a good idea to tune the bikes out of the factory. The EPA has the MOCO's hands tied, so they leave it to you to take care of it. Their canned "Stage" maps are only slightly better.
And xkvator, thanks for the info on the newest idiotic idea from the MOCO for fixing their lean problems. Hadn't heard that one yet. So instead of just getting the correct AFR reading by giving out a correct fuel map or dynoing the bike, they put in larger injector. INCREDIBLE!! All they are doing is taking the long way around the track by richening up the mixture anyway. Putting in a higher gram per second flow injector and leaving the same pulse width is simply the backwards way of richening up the mixture. These guys kill me! Instead of giving you exactly what you need by setting the mapping correctly they throw an inaccurate fix of larger injectors that they, no doubt, charge you for. Years after building bikes with EFI, most of these HD dealers still don't have the slightest clue.

 

[twaav8r]

did I say stop and go?

What I meant is stop. I leave the house at 03:30 am and the ride is wide open. I normaly leave work at 2pm and traffic isnt bad except on Fridays and holidays, after Red Skin games and accidents which are all to common. Other times I leave at 6pm , not by choice, and traffic can be teribble. A good morning is one hour in. An excelent eavining can be close to one hour but 2 hours is not unusual and 3 and 4 do happen. The 40 degree day that my Ultra overheated was not the first time and we had to slow and stop for a med evac helicopter. Traffic moves just often enough to make shutting down and restarting unpracticle.
I read an article in American Iron on an 05 Ultra that experienced the same problem at Sturgis. Sounds like a common problem given the right conditions. I am just planning ahead to avoid becoming a static display along 95.

 

[berserker]

First thing I would do is probably get a differant job, if that doesn't work move. Damn thats alot driving.

I had a job for 4 months 62 miles one way, morning 65 minutes, that wasn't bad drank coffee and listened to Bob and Tom. Afternoon was 1.5hrs+ Started to really wear me out after awhile.

 

[Peacekeeper]

My 04 flhtci was doing the same thing, 250 to 275 or so on a hot day. Pipes, DFO, SE intake, jagg cooler and Mobil 1 took care of the problem, Now she runs around 210 on the hottest days. The other post are dead on, all clogged up from the factory & running lean. Give her some fuel and breathing room, a cooler and syn and she will cool off. If you have lowers I'd take them off in the summer.

 

[berserker]

Ya but this guy says the temps are in 40s. I hope were taking fahrenheit. After all were not communinists. Plus 104F in traffic is a duh.

 

[Peacekeeper]

Ya but this guy says the temps are in 40s. I hope were taking fahrenheit. After all were not communinists. Plus 104F in traffic is a duh.

Yea 40 is kind of cool to be overheating. Mine is running about 170 at 40 deg with the cooler covered.

:hmmm:

 

[SSC]

40 degrees, huh. Seems like it could be more of a problem then normal. Try a stage one with a good tune. I should add to my previous post, but I'm sure ya all know, that with the 95 I got the SERT and dyno with a custom map. The bikes are way lean stock!!

Regards, SSC