(6/23/2014) With a 7,000+ mile ride planned for June 28 - July 13 to Banff & Jasper National Park (Alberta) and other scenic places in Idaho, Montana, etc., I decided to take my bike for a weekend ride to Hendersonville, NC (~540 miles roundtrip) for a shakedown ride. Good thing too, because it failed the test. Around Hickory on my return trip, I started having very obvious engine problems that came and went but got much worse near Mocksville. In order to avoid premature death on Interstate 40, I pulled into the Davie County Rest Area and got on the phone immediately.
I called HOG Roadside Assistance. That was mostly a waste of time, although it did give me an idea of what I can expect if I need them in the future. I was still about 110 miles from home and it would cost an estimated $378 to transport my bike to my house. The nearest dealer was 22 miles in the wrong direction and closed. (It was about 4:00 p.m. on a Sunday.) Anyway, I'll write more about my experience with the Roadside Assistance person at a later date.
Given that I had already experienced a faulty fuel injector in the past, I recognized the symptoms. In fact, I noticed that sometimes when I'd hit a bump in the road, the engine would misfire. That screams "you've got a broken wire somewhere in the ignition system." Well, actually, this broken wire actuates the rear fuel injector.
My second call was to my brother-in-law, Mark, in Chapel Hill. He's a rider; owns a Kawasaki Concourse and a trailer. Amen. Fortunately, he was home and available to drive the 110 miles and get me. What a guy! Anyway, I pulled into rest area at 3:45 p.m. and he arrived just after 6:00 p.m. It took a while to strap the bike in securely but we got it home safe 'n sound.
I texted Kevin from Jockeys Cycle (Morrisville, NC) on his personal cell phone to let him know what had happened and to expect my bike in the morning. Coincidentally, Mark was scheduled to take his Councourse to Jockey's for new tires this morning (Monday). So, there we all were at 9:15 standing in the shop discussing my adventure yesterday. Jim and Kevin then got right to my bike. In less than 20 minutes, they found the problem: a broken wire on the rear fuel injector. They had repaired the same wire in a different spot a couple of months ago. This time they replaced the wires and redesigned the way they are routed to the injector.
There is a design flaw, as Jim pointed out to me using a flashlight on the front injector wiring. One of the wires is bent at a sharp angle as it enters a junction point just above the injector. The bend in the wire introduces stress on the wire and makes it susceptible to breaking from heat and vibration.
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the problem many Harley Davidson owners had with the 2006 models' (mine is a 2006) 8-degree injectors. The Motor Company issued a bulletin to dealers indicating that for bikes having problems with the 8-degree injectors they were to replace them with a newer 25-degree injector. No, my problem was with the power feed to the injectors.
What was happening in my case was that the power circuit would suddenly open when the break in the wire stopped the flow of current to the injector. At that instance, fuel would stop being sprayed into the cylinder head. No fuel, no combustion, no power.
Jim and Kevin had my bike finished just after lunch time today and it's now back in my garage, ready for that ride to the Canadian Rockies.
Thanks again to my brother-in-law Mark and the guys at Jockeys Cycle in Morrisville!
As always, keep the shiny side up!
-The Long Rider