PCII
Fuel + ignition timing…like an override…adds a percentage before it gets to injectors
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PCIII
Injectors only
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PCIIIR
Fuel + ignition timing
Harley Electronic Fuel Injection
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EFI Advantages
The driving force behind Harley going to EFI is the ever-increasing emissions control dictates from the government reflecting concerns about the environment. Carburetors are already a thing of the past on many vehicles for this very reason. Harley, as usual, lags behind but make no mistake carburetors will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future. The precision of fuel delivery on EFI system lowers harmful emissions and as an extra bonus improves fuel economy. For the sophisticated, it can also do wonders for high-performance goals. Think about it! Carburetors are finicky and imprecise. They, by definition, cannot deliver the right amount of fuel and air for all rpm ranges never mind “load†requirements. EFI can deliver precise amounts of gas and air at any rpm and at any load.
EFI Is Faster
But the EFI Harley’s are slower than the carbureted ones. Yes, they were. Check out a V-Rod if you want to see what EFI is capable of in the speed department while meeting emissions dictates. Just imagine if the emissions restrictions were eliminated on this baby. The problem to address is the fixed spark maps on the stock Harley EFI systems.
Fixed Spark Maps Are the Problem
Spark maps are in the electronic control module or computer known as the “brain†in Harleyese. It tells the injectors when and how long to open. It also tells the spark plugs when to fire. Having the ability to remove the “fixed†part and adjust these settings at will for every rpm and load setting via laptop computer opens a new era in Harley hi-performance that will eclipse dinosaur carburetor technology. Some mechanics are afraid of new technology because they are the best at the old technology. Unless they constantly learn they fall by the wayside.
Cold Starting is a Breeze
Easy starting is another big EFI feature especially in adverse climatic conditions like cold weather starts. While adding numerous parts unfamiliar with a carbureted system like fuel pumps, solenoids and sensors, EFI also eliminates the need for a cold start enrichment device, (choke), cable and a gas petcock. The bottom line is that it does add many more parts than it eliminates. However more importantly, accurate fuel delivery under differing but specific engine loads and operating conditions is the big plus over the relatively wasteful carburetor.
EFI Primer
A carburetor draws and mixes fuel and air via vacuum, manifold pressure differentials and venturi air speed. The venturi is the throat of the air/fuel delivery system whether it is carbureted or fuel injected. Electronic Fuel Injection has fuel delivered under pressure by a pump to gizmos called injectors. Injectors inject fuel as a pressurized spray. There are two separate fuel injectors in a Harley engine, one for each cylinder. The longer an ejector nozzle is held open determines the amount of fuel sprayed onto the back of the intake valve just as it opens and into their respective cylinder. The time the injector valve is open is called the injection “pulse widthâ€. The pulse width gets longer when more fuel is required. This “on time†or “width†is measured in milliseconds. A millisecond means one thousandths of a second. This of course is all determined by a computer whose processor receives sensor information and has the ability to change pulse width over a hundred times per second. EFI is a long way from a carburetor when information dictating fuel spray is processed in less than a hundredth of a second and volume is measured in delivery per thousandths of a second. Fuel is kept under pressure in order to be available instantly. Excess gas is pumped back to the fuel tank.
Intake Manifold Pressure
This is a measurement of the flow of air through the throttle body venturi and intake manifold. Suction from the descending piston on the intake stroke initiates the flow of air through the fuel delivery system. Bernoulli’s Principle that we all ignored in high school physics is all about moving a fluid or gas through a space. In order to move the same volume of air through a smaller space, the air must speed up to move the same volume through in the same period of time. Moving the same volume of air through a larger space, (as in a larger throttle body), will cause the air will slow down in order to move the same volume in the same time period. Hence the expression: bigger is not always better. This is what throttle body/manifold design as well as porting and polishing headwork is all about. Bernoulli also expresses that as air velocity increases pressure is lessened.The result of this is a vacuum or more correctly stated a partial vacuum. Through the forces described by Bernoulli’s Principle, a carburetor creates a partial vacuum to draw fuel into the air while EFI sensors note changes instantly to send signals to a computer to dictate fuel and spark requirements. With carburetion this is a relatively slow and many times slightly inaccurate way of doing things relative to the instant precise reaction in a fuel injected system.
Load
Engine load is how hard the motor is working. A steady throttle position attests that there is little or no load while cranking it on indicates load. In 2001 Softailâ models, Harley introduced a new style electronic fuel injection system that is more efficient than what went before. The touring models get this system in 2002. A major difference before old and new ESPFI systems is how engine load is measured. The old way is done by throttle position only. This is basically an educated guess. The newer way is much more accurate. It still has a sensor monitoring throttle position, but combines it with measuring manifold pressure, the intake air temperature and the engine temperature of each cylinder. Again, some will refer to this system as a measurement of “real engine load†as opposed to “theoretical loadâ€. Don’t let the letters describing it or what they mean intimidate you as you will feel comfortable with them after a little reading. ESPFI, which stands for electronic sequential port fuel injection, is different from what went before because it controls the fuel through “speed density†or what the above noted sensors report to the control module.
The Knock Sensor
Engine performance is monitored by a new sensor which detects spark “knock†or “pinging†which any new Harley rider is familiar with. The anti-knock sensor does this through a procedure called “ion sensingâ€. Finally, the third and very welcome difference is a new three-phase heat management system, which addresses our comfort and heat from the engine afflicting the hapless rider. The heat generated from the new Twin Cam engines can be unbearable on a real hot summer day. I have suffered heat blisters on my legs and near sunstroke symptoms on brutal all day rides in hot weather. Harley is attempting to control this through a heat management system that automatically varies the idle speed and fuel delivery. I’ll have to experience this one to believe it but I must admit I haven’t yet given it a chance….so, hopefully EFI or electronic fuel injection sometimes referred to as “ideal fuel delivery†has many other advantages not listed above over the relatively inefficient carburetors. Changing altitudes do not affect EFI in nearly the same ways as the carburetor, which cannot cope with air density changes.Air density refers to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. Gravity is what keeps the atmosphere around the earth. As gravity decreases at higher altitudes there is less atmosphere. As gravity increases as sea level is approached the weight of the entire atmosphere compresses it giving the air more density. This of course means more oxygen to mix with the fuel. Different temperatures also affect air density and therefore oxygenation capabilities. More or less air requires more or less fuel in order to have a proper mix for burning in the combustion chamber.
Conclusion
EFI is getting ever more complicated or easy depending on your perspective…..like whether you want to live in the past or adapt to the future. It's exciting and it is formidable.It will make Harley's more reliable. EFI will dictate better fuel economy. Emissions will be diminished further. And the bottom line is that EFI is going to make your bike perform better.
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OLDER EFI System Air Leaks
The older EFI system, the first of the Magneti-Marelli units used by Harley, is not sensitive to small throttle changes or minor air leaks. This is the cause of small variations in the cruising speed also. A newer Delphi, (ESPFI), version attempts to correct this through the use of a sensor measuring intake manifold pressure also known as speed density. This is vastly different from the older system, which relies on a sensor that reports throttle position to the computer processor.
Exhaust Air Leaks
Interestingly, an exhaust manifold air leak also gives another annoying symptom. Popping or backfiring through the exhaust is partially caused by air leaks but also the awkward 45-degree firing process of the V-Twin. This is one reason why the V-Rod cylinder angles as well as most other V-Twin engine brand cylinders are offset at 600.
A basic primer will help us understand newer concepts and all the seemingly meaningless words and acronyms.
EFI Advantages
The driving force behind Harley going to EFI is the ever-increasing emissions control dictates from the government reflecting concerns about the environment. Carburetors are already a thing of the past on many vehicles for this very reason. Harley, as usual, lags behind but make no mistake carburetors will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future. Estimates, I hear range from 2005 up until 2010 for the last year for carburetion on any Harley. I think sooner rather than later as evidenced by models like the Softails utilizing EFI The precision of fuel delivery on EFI system lowers harmful emissions and as an extra bonus improves fuel economy. For the sophisticated, it can also do wonders for high-performance goals. Think about it! Carburetors are finicky and imprecise. They, by definition, cannot deliver the right amount of fuel and air for all rpm ranges never mind “load†requirements. EFI can deliver precise amounts of gas and air at any rpm and at any load.
Fixed Spark Maps Are the Problem
Spark maps are in the electronic control module or computer known as the “brainâ€. It tells the injectors when and how long to open. It also tells the spark plugs when to fire. Having the ability to remove the “fixed†part and adjust these settings at will for every rpm and load setting via laptop computer opens a new era . Some mechanics are afraid of new technology because they are the best at the old technology. Unless they constantly learn they fall by the wayside. These were the same guys who wouldn’t give up their beloved points ignition systems for the ultra sophisticated “new-fangled†single fireelectronic ones.
Cold Starting is easy
Easy starting is another big EFI feature especially in adverse climatic conditions like cold weather starts. While adding numerous parts unfamiliar with a carbureted system like fuel pumps, solenoids and sensors, EFI also eliminates the need for a cold start enrichment device, (choke), cable and a gas petcock. The bottom line is that it does add many more parts than it eliminates. However more importantly, accurate fuel delivery under differing but specific engine loads and operating conditions is the big plus over the relatively wasteful carburetor.
EFI Primer
A carburetor draws and mixes fuel and air via vacuum, manifold pressure differentials and venturi air speed. The venturi is the throat of the air/fuel delivery system whether it is carbureted or fuel injected. Electronic Fuel Injection has fuel delivered under pressure by a pump to gizmos called injectors. Injectors inject fuel as a pressurized spray. There are two separate fuel injectors in a Harley engine, one for each cylinder. The longer an ejector nozzle is held open determines the amount of fuel sprayed onto the back of the intake valve just as it opens and into their respective cylinder or at least it is supposed to. Some Harley EFI systems spray the fuel onto the inside throttle body near the intake ports but this is silly since more efficiencies and speed develop by squirting it directly at the backs of the intake valves. Twelve volts of electricity are sent to each injector as soon as the ignition is turned on and the starter button is pushed in order to start the bike. There is an electromagnet inside each injector. It becomes “grounded†when a transistor inside becomes energized thereby opening the injector valve or nozzle. The time the injector valve is open is called the injection “pulse widthâ€. The pulse width gets longer when more fuel is required. This “on time†or “width†is measured in milliseconds. A millisecond means one thousandths of a second. Three or four milliseconds of pulse width are required for idle. The number of milliseconds increases as the demands of the bike’s engine load increases thereby increasing the pulse width, which increases the amount of fuel to match the increased airflow. This of course is all determined by a computer whose processor receives sensor information and has the ability to change pulse width over a hundred times per second. EFI is a long way from a carburetor when information dictating fuel spray is processed in less than a hundredth of a second and volume is measured in delivery per thousandths of a second. Fuel is kept under pressure in order to be available instantly. Excess gas is pumped back to the fuel tank.
Intake Manifold Pressure
This is a measurement of the flow of air through the throttle body venturi and intake manifold. Suction from the descending piston on the intake stroke initiates the flow of air through the fuel delivery system. Bernoulli’s Principle that we all ignored in high school physics is all about moving a fluid or gas through a space. In order to move the same volume of air through a smaller space, the air must speed up to move the same volume through in the same period of time. Moving the same volume of air through a larger space, (as in a larger throttle body), will cause the air will slow down in order to move the same volume in the same time period. Hence the expression: bigger is not always better. This is what throttle body/manifold design as well as porting and polishing headwork is all about. Bernoulli also expresses that as air velocity increases pressure is lessened. The result of this is a vacuum or more correctly stated a partial vacuum. Through the forces described by Bernoulli’s Principle, a carburetor creates a partial vacuum to draw fuel into the air while EFI sensors note changes instantly to send signals to a computer to dictate fuel and spark requirements. With carburetion this is a relatively slow and many times slightly inaccurate way of doing things relative to the instant precise reaction in a fuel injected system.
Load
Engine load is how hard the motor is working. A steady throttle position attests that there is little or no load while cranking it on indicates load. In 2001 Softailâ models, Harleyâ introduced a new style electronic fuel injection system that is more efficient than what went before. The touring models get this system in 2002. A major difference before old and new ESPFI systems is how engine load is measured. The old way is done by throttle position only. This is basically an educated guess. Some call it theoretical load. The newer way is much more accurate. It still has a sensor monitoring throttle position, but combines it with measuring manifold pressure, the intake air temperature and the engine temperature of each cylinder. Again, some will refer to this system as a measurement of “real engine load†as opposed to “theoretical loadâ€. Don’t let the letters describing it or what they mean intimidate you as you will feel comfortable with them after a little reading.ESPFI, which stands for electronic sequential port fuel injection, is different from what went before because it controls the fuel through “speed density†or what the above noted sensors report to the control module.
The Pinging Sensor
Engine performance is monitored by a new sensor which detects spark “knock†or “pinging†which any new Harley rider is familiar with. The anti-knock sensor does this through a procedure called “ion sensingâ€. Finally, the third and very welcome difference is a new three-phase heat management system, which addresses our comfort and heat from the engine afflicting the hapless rider. The heat generated from the new Twin Cam engines can be unbearable on a real hot summer day. I have suffered heat blisters on my legs and near sunstroke symptoms on brutal all day rides in hot weather. Harley is attempting to control this through a heat management system that automatically varies the idle speed and fuel delivery.
What the Letters “ESPFI†Mean The “E†in ESPFI stands for electronic which means it is controlled by electricity as opposed to manual or analog, which is controlled solely by vacuum and pressure differences i.e. carburetor. “S†stands for sequential which means on a per cylinder basis. Fuel is squirted into each cylinder at the appropriate time on its intake stroke sequentially every two revolutions of the engine. “P†is for port. The intake ports are the channels that air and fuel travel through to get from the EFI injectors or the carburetor as the case may be and into the combustion chamber. The two equivalent exhaust ports transfer the spent gases from the combustion chamber out into the exhaust pipes. “F†is fuel, which remains the same in both EFI and carbureted systems. The method of metering and delivery are the differences between the two systems. “I†is the acronym for injection. Fuel is injected right into the ports whereas in a carbureted system, the fuel is drawn through the carburetor by air rushing from a stable atmospheric pressure to a pressure vacuum in the combustion chamber and cylinder. EFI or electronic fuel injection sometimes referred to as “ideal fuel delivery†has many other advantages not listed above over the relatively inefficient carburetors. Changing altitudes do not affect EFI in nearly the same ways as the carburetor, which cannot cope with air density changes. Air density refers to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. Gravity is what keeps the atmosphere around the earth. As gravity decreases at higher altitudes there is less atmosphere. As gravity increases as sea level is approached the weight of the entire atmosphere compresses it giving the air more density. This of course means more oxygen to mix with the fuel. Different temperatures also affect air density and therefore oxygenation capabilities. More or less air requires more or less fuel in order to have a proper mix for burning in the combustion chamber. Race bike carburetor tuners are well versed in the effects of temperature and humidity. Their fine-tuning according to these climatic conditions can easily win or lose a race. Cold air temperature with high humidity can result in faster times since there is more oxygenation capabilities. Conversely hot air and less humidity will usually result in slower times. Carburetors are hard pressed to accommodate air density changes caused by barometric pressure and altitude with out jetting changes. EFI has sensors that give a computer information many times per second to decide on the amount of fuel to inject into the ports, which lead to the combustion chambers.
Idle RPM Control
On the new ESPFI fuel injection system there is a “â€closed loop†idle control. This means the newer idle control reads rpm only eliminating the need to respond to air leaks. For those who want the near 900 rpm low idling sound where the beast gasps for more air please note the following. It may be the fashionable way of setting up carburetion but it never was a good way of doing things in the past and certainly isn’t with EFI in the present. In the old days low idle meant the bottom end bearings might starve for adequate oiling. Now a low idle on EFI will affect charging. Cold idle on EFI bikes will sound racy and there will be no loping certainly at rates of 1500-1600 rpm. This is a direct result of more gas being injected until the bike warms up. When warm the idle should settle in at 1000 to 1050 rpm but no lower as the charging system can be affected.
Conclusion
Unless you have a brand new fuel injected Harley, the annoying effects of intake air leaks are a fact of life. If you want to eliminate your problem totally then a new bike is in your future. The air leaks will still be there but the engine management system will compensate for their effects to produce a smoother running engine. The alternative is to service your bike with a competent mechanic who will isolate and correct air leaks as much as is possible. To put everything in perspective, the new system is the best yet but Harley’s have been leaking air since day one. It is irritating, it lessens engine life through excess heat and it causes inefficiencies but it is part of the world we live in.
Tuning Your Motorcycle with a Computer
Power Commander
Up until last year, I was pro carburetor and anti Harleyâ fuel injection myself. But there has always been a nagging doubt in the back of my brain. I knew that fuel injection works wonderfully on hi-performance Japanese sport bikes and in cars and trucks I know electronic fuel injection, (EFI), is a superior way of delivering the gas and air to the combustion chamber. I know it is more efficient. And I know, it reduces emissions and improves fuel economy.However, the problem was that I couldn’t fool with the fixed Harley system. It is restrictive because of emissions controls plus is dialed in to work exclusively in conjunction with the stock production parts installed at the Factory. I knew that if I wanted to hop-up an EFI Harleyâ that the very sophisticated engine management system would not cooperate and deliver the right amount of fuel and air to accommodate the performance improvements. Yes, I realize, that HD has fixed non-adjustable computer chips to insert into the system to help rectify this situation but they are for very specific improvements. And yes, the bike will still be faster but it won’t be near as fast as it could be. Furthermore, they don’t always solve the annoying flat spot or hesitation syndromes. Problems exacerbate when different performance parts are utilized especially in innovative differing combinations. Some manufacturers like to lead the consumer to believe that their super-duper hop-up combo of parts is the cats meow for one and all. If that were so, then a specific fixed computer chip would become the panacea to all annoyances and irritations….allowing the bike to reach its true speed potential.
We need a way of altering the fuel injected spark map ignition and gas delivery system to whatever we want.
But first lets discuss a few things.
Mountain Riding: Carbs vs. EFI
I noticed where you live. It would be impossible for you to ride and stay at one elevation. At sea level there is a lot more oxygen in the air than high up in a mountain pass. This can wreak havoc with carburetors. Talk about problems. Set your carb for sea level riding and it will cough and sputter all the way up the mountain only to correct itself as the bike returned closer to lower elevations. Jet the carb for higher elevations and the opposite problems would occur at sea level. Fuel injection comes into its own in areas with severe elevation differences. The sensors delivering information to the computer will dictate changes to the gas and spark delivery in milliseconds. This is not a concern if you live in areas where the elevation remains fairly constant.
The Future Is Here
First, please bear with my impending lecture.
Want to be a mechanic in 10 years? You better go back to school or there won't be much for you to do. Don't lke computers? Well if you are 45 or 50 you can probably skate to your retirement but there will be less and less for you to do as time goes on. Your friends, coworkers and children will be speaking a foreign language called computerese.
Let's take an example.
Electronic fuel injection, (EFI), is becoming standard on almost every vehicle including Harley Davidsons. Rumor has it that carburetors will be extinct on new motorcycles within 3 or 4 years. They will be replaced by electronic fuel injection.
Emissions controls.
Lessening pollution from internal combustion motors is going to get more dramatic. It is not going to go away. Carburetors are simply not efficient enough to keep meeting the ever-increasing government dictates for controlling emissions. EFI is getting ever more complicated or easy depending on your perspective…..like whether you want to live in the past or adapt to the future. But it's not only fuel injection, it is the engine management systems that go with them that govern how your vehicle functions. Don’t like EFI? Want to avoid the management system? They are found on any modern bike with a carburetor also.
Sensors
Sensors are quite simple really. The sensors and spark maps that are part and parcel of the modern engine management system give information to a computer to determine when the spark plug will go off and how much gas relative to air is injected into the cylinders. This manages optimum power in conjunction with reduced environmentally harmful emissions. Sensors pick up operating conditions from various parts of the bike and feed this information into an onboard computer that may have various names such as an ignition control module. In Harley-ese, riders call this the “brainâ€. Your bike may have some or all of the following sensors for measuring your bike’s speed, throttle position, oil pressure, intake manifold temperature and air pressure, engine temperature, crankshaft position, cam position and a sensor that monitors barometric pressure.
Humidity, Barometric Pressure & Horsepower
This is extremely important for horsepower as well as emissions. Take humidity, as an example in Toronto, just north of Lake Ontario, which does not have consistent humidity. This can play havoc with horsepower. High humidity air has less useable oxygen than low humidity air. Toronto can have 80% humidity, with blue skies in the morning and drop to 20% a few hours later in the afternoon. Weather with high humidity will result in less horsepower. Conversely less humidity will result in more horsepower in the same bike. The sensors read local weather conditions as they affect your bike; the “brain†interprets them and sends the signals to instantly tune the fuel delivery and spark plug ignition settings.
Spark Maps
A spark map is nothing more than a road map, if you will, with cells determining positions or addresses on the map. It is really looks like a table or a chart. Load and throttle position are the two key ingredients here for determining when the spark plug goes off. This is combined with the amount of air and gas sent into the combustion chamber. Each throttle position from closed to wide open has a cell of its own. More correctly, each cell indicates a load position in conjunction with each throttle position. Load is how hard the engine is working. For example riding up a hill has a different engine load than relaxed highway cruising. These cells determine the air-gas requirements and let the spark plug know when to fire to ignite the air-gas mixture.
Emissions, Horsepower & Fuel Economy
Harley, in order to deal with emissions control dictates, sets the ignition timing very advanced….just short of where the bike will start to ping. This is why your stock machine might start to ping under hard acceleration going onto a highway or up a hill.
Pinging is ably and destructively assisted by heat. Extreme heat is generated by lean carburetor or fuel injection settings. Changing the air/gas ratio to more air and less gas accelerates this leanness. The heat helps burn more the reduced amount of gas in the combustion chamber to lower emissions. You have all experienced it at one time or another. Pinging sounds like marbles are bouncing around inside your cylinders.
The Power Commander , retards the timing and enriches the system eliminating emissions controls which also fixes the pinging situation. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.Let’s go back to the problem created by the engine managements fixed spark map cells.
The Problem
The problem is that these spark map cells on a stock HD fuel injection system are fixed and cannot be adjusted. So, what’s wrong with that? The cells are fixed in an emissions control mode, which robs horsepower. The EPA don’t want you changing settings on your bike even if it is for a legitimate reason. But suppose there is a flat spot you want adjusted out. You used to do this by grabbing a screwdriver and turning a screw or maybe installing a different jet in the carb. No more! If you want to put a different air cleaner or mufflers or cam on your bike, it won’t run right because the sensors are reading different settings that don’t compute with the fixed spark map.
Never mind more exotic performance mods such as porting and polishing, different heads, increased cubic inches and whatever else you can do to your engine.
The Solution
The Power Commander comes to the rescue by allowing different spark maps tailored to fix your problem. The problem may be nothing more than eliminating an irritating hesitation at a certain rpm in acceleration. However the Power Commander allows for any change, at any time. It does not matter what fuel or ignition situation you need or desire. The same unit is so versatile that it will accommodate fixing the smallest irritation to allowing big cubic inches in whatever combination you wish. Or how about going into a spark map and adjusting the amount of fuel injected into the cylinders, cell by cell.
How Does the Power Commander Tune?
The engine is easily tuned via computer. It is not difficult to learn.
First, log onto the Internet. Go to the Power Commander site at www.powercommander.com
Look up the spark map for the parts you have installed on your bike. Download the map into the Power Commander via a supplied cable and it’s done. They even give you the computer cable link to attach to any computer to plug into the Power Commander installed in your bike.Want to modify a spark map? Or, maybe, you want to try to see what enrichening or leaning one cell or series of cells will do? Go for it if you feel confident and are mechanically and computer literate. If not, find a shop that has both these skills.
The PCII has 3 buttons to dial in the engine management system for low speed, midrange and hi-speed. You can try new variations up or down for more fuel or air. But this is for those who can’t keep their hands off the controls. These people really believe that their brains and reflexes are superior to all the sensors feeding precise bits of information to the computer thousands of times per second. The computer analyzes all of this and directs the fuel injectors and the spark plugs.
Easy Installation
It plugs in easily to existing receptacles in your motorcycle’s wiring harness. What more could you want? Permanent installation where everything is neat, tidy and firmly affixed takes less than an hour depending on your model. Removal takes less time. Simply unplugging it and returning to the stock system takes seconds. But why would you want to do that? No reason but possibly a servicing technician’s ignorance.If your dealer’s technician is unfamiliar with Power Commander, then tests conducted with Harley’s diagnostic scanalyzer tool will give readings that the technician might not understand. Always disconnect your PC11 when going for service in a dealership.
In this case, just unplug the PC and plug the stock system together until servicing is done or find and patronize a service department that is in tune with what is going on.
Dyno Tuning
As we related earlier each cell in the spark map indicates a load position, in conjunction with each throttle position, (rpm). So it would be real nice to be able to tune a bike at each specific rpm as well as load position with a little typing and NO parts removal.As an example let’s pretend a bike has a hesitation at 3000 rpm’s going up a hill in third gear. Now, we can go into the spark map with the computer into that area and begin to alter map cells. This works fine if you know what you are doing. However, the Dynojet people come to the rescue with a couple of tools that act in conjunction with their dynamometer.
They are:
1. A gas analyzer or air-fuel ratio monitor.
This will show the exact air-fuel ratio on a dyno run. The only way to tell if you have the right fuel/air mixture is either the fun way of taking plug readings on test rides or to have a dyno run to check them.
2. An Eddy Current Power Absorbtion System.
In plain language this is a throttle, load position system that will run the bike at any rpm and load. It dials the mechanic into the specific map cells that must be tuned with a PC computer. This baby allows for accurate fuel injection mapping with no guesswork.
Fuel + ignition timing…like an override…adds a percentage before it gets to injectors
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PCIII
Injectors only
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PCIIIR
Fuel + ignition timing
Harley Electronic Fuel Injection
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EFI Advantages
The driving force behind Harley going to EFI is the ever-increasing emissions control dictates from the government reflecting concerns about the environment. Carburetors are already a thing of the past on many vehicles for this very reason. Harley, as usual, lags behind but make no mistake carburetors will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future. The precision of fuel delivery on EFI system lowers harmful emissions and as an extra bonus improves fuel economy. For the sophisticated, it can also do wonders for high-performance goals. Think about it! Carburetors are finicky and imprecise. They, by definition, cannot deliver the right amount of fuel and air for all rpm ranges never mind “load†requirements. EFI can deliver precise amounts of gas and air at any rpm and at any load.
EFI Is Faster
But the EFI Harley’s are slower than the carbureted ones. Yes, they were. Check out a V-Rod if you want to see what EFI is capable of in the speed department while meeting emissions dictates. Just imagine if the emissions restrictions were eliminated on this baby. The problem to address is the fixed spark maps on the stock Harley EFI systems.
Fixed Spark Maps Are the Problem
Spark maps are in the electronic control module or computer known as the “brain†in Harleyese. It tells the injectors when and how long to open. It also tells the spark plugs when to fire. Having the ability to remove the “fixed†part and adjust these settings at will for every rpm and load setting via laptop computer opens a new era in Harley hi-performance that will eclipse dinosaur carburetor technology. Some mechanics are afraid of new technology because they are the best at the old technology. Unless they constantly learn they fall by the wayside.
Cold Starting is a Breeze
Easy starting is another big EFI feature especially in adverse climatic conditions like cold weather starts. While adding numerous parts unfamiliar with a carbureted system like fuel pumps, solenoids and sensors, EFI also eliminates the need for a cold start enrichment device, (choke), cable and a gas petcock. The bottom line is that it does add many more parts than it eliminates. However more importantly, accurate fuel delivery under differing but specific engine loads and operating conditions is the big plus over the relatively wasteful carburetor.
EFI Primer
A carburetor draws and mixes fuel and air via vacuum, manifold pressure differentials and venturi air speed. The venturi is the throat of the air/fuel delivery system whether it is carbureted or fuel injected. Electronic Fuel Injection has fuel delivered under pressure by a pump to gizmos called injectors. Injectors inject fuel as a pressurized spray. There are two separate fuel injectors in a Harley engine, one for each cylinder. The longer an ejector nozzle is held open determines the amount of fuel sprayed onto the back of the intake valve just as it opens and into their respective cylinder. The time the injector valve is open is called the injection “pulse widthâ€. The pulse width gets longer when more fuel is required. This “on time†or “width†is measured in milliseconds. A millisecond means one thousandths of a second. This of course is all determined by a computer whose processor receives sensor information and has the ability to change pulse width over a hundred times per second. EFI is a long way from a carburetor when information dictating fuel spray is processed in less than a hundredth of a second and volume is measured in delivery per thousandths of a second. Fuel is kept under pressure in order to be available instantly. Excess gas is pumped back to the fuel tank.
Intake Manifold Pressure
This is a measurement of the flow of air through the throttle body venturi and intake manifold. Suction from the descending piston on the intake stroke initiates the flow of air through the fuel delivery system. Bernoulli’s Principle that we all ignored in high school physics is all about moving a fluid or gas through a space. In order to move the same volume of air through a smaller space, the air must speed up to move the same volume through in the same period of time. Moving the same volume of air through a larger space, (as in a larger throttle body), will cause the air will slow down in order to move the same volume in the same time period. Hence the expression: bigger is not always better. This is what throttle body/manifold design as well as porting and polishing headwork is all about. Bernoulli also expresses that as air velocity increases pressure is lessened.The result of this is a vacuum or more correctly stated a partial vacuum. Through the forces described by Bernoulli’s Principle, a carburetor creates a partial vacuum to draw fuel into the air while EFI sensors note changes instantly to send signals to a computer to dictate fuel and spark requirements. With carburetion this is a relatively slow and many times slightly inaccurate way of doing things relative to the instant precise reaction in a fuel injected system.
Load
Engine load is how hard the motor is working. A steady throttle position attests that there is little or no load while cranking it on indicates load. In 2001 Softailâ models, Harley introduced a new style electronic fuel injection system that is more efficient than what went before. The touring models get this system in 2002. A major difference before old and new ESPFI systems is how engine load is measured. The old way is done by throttle position only. This is basically an educated guess. The newer way is much more accurate. It still has a sensor monitoring throttle position, but combines it with measuring manifold pressure, the intake air temperature and the engine temperature of each cylinder. Again, some will refer to this system as a measurement of “real engine load†as opposed to “theoretical loadâ€. Don’t let the letters describing it or what they mean intimidate you as you will feel comfortable with them after a little reading. ESPFI, which stands for electronic sequential port fuel injection, is different from what went before because it controls the fuel through “speed density†or what the above noted sensors report to the control module.
The Knock Sensor
Engine performance is monitored by a new sensor which detects spark “knock†or “pinging†which any new Harley rider is familiar with. The anti-knock sensor does this through a procedure called “ion sensingâ€. Finally, the third and very welcome difference is a new three-phase heat management system, which addresses our comfort and heat from the engine afflicting the hapless rider. The heat generated from the new Twin Cam engines can be unbearable on a real hot summer day. I have suffered heat blisters on my legs and near sunstroke symptoms on brutal all day rides in hot weather. Harley is attempting to control this through a heat management system that automatically varies the idle speed and fuel delivery. I’ll have to experience this one to believe it but I must admit I haven’t yet given it a chance….so, hopefully EFI or electronic fuel injection sometimes referred to as “ideal fuel delivery†has many other advantages not listed above over the relatively inefficient carburetors. Changing altitudes do not affect EFI in nearly the same ways as the carburetor, which cannot cope with air density changes.Air density refers to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. Gravity is what keeps the atmosphere around the earth. As gravity decreases at higher altitudes there is less atmosphere. As gravity increases as sea level is approached the weight of the entire atmosphere compresses it giving the air more density. This of course means more oxygen to mix with the fuel. Different temperatures also affect air density and therefore oxygenation capabilities. More or less air requires more or less fuel in order to have a proper mix for burning in the combustion chamber.
Conclusion
EFI is getting ever more complicated or easy depending on your perspective…..like whether you want to live in the past or adapt to the future. It's exciting and it is formidable.It will make Harley's more reliable. EFI will dictate better fuel economy. Emissions will be diminished further. And the bottom line is that EFI is going to make your bike perform better.
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OLDER EFI System Air Leaks
The older EFI system, the first of the Magneti-Marelli units used by Harley, is not sensitive to small throttle changes or minor air leaks. This is the cause of small variations in the cruising speed also. A newer Delphi, (ESPFI), version attempts to correct this through the use of a sensor measuring intake manifold pressure also known as speed density. This is vastly different from the older system, which relies on a sensor that reports throttle position to the computer processor.
Exhaust Air Leaks
Interestingly, an exhaust manifold air leak also gives another annoying symptom. Popping or backfiring through the exhaust is partially caused by air leaks but also the awkward 45-degree firing process of the V-Twin. This is one reason why the V-Rod cylinder angles as well as most other V-Twin engine brand cylinders are offset at 600.
A basic primer will help us understand newer concepts and all the seemingly meaningless words and acronyms.
EFI Advantages
The driving force behind Harley going to EFI is the ever-increasing emissions control dictates from the government reflecting concerns about the environment. Carburetors are already a thing of the past on many vehicles for this very reason. Harley, as usual, lags behind but make no mistake carburetors will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future. Estimates, I hear range from 2005 up until 2010 for the last year for carburetion on any Harley. I think sooner rather than later as evidenced by models like the Softails utilizing EFI The precision of fuel delivery on EFI system lowers harmful emissions and as an extra bonus improves fuel economy. For the sophisticated, it can also do wonders for high-performance goals. Think about it! Carburetors are finicky and imprecise. They, by definition, cannot deliver the right amount of fuel and air for all rpm ranges never mind “load†requirements. EFI can deliver precise amounts of gas and air at any rpm and at any load.
Fixed Spark Maps Are the Problem
Spark maps are in the electronic control module or computer known as the “brainâ€. It tells the injectors when and how long to open. It also tells the spark plugs when to fire. Having the ability to remove the “fixed†part and adjust these settings at will for every rpm and load setting via laptop computer opens a new era . Some mechanics are afraid of new technology because they are the best at the old technology. Unless they constantly learn they fall by the wayside. These were the same guys who wouldn’t give up their beloved points ignition systems for the ultra sophisticated “new-fangled†single fireelectronic ones.
Cold Starting is easy
Easy starting is another big EFI feature especially in adverse climatic conditions like cold weather starts. While adding numerous parts unfamiliar with a carbureted system like fuel pumps, solenoids and sensors, EFI also eliminates the need for a cold start enrichment device, (choke), cable and a gas petcock. The bottom line is that it does add many more parts than it eliminates. However more importantly, accurate fuel delivery under differing but specific engine loads and operating conditions is the big plus over the relatively wasteful carburetor.
EFI Primer
A carburetor draws and mixes fuel and air via vacuum, manifold pressure differentials and venturi air speed. The venturi is the throat of the air/fuel delivery system whether it is carbureted or fuel injected. Electronic Fuel Injection has fuel delivered under pressure by a pump to gizmos called injectors. Injectors inject fuel as a pressurized spray. There are two separate fuel injectors in a Harley engine, one for each cylinder. The longer an ejector nozzle is held open determines the amount of fuel sprayed onto the back of the intake valve just as it opens and into their respective cylinder or at least it is supposed to. Some Harley EFI systems spray the fuel onto the inside throttle body near the intake ports but this is silly since more efficiencies and speed develop by squirting it directly at the backs of the intake valves. Twelve volts of electricity are sent to each injector as soon as the ignition is turned on and the starter button is pushed in order to start the bike. There is an electromagnet inside each injector. It becomes “grounded†when a transistor inside becomes energized thereby opening the injector valve or nozzle. The time the injector valve is open is called the injection “pulse widthâ€. The pulse width gets longer when more fuel is required. This “on time†or “width†is measured in milliseconds. A millisecond means one thousandths of a second. Three or four milliseconds of pulse width are required for idle. The number of milliseconds increases as the demands of the bike’s engine load increases thereby increasing the pulse width, which increases the amount of fuel to match the increased airflow. This of course is all determined by a computer whose processor receives sensor information and has the ability to change pulse width over a hundred times per second. EFI is a long way from a carburetor when information dictating fuel spray is processed in less than a hundredth of a second and volume is measured in delivery per thousandths of a second. Fuel is kept under pressure in order to be available instantly. Excess gas is pumped back to the fuel tank.
Intake Manifold Pressure
This is a measurement of the flow of air through the throttle body venturi and intake manifold. Suction from the descending piston on the intake stroke initiates the flow of air through the fuel delivery system. Bernoulli’s Principle that we all ignored in high school physics is all about moving a fluid or gas through a space. In order to move the same volume of air through a smaller space, the air must speed up to move the same volume through in the same period of time. Moving the same volume of air through a larger space, (as in a larger throttle body), will cause the air will slow down in order to move the same volume in the same time period. Hence the expression: bigger is not always better. This is what throttle body/manifold design as well as porting and polishing headwork is all about. Bernoulli also expresses that as air velocity increases pressure is lessened. The result of this is a vacuum or more correctly stated a partial vacuum. Through the forces described by Bernoulli’s Principle, a carburetor creates a partial vacuum to draw fuel into the air while EFI sensors note changes instantly to send signals to a computer to dictate fuel and spark requirements. With carburetion this is a relatively slow and many times slightly inaccurate way of doing things relative to the instant precise reaction in a fuel injected system.
Load
Engine load is how hard the motor is working. A steady throttle position attests that there is little or no load while cranking it on indicates load. In 2001 Softailâ models, Harleyâ introduced a new style electronic fuel injection system that is more efficient than what went before. The touring models get this system in 2002. A major difference before old and new ESPFI systems is how engine load is measured. The old way is done by throttle position only. This is basically an educated guess. Some call it theoretical load. The newer way is much more accurate. It still has a sensor monitoring throttle position, but combines it with measuring manifold pressure, the intake air temperature and the engine temperature of each cylinder. Again, some will refer to this system as a measurement of “real engine load†as opposed to “theoretical loadâ€. Don’t let the letters describing it or what they mean intimidate you as you will feel comfortable with them after a little reading.ESPFI, which stands for electronic sequential port fuel injection, is different from what went before because it controls the fuel through “speed density†or what the above noted sensors report to the control module.
The Pinging Sensor
Engine performance is monitored by a new sensor which detects spark “knock†or “pinging†which any new Harley rider is familiar with. The anti-knock sensor does this through a procedure called “ion sensingâ€. Finally, the third and very welcome difference is a new three-phase heat management system, which addresses our comfort and heat from the engine afflicting the hapless rider. The heat generated from the new Twin Cam engines can be unbearable on a real hot summer day. I have suffered heat blisters on my legs and near sunstroke symptoms on brutal all day rides in hot weather. Harley is attempting to control this through a heat management system that automatically varies the idle speed and fuel delivery.
What the Letters “ESPFI†Mean The “E†in ESPFI stands for electronic which means it is controlled by electricity as opposed to manual or analog, which is controlled solely by vacuum and pressure differences i.e. carburetor. “S†stands for sequential which means on a per cylinder basis. Fuel is squirted into each cylinder at the appropriate time on its intake stroke sequentially every two revolutions of the engine. “P†is for port. The intake ports are the channels that air and fuel travel through to get from the EFI injectors or the carburetor as the case may be and into the combustion chamber. The two equivalent exhaust ports transfer the spent gases from the combustion chamber out into the exhaust pipes. “F†is fuel, which remains the same in both EFI and carbureted systems. The method of metering and delivery are the differences between the two systems. “I†is the acronym for injection. Fuel is injected right into the ports whereas in a carbureted system, the fuel is drawn through the carburetor by air rushing from a stable atmospheric pressure to a pressure vacuum in the combustion chamber and cylinder. EFI or electronic fuel injection sometimes referred to as “ideal fuel delivery†has many other advantages not listed above over the relatively inefficient carburetors. Changing altitudes do not affect EFI in nearly the same ways as the carburetor, which cannot cope with air density changes. Air density refers to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. Gravity is what keeps the atmosphere around the earth. As gravity decreases at higher altitudes there is less atmosphere. As gravity increases as sea level is approached the weight of the entire atmosphere compresses it giving the air more density. This of course means more oxygen to mix with the fuel. Different temperatures also affect air density and therefore oxygenation capabilities. More or less air requires more or less fuel in order to have a proper mix for burning in the combustion chamber. Race bike carburetor tuners are well versed in the effects of temperature and humidity. Their fine-tuning according to these climatic conditions can easily win or lose a race. Cold air temperature with high humidity can result in faster times since there is more oxygenation capabilities. Conversely hot air and less humidity will usually result in slower times. Carburetors are hard pressed to accommodate air density changes caused by barometric pressure and altitude with out jetting changes. EFI has sensors that give a computer information many times per second to decide on the amount of fuel to inject into the ports, which lead to the combustion chambers.
Idle RPM Control
On the new ESPFI fuel injection system there is a “â€closed loop†idle control. This means the newer idle control reads rpm only eliminating the need to respond to air leaks. For those who want the near 900 rpm low idling sound where the beast gasps for more air please note the following. It may be the fashionable way of setting up carburetion but it never was a good way of doing things in the past and certainly isn’t with EFI in the present. In the old days low idle meant the bottom end bearings might starve for adequate oiling. Now a low idle on EFI will affect charging. Cold idle on EFI bikes will sound racy and there will be no loping certainly at rates of 1500-1600 rpm. This is a direct result of more gas being injected until the bike warms up. When warm the idle should settle in at 1000 to 1050 rpm but no lower as the charging system can be affected.
Conclusion
Unless you have a brand new fuel injected Harley, the annoying effects of intake air leaks are a fact of life. If you want to eliminate your problem totally then a new bike is in your future. The air leaks will still be there but the engine management system will compensate for their effects to produce a smoother running engine. The alternative is to service your bike with a competent mechanic who will isolate and correct air leaks as much as is possible. To put everything in perspective, the new system is the best yet but Harley’s have been leaking air since day one. It is irritating, it lessens engine life through excess heat and it causes inefficiencies but it is part of the world we live in.
Tuning Your Motorcycle with a Computer
Power Commander
Up until last year, I was pro carburetor and anti Harleyâ fuel injection myself. But there has always been a nagging doubt in the back of my brain. I knew that fuel injection works wonderfully on hi-performance Japanese sport bikes and in cars and trucks I know electronic fuel injection, (EFI), is a superior way of delivering the gas and air to the combustion chamber. I know it is more efficient. And I know, it reduces emissions and improves fuel economy.However, the problem was that I couldn’t fool with the fixed Harley system. It is restrictive because of emissions controls plus is dialed in to work exclusively in conjunction with the stock production parts installed at the Factory. I knew that if I wanted to hop-up an EFI Harleyâ that the very sophisticated engine management system would not cooperate and deliver the right amount of fuel and air to accommodate the performance improvements. Yes, I realize, that HD has fixed non-adjustable computer chips to insert into the system to help rectify this situation but they are for very specific improvements. And yes, the bike will still be faster but it won’t be near as fast as it could be. Furthermore, they don’t always solve the annoying flat spot or hesitation syndromes. Problems exacerbate when different performance parts are utilized especially in innovative differing combinations. Some manufacturers like to lead the consumer to believe that their super-duper hop-up combo of parts is the cats meow for one and all. If that were so, then a specific fixed computer chip would become the panacea to all annoyances and irritations….allowing the bike to reach its true speed potential.
We need a way of altering the fuel injected spark map ignition and gas delivery system to whatever we want.
But first lets discuss a few things.
Mountain Riding: Carbs vs. EFI
I noticed where you live. It would be impossible for you to ride and stay at one elevation. At sea level there is a lot more oxygen in the air than high up in a mountain pass. This can wreak havoc with carburetors. Talk about problems. Set your carb for sea level riding and it will cough and sputter all the way up the mountain only to correct itself as the bike returned closer to lower elevations. Jet the carb for higher elevations and the opposite problems would occur at sea level. Fuel injection comes into its own in areas with severe elevation differences. The sensors delivering information to the computer will dictate changes to the gas and spark delivery in milliseconds. This is not a concern if you live in areas where the elevation remains fairly constant.
The Future Is Here
First, please bear with my impending lecture.
Want to be a mechanic in 10 years? You better go back to school or there won't be much for you to do. Don't lke computers? Well if you are 45 or 50 you can probably skate to your retirement but there will be less and less for you to do as time goes on. Your friends, coworkers and children will be speaking a foreign language called computerese.
Let's take an example.
Electronic fuel injection, (EFI), is becoming standard on almost every vehicle including Harley Davidsons. Rumor has it that carburetors will be extinct on new motorcycles within 3 or 4 years. They will be replaced by electronic fuel injection.
Emissions controls.
Lessening pollution from internal combustion motors is going to get more dramatic. It is not going to go away. Carburetors are simply not efficient enough to keep meeting the ever-increasing government dictates for controlling emissions. EFI is getting ever more complicated or easy depending on your perspective…..like whether you want to live in the past or adapt to the future. But it's not only fuel injection, it is the engine management systems that go with them that govern how your vehicle functions. Don’t like EFI? Want to avoid the management system? They are found on any modern bike with a carburetor also.
Sensors
Sensors are quite simple really. The sensors and spark maps that are part and parcel of the modern engine management system give information to a computer to determine when the spark plug will go off and how much gas relative to air is injected into the cylinders. This manages optimum power in conjunction with reduced environmentally harmful emissions. Sensors pick up operating conditions from various parts of the bike and feed this information into an onboard computer that may have various names such as an ignition control module. In Harley-ese, riders call this the “brainâ€. Your bike may have some or all of the following sensors for measuring your bike’s speed, throttle position, oil pressure, intake manifold temperature and air pressure, engine temperature, crankshaft position, cam position and a sensor that monitors barometric pressure.
Humidity, Barometric Pressure & Horsepower
This is extremely important for horsepower as well as emissions. Take humidity, as an example in Toronto, just north of Lake Ontario, which does not have consistent humidity. This can play havoc with horsepower. High humidity air has less useable oxygen than low humidity air. Toronto can have 80% humidity, with blue skies in the morning and drop to 20% a few hours later in the afternoon. Weather with high humidity will result in less horsepower. Conversely less humidity will result in more horsepower in the same bike. The sensors read local weather conditions as they affect your bike; the “brain†interprets them and sends the signals to instantly tune the fuel delivery and spark plug ignition settings.
Spark Maps
A spark map is nothing more than a road map, if you will, with cells determining positions or addresses on the map. It is really looks like a table or a chart. Load and throttle position are the two key ingredients here for determining when the spark plug goes off. This is combined with the amount of air and gas sent into the combustion chamber. Each throttle position from closed to wide open has a cell of its own. More correctly, each cell indicates a load position in conjunction with each throttle position. Load is how hard the engine is working. For example riding up a hill has a different engine load than relaxed highway cruising. These cells determine the air-gas requirements and let the spark plug know when to fire to ignite the air-gas mixture.
Emissions, Horsepower & Fuel Economy
Harley, in order to deal with emissions control dictates, sets the ignition timing very advanced….just short of where the bike will start to ping. This is why your stock machine might start to ping under hard acceleration going onto a highway or up a hill.
Pinging is ably and destructively assisted by heat. Extreme heat is generated by lean carburetor or fuel injection settings. Changing the air/gas ratio to more air and less gas accelerates this leanness. The heat helps burn more the reduced amount of gas in the combustion chamber to lower emissions. You have all experienced it at one time or another. Pinging sounds like marbles are bouncing around inside your cylinders.
The Power Commander , retards the timing and enriches the system eliminating emissions controls which also fixes the pinging situation. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.Let’s go back to the problem created by the engine managements fixed spark map cells.
The Problem
The problem is that these spark map cells on a stock HD fuel injection system are fixed and cannot be adjusted. So, what’s wrong with that? The cells are fixed in an emissions control mode, which robs horsepower. The EPA don’t want you changing settings on your bike even if it is for a legitimate reason. But suppose there is a flat spot you want adjusted out. You used to do this by grabbing a screwdriver and turning a screw or maybe installing a different jet in the carb. No more! If you want to put a different air cleaner or mufflers or cam on your bike, it won’t run right because the sensors are reading different settings that don’t compute with the fixed spark map.
Never mind more exotic performance mods such as porting and polishing, different heads, increased cubic inches and whatever else you can do to your engine.
The Solution
The Power Commander comes to the rescue by allowing different spark maps tailored to fix your problem. The problem may be nothing more than eliminating an irritating hesitation at a certain rpm in acceleration. However the Power Commander allows for any change, at any time. It does not matter what fuel or ignition situation you need or desire. The same unit is so versatile that it will accommodate fixing the smallest irritation to allowing big cubic inches in whatever combination you wish. Or how about going into a spark map and adjusting the amount of fuel injected into the cylinders, cell by cell.
How Does the Power Commander Tune?
The engine is easily tuned via computer. It is not difficult to learn.
First, log onto the Internet. Go to the Power Commander site at www.powercommander.com
Look up the spark map for the parts you have installed on your bike. Download the map into the Power Commander via a supplied cable and it’s done. They even give you the computer cable link to attach to any computer to plug into the Power Commander installed in your bike.Want to modify a spark map? Or, maybe, you want to try to see what enrichening or leaning one cell or series of cells will do? Go for it if you feel confident and are mechanically and computer literate. If not, find a shop that has both these skills.
The PCII has 3 buttons to dial in the engine management system for low speed, midrange and hi-speed. You can try new variations up or down for more fuel or air. But this is for those who can’t keep their hands off the controls. These people really believe that their brains and reflexes are superior to all the sensors feeding precise bits of information to the computer thousands of times per second. The computer analyzes all of this and directs the fuel injectors and the spark plugs.
Easy Installation
It plugs in easily to existing receptacles in your motorcycle’s wiring harness. What more could you want? Permanent installation where everything is neat, tidy and firmly affixed takes less than an hour depending on your model. Removal takes less time. Simply unplugging it and returning to the stock system takes seconds. But why would you want to do that? No reason but possibly a servicing technician’s ignorance.If your dealer’s technician is unfamiliar with Power Commander, then tests conducted with Harley’s diagnostic scanalyzer tool will give readings that the technician might not understand. Always disconnect your PC11 when going for service in a dealership.
In this case, just unplug the PC and plug the stock system together until servicing is done or find and patronize a service department that is in tune with what is going on.
Dyno Tuning
As we related earlier each cell in the spark map indicates a load position, in conjunction with each throttle position, (rpm). So it would be real nice to be able to tune a bike at each specific rpm as well as load position with a little typing and NO parts removal.As an example let’s pretend a bike has a hesitation at 3000 rpm’s going up a hill in third gear. Now, we can go into the spark map with the computer into that area and begin to alter map cells. This works fine if you know what you are doing. However, the Dynojet people come to the rescue with a couple of tools that act in conjunction with their dynamometer.
They are:
1. A gas analyzer or air-fuel ratio monitor.
This will show the exact air-fuel ratio on a dyno run. The only way to tell if you have the right fuel/air mixture is either the fun way of taking plug readings on test rides or to have a dyno run to check them.
2. An Eddy Current Power Absorbtion System.
In plain language this is a throttle, load position system that will run the bike at any rpm and load. It dials the mechanic into the specific map cells that must be tuned with a PC computer. This baby allows for accurate fuel injection mapping with no guesswork.