2008 Road King Classic Overheating? Pls. HELP!

[Mang Dan]

Wondering why it is still overheating even after installing an UltraCool oil cooling system? Switched from MobilOne V-twin oil when overheating started to Shell Rotella T6 but still overheats? Will appreciate anyone's tip on how I may correct it. Thank you! - Dan, San Diego County, CA

 

[Jeff Klarich]

What do you consider overheating?

 

[liquid_wrench]

Dan,
What year and model bike do you ride?...is it fuel injected...do you have a fuel management tuner on the bike? Has the weather been real hot out?....it may be running too lean. When I bought my 07 heritage new I added a stage one to it...it was running way too lean and very hot....I switched from dino oil to amsoil in all 3,put a dobeck tuner on the bike myself and it ran way cooler.....and the exhaust smelled like a 69 camaro….lol. If your exhaust pipes are very light gray inside....your motor is too lean and needs more fuel. The color of your exhaust inside should be medium to a darker gray.....Hope this helps, Good luck.

 

[liquid_wrench]

2008 Road king classic....ok

 

[gator508]

As Jeff asks what do you consider overheating , it's an 08 with the 96 engine, they are a hot beast at least the softail is with the oil tank up by your thighs. adding a fuel tuner will help, by adding more gas to correct the lean conditions. I very much doubt you will notice much difference by switching to a different oil.

 

[joel]

By chance Do you have the engine temp management activated? If so it will make the engine run poorly at idle and exhaust smell bad.
Is there a temp light coming on?
What is your mpg, above 45 is a indication it may be too lean adding to the feel of too much heat from the engine.
Do you have a infrared temp gun to pick up temp from different areas?

 

[Rod Stewart]

Instead of guessing about the mixture why not put a temporary air-fuel ratio ratio indicator on it and find out what it really is? Dobeck have portable units that they rent very reasonably. I had a Power Commander on my 07 Road King 103" and it allowed fine tuning the mixture table for various rpm and throttle openings. Worked great and really helped the bike make max power.
If your bike is stock it will have O2 sensors that will be keeping the mixture as lean as possible, which translates into running hot.

 

[Mang Dan]

What do you consider overheating?

Thank you so much and pardon me... maybe I'm using overheating as a wrong term? But yeah... my bike is a 2008 Road King Classic 96 cu. inch 6speed tranny and equipped with a Vance&Hines FuelPak and has accumulated 30.6K miles so far after riding it for about 4yrs now. Bought the bike used from first owner from Detroit, MI area when it had 8K miles on it. First occurrence, was coming home from Palm Dale/Lancaster area and got stuck on 138 East bound for more than 2 hrs. on bumper to bumper traffic jam. Bike just shut down on the middle of the road w/check engine light on and won't start, so pushed it out and park on the side of the road, waited about 15-20 mins. to cool it down and suddenly, it started again and check engine light went away and was able to proceed heading home straight just fine. Then I decided to install UltraCool oil cooling unit hoping I will correct the issue that I thought was engine (oil) overheating. Few months later riding towards San Diego South County area close to the desert and it overheated again several times but instead of completely stopping, the bike just ran slowly about under 20 mph so I just pulled over to the side and let it rested for few mins. and started again till I got to my destination that day. Following morning was able to drive home w/out no problem. Then decided to switch oil from MobilOne V-twin to Shell Rotella T6 plus a bore few holes on the front fender skirt so winds rushing thru the fender will go thru it and cool down the heat exchanger inside the oil cooling system but my bike still overheats from time to time? Rechecked settings on FuelPak and still agreed to what Vance&Hines originally recommended modes & values.

2008 Road king classic....ok

Thank you liquid_wrench for your reply... like I said, my bike has a FuelPak already installed when I bought it and settings matched the maker recommendation based on its current setup (ie.,factory header w/Vance&Hines muffler and stock air breeder which I changed the cover to after-market one). The inside of the muffler/exhaust pipe is pretty close to the tire color and black leather bag so its air-fuel mixture will not be considered lean. Pouring seafoam additive in the tank, half can every other fill-ups to make the fuel injectors clean. Someone was telling me maybe the oil pump failure is what could be blamed for overheating but I just recently rode from Bakersfield to San Diego and after 360 mi. when it showed sign of overheating and slowed down again. You would think it should had overheated much sooner espcly, in the middle of the desert (Fwy 395) if the oil pump is malfunctioning, right? HD manual says 10W-40 is the best oil viscosity to use and that's why I tried switching to Shell Rotella T6 5W-40 for oil to flow more liquid. Or maybe, I should switch back to MobilOne 20W-50 since its hotter down here in San Diego, CA? Thanks, again!

As Jeff asks what do you consider overheating , it's an 08 with the 96 engine, they are a hot beast at least the softail is with the oil tank up by your thighs. adding a fuel tuner will help, by adding more gas to correct the lean conditions. I very much doubt you will notice much difference by switching to a different oil.

Hello gator508 and thank you much on your comment... not really sure about possibility of fuel tuner since bike is already equipped with a FuelPak which main job is to regulate air-fuel mixtures. Thanks again, later...

 

[Jeff Klarich]

I’d ease off of 1/2 can of Sea-foam every other tank to a couple Oz every other tank. JMHO. Not that that has anything to do with your heat issues but in my opinion your overdosing it with Sea foam and spending money you don’t need to spend.

 

[Mang Dan]

By chance Do you have the engine temp management activated? If so it will make the engine run poorly at idle and exhaust smell bad.
Is there a temp light coming on?
What is your mpg, above 45 is a indication it may be too lean adding to the feel of too much heat from the engine.
Do you have a infrared temp gun to pick up temp from different areas?

Hi Joel - thank you! Not really sure if engine temp management is activated and don't see a temperature light coming on? I believe I'm getting below 40mpg. maybe betw. 38 & 35... reading info about the FuelPak, it actually enriches air-fuel mixture originally designed by HD ECM so the bike gives more torque and ride faster than those bike w/out it! It is used for racing according to their website. And the weird thing about it... the bike DOES NOT leave a Diagnostic Trouble Code after it does it??? Thx again!

Instead of guessing about the mixture why not put a temporary air-fuel ratio ratio indicator on it and find out what it really is? Dobeck have portable units that they rent very reasonably. I had a Power Commander on my 07 Road King 103" and it allowed fine tuning the mixture table for various rpm and throttle openings. Worked great and really helped the bike make max power.
If your bike is stock it will have O2 sensors that will be keeping the mixture as lean as possible, which translates into running hot.

Hey Rod! thanks for joining our discussions... since FuelPak is already in place, I feel comfortable that air-fuel mixture is in order. Since you mentioned O2 sensors, is there something I can try to do to by-pass them? ...am just wondering, desperation has not hit me yet! Lol... Thanks again! Later...