2008 Touring Family High Idle Concerns ………….

These words are for you folks that have a 2008 Touring  family motorcycle that has had your engine idle speed increase for no apparent reason. Well, actually there is a reason. Read on.

The cause of this sudden or intermittent increase in your Harley – Davidson® Touring family motorcycle engine idle speed is due to the 2008 model year Electronic Throttle Control calibration strategy parameters and the throttle grip sensor. This high idle speed condition is caused by a change in the zero position (aka idle speed position) stored to the memory of your motorcycles’ Engine Control Module (ECM). This zero position is determined by the last four readings the ECM sees at the ignition key / engine kill switch OFF position. So, if you give your throttle that last crack as you shut off your ignition key, or switch, these higher RPM readings from that last throttle action get stored in the memory of your ECM, as the zero / idle position. This cannot increase the engine speed while you are riding your motorcycle, but it does change the engine idle RPM.

How do you fix this high idle concern you ask? The first step, please call our Calgary Harley – Davidson® Service Department to get your motorcycle in to us, this is a warranty paid concern that we will look after for you. Once your motorcycle is here, your motorcycle will be connected to our Digital Technician. With our Digital Technician, we will uplink to the Harley – Davidson® library, and download a new calibration for your ECM. This new ECM calibration will leave  your ECM powered up for 10 seconds after the key / switch is turned to the OFF position. This 10 seconds allows you more time to release the throttle grip, so the grip sensor can return to the true zero position, and the ECM can correctly read and record this true zero position before the ECM shuts down.

I hope this helps explain the concern a few of our riders have had over the past few months. If your motorcycle is presently in this high idle mode, please give us a call so we can get your engine idling back at the proper RPM, and back to that sweet rumble that makes a Harley – Davidson®, a Harley – Davidson®.