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Darth_villar
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 08:21 pm: |
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Title says it all. I currently have a skip spark problem on my Uly, but I don't want to jump to the conclusion that it is related to other people's skip spark problems. I think this mainly because I have an Axtell 88" kit. The temp gauge is sporadic (verified by ECM Spy and Technoresearch), and I will be replacing it. I have ceramic coated headers, the inside of the frame is lined with thermotec, and I have the comfort kit installed with the fan set to run pretty much all the time. I have never gotten skip spark below 75mph, and I only get it when I cruise at 75mph + on the highway for about 10 minutes+ depending on current Phoenix AZ heat. I plan to change to a different oil cooler, which is aluminum, and mount it front facing, in addition to replacing the temp guage. It seems to run much cooler at lower speeds, but higher sustained speeds seem to produce high engine temps. My best conclusion is to add a more efficient cooler in a better position. What size are the hoses and fittings leading to the 06 Uly oil cooler in AN? Also, any other ideas or suggestions are welcome. I am dying to get my bike capable of sustained cruising speeds here in AZ. It is the most fun bike I have ever owned, and I don't anticipate I will ever sell her. Phil |
Rwcfrank
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 08:59 pm: |
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Phil, I think you are on the money with a larger cooler. You can get almost any size and configuration with AN fittings from Aeroquip or Russell. The AN fittings are measured via inside diameter of the hose in 1/16 increments so 3/16 ID is -3 and 4/16 (1/4 inch) is -4 and so on. Good luck. |
Hughlysses
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 09:15 pm: |
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I'd definitely take it one step at a time. You KNOW the temp sensor is bad so replace that and see what happens. If that doesn't cure it, a larger oil cooler seems like a logical next step. What about richening the mixture slightly in the high RPM ranges to cool it slightly? It'd be easy enough to do with ECMspy, correct? |
Itileman
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 09:20 pm: |
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This works pretty well for me.
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7873jake
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 09:30 pm: |
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I can see something in the scoop but why is the background behind the bike so white-washed out and over-exposed? |
Itileman
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 09:40 pm: |
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There's ice and snow inside the scoop and oil cooler. Background is true - a slight mishap in the Garnet Mountains last May - slipped off the road doing a wheelie. Don't ask about riding off road standing up and forgetting to take the cramp buster off. |
Darth_villar
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 10:59 pm: |
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I don't believe the single cause of the skip spark to be the temp sensor. The reason being, I wouldn't expect the skip spark to be so repeatable at only a given speed. Perhaps it is always bad, and is only kicked in at a certain RPM, that could very well be the problem. However, I know my bike is running hotter than usual, even with the bunk temp sensor. Which is why a larger more efficient cooler certainly won't hurt anything, and it will give me peace of mind. Itileman, that is a great ice cooling feature, but I'm worried about how much I would have to bring with me at any given time :P Phil |
Itileman
| Posted on Monday, October 18, 2010 - 11:37 pm: |
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Check your spark plug wires for wear, and connections at both the plugs and the coil. Add a bit of dielectric grease to the boots at each end. Also check the coil for cracks and leaks. I had some serious skip spark at speed and higher temps just before the coil died at 7k miles last year. |
Darth_villar
| Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 02:22 am: |
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I was hoping someone had the AN size on hand, I have to use my bike for transportation every day, so I would rather not take it apart before I plan to replace it :P I'm afraid the skip spark is only at cruising ranges, so changing the fuel value would only throw off the whole map. Phil |
Etennuly
| Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 11:10 am: |
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Has a very familiar ring to it. Have you read back through the hundreds of posts from myself and others? My normal situation was 70F degrees at 70 mph.....Flashing light run skip.....every time. The list of fixes was long that included replacing nearly everything. Several times it would be perfect for a while, then the evil trait would come back.....every time. After retarding the timing I made it 800 miles before it came back. It was like an evil little retraining device in the ECM that adjusted what ever it needed to to make the problem come back. It was possessed! The only thing that has actually has conquered it was setting up the manual switch on the fan. It has run better than ever since doing that nearly three thousand miles ago. A little bit annoying to use, and I get tired of looking at the red light being on, but the results have been so worth it! Good luck, I hope it doesn't keep you up at night!Like it did to me for over two and a half summers of riding. |
Johnboy777
| Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 02:01 pm: |
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As I recall, and i may be wrong here, the relationship between oil temp and head temp (run skip) is not one to one. In other words, if you cool the oil down by 5deg. it doesn't mean you'll cool the heads down by five. Also, with a bigger oil cooler wouldn't you need a bigger pump (higher flow rate) as well, to take advantage of it? ... (Message edited by johnboy777 on October 19, 2010) |
Nobuell
| Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 05:25 pm: |
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A bigger oil cooler will have an increased pressure drop due to the extra circuiting. How much, who knows. You will need to make sure the oil pump has the pressure capacity for the increased PD and maintain flow rate. The oil velocity through the cooler would normally remain approximately the same. It is the additional surface area that will remove more heat from the oil and lower the outlet oil temperature. |
Blake
| Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 06:25 pm: |
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Most likely, the engine is running lean. Not sure what you did for fueling augmentation with your 88" kit, but it deserves checking. A little fine tuning, remapping might be all that's needed. |
Ratbuell
| Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - 08:04 pm: |
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Couple things. Your profile shows it's an 06. Verify your timing is correct - not "by the book", but correct as per Axtell's recommendation for their kit. If you're out of whack, you can get overheat issues. Why Destroyer injectors? I know from playing with larger injectors in my turbo cars that just because they're plus-X-percent at full duty cycle, doesn't mean they're plus-x-percent at part-cycle (i.e. cruise throttle). Not in a linear manner, anyway. Have you run the bike on a dyno with full O2 analysis? or are you just programming fuel curves based on AFV with ECMspy? I'm with the guys above - fix what you KNOW is wrong, so you're starting with a clean plate so to speak, see where you are, then start modifications after that if you need to. And I want to say the fittings are -6. |
Darth_villar
| Posted on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 02:00 am: |
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The bike has been tuned properly with a O2 on a dyno. Also, it has a wideband O2 installed currently that also transmits the narrowband to the bike. The map is good, but I haven't fooled with the timing at all, that is something I could definitely check into... I ran destroyer injectors because at the time I installed the kit, they were the closest thing I could fit into the intake manifold without having to install an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator. I know it is running hotter than I would prefer for extended periods of time on the highway. I also know when I lived in Michigan, and it wasn't nearly the same ambient temp, I didn't have any problems with everything as it is right now. I'm certain the fuel map is good, and I know the temp sensor is not working properly 100% of the time. Adding the larger oil cooler will help either way. I will look into adjusting the timing to be slightly more retarded, ideally my fuel map shouldn't change correct? As the timing just picks when exactly the spark plugs ignite in relation to the piston location. The fittings looked like -6AN to me too. Since the skip spark didn't start until the temp sensor went bad, or I moved to the hot weather, I'm hoping it is only one of those two being the problem that will fix the skip spark. I do not want to just rewire the fan, because I can't stand having the CEL on. Adding the more efficient (not necessarily larger) oil cooler can't hurt me, assuming it doesn't have a larger pressure drop of course. Thank you all for your input thus far, Phil |
Blake
| Posted on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 07:02 am: |
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If the temp sensor is faulty, yeah, that'd be a good place to start. Let us know the result. |
Darth_villar
| Posted on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 10:14 pm: |
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Wow I'm an idiot. I completely forgot that the coolest EGTs are obtained when timing is backed off slightly from when you advance enough to get ping. Al had the sensor in stock, hopefully I can do a bit of testing this weekend if it gets here friday. Phil |
Echo15
| Posted on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 11:27 pm: |
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So, Itileman, it seems you are flirting with water/ice cooling... |
Darth_villar
| Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010 - 02:15 am: |
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With the new temp sensor from Al, I haven't been able to recreate the skip spark yet. However I have only been able to ride 20+ mins in weather cooler than 80 degrees. Results won't be conclusive until I can get out there on a hotter day for a while, hopefully I can get a long ride on a warmer day before it gets too cold for the winter. Going to hold off on the larger oil cooler at the moment. Phil |
Timberwolf
| Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010 - 08:38 am: |
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Instead of a larger oil cooler, how about rigging up a small fan to pull air thru the cooler. I would think that would have to help when unable to move fast and shouldn't draw a lot of power. Maybe a larger air scoop on the cooler to capture more air when moving too. |
Natexlh1000
| Posted on Friday, November 05, 2010 - 06:37 am: |
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Computer fans are cheap and 12V. I think Electraglider has that set up. |
Darth_villar
| Posted on Friday, November 05, 2010 - 02:54 pm: |
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Because my problem was/is overheating at speed, and not overheating at idle or low speed. The fan would only help for idle temps, and may even hinder slightly airflow at higher cruising speeds. The only way that makes logical sense to me is to increase the efficiency of the oil cooler. Phil |
Electraglider_1997
| Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 10:03 am: |
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Natex, NoNoNo, Treadmarks is the genius behind that setup, not me. Credit where credit is due. |
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