New to Buell

[detbuell]

I just picked up an 07 XB12S in cherry bomb red. Have a couple of n00b questions. I am new to Harley's and V twin engines that try to disassemble themselve at idle. :D

When the bike is dead cold, as in been sitting for more than 4 hours, and I hop right on and go after starting, It backfires and misfires a little. maybe 3 to 4 times before it stops. Is this normal for the evo engine? I've heard that these engines hate being cold and was told to let them warm up before riding. I should probably mention the bike has a drummer exhaust, K&N filter, and the breather tubes have been routed to atmosphere. To the best of my knowledge the ECM has not been tuned.

My next question, The cooling fan seems to run a lot. both while riding and when I turn the bike off. The service manual says it is normal for the fan to run up to 2.5 minutes after shut down. I have no CEL and the bike gets hot but not out of the realm of expectation for a 1200 air cooler.

thanks in advance for the welcome and advice.

[chrispudd]

Welcome to the Buell family!
Normally, You want to let it run for a couple minutes before jumping on, but it still shouldn't miss or back fire.
Fan does run alot on these bikes, a fan is cheaper than engine damage, so let er' run. Yes it'll run for a bit after shut down.

About the misfire, how many miles on it? All I can think of, is possible plugs and wires. Cheap to replace and good peace of mind if you're unsure of when they were replaced last, if ever.
Enjoy the ride!!

[Lesley]

It can be 100 degrees outside and I won't ride my bike until it has run for no less than 5 minutes. Never had a backfire or stagger problem and I just went passed 32,000 miles.
I live in the South and my fan only runs while I am riding it if I am in slow moving traffic. It has always turned on in warm weather when I turn it off. It usually runs for 90 secs maybe then its off.
Good luck and welcome.

[Stevenc150]

Welcome to the Board. Grab an ECMSpy cable off of Xoptiinside.com or Ebay. Download the program off of Buellmods.com so you can troubleshoot, check CEL codes, tune, etc. A drummer & K&N with a presumably stock ECM have got you running on the leaner side I'm guessing. Swap out the Engine & Primary oil for a good brand of Full Synthetic, Bike-specific, oil in 20W50 (if you haven't already) and replace the spark plugs with NGK Iridiums (DCPR9EIX).

Edit: If the plugs don't solve most of your backfiring, then you may need to look into custom tuning.

[gtp3800]

yes, the bike needs to warm up, its not like an i4 where you can start it and jump on it. I usually give it time to warm up while I put my gear on. As far as the backfiring, make sure your idle speed is around 1000-1050 rpm ( there is an hex nut by the left intake scoop). Then I would get it a good tune with the ecm. and a tps adjustment.

As far as the fan, these bikes are air cooled and the motor is hidden inside the frame so It will get hot alot and fast. The fan will almost always turn on enless you install a right side air scoop. this will help dramatically and you will almost never hear your fan. you can buy that for around 60 bucks from americansportbike.com. It is the right side uly comfort kit.

Welcome to the world of buell and the addiction!

[Alfatango1]

My 03 never had a cold start/stumble/backfire issue. I would go to work at 4:00AM in 45 degree weather and no problem. I never had to warm my bike up since new. I'd check TPS and AFV and reset those to start.

[Lesley]

Well the manuals all say to let them warm up. So you can go by the book or listen to Alphatango who seems to "really know" all about HD er I mean EB motors. :D bless his heart he really does mean well.

[Alfatango1]

First off it's Alfa not Alpha, but I am an Alpha male.

A properly tuned XB should not act like detbuell's. If yours does this too, you need to make some adjustments also.

I didn't say warming up a bike is not a good idea but if you need 5 minutes there are issues with your bike. These are modern FI bikes not carbed bikes and only need about a minute to get the oil to where it needs to go. Just don't hammer a bike right off the bat and it should run fine. Would you think a modern car was in good running condition if it needed 5 minutes of warm up before you could go anywhere?

And I just do a lot of research on subjects, like Erik's contribution to the XB's and to HD. When people think all an XB engine is a Sportster motor I feel it's only fair to inform them. I just didn't think I would have to do it here so often. Most on this forum know this.

[ChuckieE]

Welcome to our Buell family and forums. :) cheers mate

[brightbuell]

Welcome! Yea, i would let it warm up for a couple min, it will run better for sure if you do that.

[50dro]

Welcome to the forum and your new addiction. Lots of good info and people on here.

I usually let mine run a few minutes I suit up for the ride.

Make sure to check out and support the forum sponsors (links on the right margin). If it's axle sliders or an updated front pulley cover you're after look me up!

Congrats!

5-0dro
www.5-0dro.com (http://www.5-0dro.com)

[J_Undisputed]

Its already been stated. If you have the stock ecm with no tune, but have a drummer and a K&N. You're gonna run a little lean. Your maps need to be adjusted. Most guys burn the race map to their bike. That should get you closer to an optimal tune. Beyond that, you should customize your tune to get rid of popping on decel. After that a good learn in ride will help your bike adjust.

Also there was an update pushed out before to the ecm on the fan time. I think prior to the update, the fan ran after shut down. The update it had it turn on when the the bike was running... so it would run less after . Not sure what the temperature trigger was for that. Alfa's right though. It's a sporster engine but not a direct transplant. It's been designed for better performance. If not, we'd never run out of engine replacement parts as long as HD made sporster engines.

The bike will get hot. Part of the cross to bear, I suppose. The right side scoop will help. Heat shields under the seat and airbox bottom will also help.

[anrkizm95]

welcome to buellxb

[detbuell]

cool thanks for all of the advice and warm welcome. I am a big gear head but until about a year ago my resume only had things with 4 wheels on them. I'm no stranger to tuning or engine management. just wondered what was characteristic of the the engine and what should be looked into. My intuition tells me that the intake and exhaust are more then enough reason to account for the minor problems I'm having. Already looking into ECM spy and the like.

So how different is the Buell engine from the HD engine? I run with a couple of Harley guys and they weren't exactly sure. I asked about cold start and their bikes are carbed soo.... yeah.

As for a modern fuel injection system and having to let it warm up; I was wondering about the intake air temp sensor. most EFI systems have a MAF or MAP. I thought it was interesting that enough data was given about air density just based on temperature. Also having just the Cam position sensor to indicate engine orientation. that's pretty clever. Will look into resting the TPS and the AFV. also taking the bike for a learning ride.

The dealer that I bought it from mentioned that they worked on the EFI system before putting it up for sale. I will ask exactly what they did to it. I guess that's a bit of key information I left out. wanted to see what everyone said first.

PS the bike has 7600 miles on it.
Pics to prove it happened.
http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/11598_20111012115855_L.jpg

[Alfatango1]

I learned a ton from the tutorial on ECMSPY. Download it and click on "Help" or "Tutorial" or whatever it is and you will see exactly what affects what with the changes you can do. I smoothed out many a rough idle for people after they put a different pipe on or a K&N filter.

[detbuell]

trying to track down one of these elusive cables. so far I've gotten MSD PN 8181 from jegs and that I need a RS232 to TTL232R 5V USB cable from mouser. I'm not opposed to making one myself but I will pay somebody for one. so far all I've found on the internets that doesn't look shady are Batts racing, vtwintunerconnection.com and moto madness.

[thrstrmech]

welcome to the forum...normally I let my 9s warm up a bit before riding, but if I'm late getting out the door, she's never failed me not giving her a proper warm up. I clean the K&N filter when the oil and primary changes are done, keep the fins on the jugs clean for optimum cooling, make sure the plug wires are contacting the plugs properly once a week, check the oil level every 4 to 6 days when it's hot...dunno if it's excessive follow up maintenance, but haven't had issues with by keeping this schedule. she's my daily ride. adding the right side air scoop when I get back home in 17 days, but who's counting:D you may wanna look into getting it for yours to relieve the fan operating so often, good luck

[user_deleted]

H-D has been speaking volumes to sportster owners about "engine warm-up" since the evo sportster motor debuted in 1986 model year. would think the same applies to Buell motors. a minute or 2 of warm-up time from cold start was according to mother H-D, to allow the case, the cylinders, and the heads to heat expand together. it's been common knowledge in the H-D world for decades that if you hammer an evo sportster or big twin motor hard from cold start, it won't be too long until you have leaking rocker box and cylinder base gasket issues. by hammering i mean heavy throttle load and/or high revs. i think this is what a buell owners manual "warm up" suggestion is about as opposed to missing or backfiring condition.

[ATFIII]

Let the bike get to at least 150 Degrees Fahrenheit until you ride it. That's what I do with all of my bikes, and they treat me right! Welcome to the Buell family!