2008 X no-start, then red hot header

[unlucky1]

I recently put a EBR ECM for stock exhaust on my 08, in the relocated position in front of the battery. Bike has 5k miles on it. ECM has been in the bike a week, I've had the bike about 3 weeks, and I had no issues with it until last night.

Last night when I went to ride it, the starter would turn it and turn it but it wouldn't tick over. Yes I waited for the engine light to go out and I heard the fuel pump prime. Didn't smell excessive fuel.

So I turned the key switch off, turned it back on, and tried again. This time it started so I wheeled it out into the driveway and started putting on my gear. Got to my helmet and noticed that the header pipe was RED HOT right where it curls off of the flange. Cylinder itself was still cool.

So I turned the key switch off, let it get dark again, and started it up. This time it seemed to run fine. I took it 20 miles on the freeway and didn't notice any excess heat off the pipes.

After letting it sit an hour at my destination for the evening I got back to it and started it up, half warmish. This time it popped to life on one cylinder for like 8 revs, then both came to life.

My thoughts:
- injector clogged? intermittently not feeding enough fuel, affecting lean condition on start up to make pipe hot?
- injector stuck open? putting lots of unburned fuel into exhaust, burning there? I'm doubting this one because I think I would smell FUEL FUEL FUEL and the red hotness would appear lower on the header.
- spark plug(s) bad? these could be originals, w/ 5k. intermittent no-spark putting unburned fuel into the exhaust where it ends up burnign and making pipe hot?

Anything else I should pay attention to?

 

[unlucky1]

Follow up: this is my second Uly. First was an 06. It never lit up a header like the 08 did last night and I ran that thing hard, in hot places, for 22,000 miles.

 

[Kohmeo]

My friend and brother both had 08 firebolts with ebr ecms / race and hawk exhaust. After about two minutes their headers would be glowing as well. They didn't seemed concerned.
I have an 07 with a race ecm and exhaust but mine has never glowed.
08 thing?

 

[Tbone]

Does the ECM have the latest MAP? My 09 Uly Stock ECM was replaced with another Stock ECM, but the original ran a lot leaner and I felt a lot more heat from the engine. When diagnosing the problem, such as checking the intake seals for leaks, the throttle body would heat up greatly so that I could hear it sizzle when I sprayed it to check for leaks, as well as popping sounds in the air box. The header would heat up and glow also. The mechanic says that it was because the K&N air filter makes the idle leaner with the original mapping of the ECM. The HD mechanic also said he was able to set the idle mixture richer for the K&N filter when mapping the New ECM. Before I did not smell any gas when starting up and now with the new ECM I get a faint whiff of fuel for a few minutes. The bike runs a lot better especially in cooler weather, but does get about 2-3 mpg less than the original ECM. It is probably better for the operation as well as the longevity of the bike to have less mpg?

 

[user_deleted]

for what it's worth if your Uly ran fine prior to the EBR ecm swap....and now you've developed problems with it....i would be tempted to contact EBR directly for their thoughts and possible warranty claim for replacement. i say this as historically when you replace a component and shortly thereafter a problem arises that seems related to that component......you know where i'm going with this. i've never seen XB headers glow red except perhaps during a dyno pull.

 

[08herobolt]

I have an EBR ECM and a Hawk (08 12R). My header glows like Vegas at night when it's just sitting there idling. Under load the fuel volume picks up and it starts to run perfect. I chalk this up to a lean tune at idle. You can get EBR to unlock your ECM and you can change the fuel curve. It's another $500 if you want to go that route.

JP

 

[lawdog]

An EBR ecm is not locked. You can modify anything on an EBR eeprom just as you can on a stock eeprom. There is no way to "lock" the ECM. If you want to make changes just burn the hexdata to the eeprom. (I know not as simple as it sounds) lol I have pulled a few EBR eeproms and reverse engineered them to see what changes were made.

 

[08herobolt]

Cool. Thanks lawdog. Sorry I jacked the thread unlucky.

Pull the plugs and check them. That will tell you about the burn.

 

[lawdog]

With Ecmspy you can change anything in the ECM. I dont use their software but I use their eeprom data to learn where everything is at in the eeprom. My next goal is to use the shift light feature built into the Eeprom and add a shift light. Well technically it is finish installing the big bore kit then add the shift light! Lol. Heads are at hammer as we speak.

Also with my stock map on my 09 Bolt the headers would glow at night. I ended up turning off closed loop at idle and ran a richer AFR at idle.

Also sounds like it might be lean at idle. You really need to log the data otherwise we are all throwing darts and guessing. I would log the data and if your mixture is off at idle cointact EBR to correct. (honestly it would take 5 minutes to change your fuel maps at idle rpm)
Brett

 

[unlucky1]

Well I contacted EBR. They say the non-start-then-red-header sounds like an issue with the bike, suggested checking spark plugs, spark plug wires, and fuel pressure.

I pulled out a broken/corroded rear spark plug. Bad spark in rear would cause a lean condition in front I think, based on my understanding of how the 08's ECM trims the fuel mixture

Put in new DCPR9EIX plugs.

In the middle of doing the breather reroute. Bike is probably in the garage until I get a new air filter for it. Old paper one was nasty oily. Not ruling out a bad ECM though. Once I'm back on the road with it I'll A/B test those ECMs.

 

[unlucky1]

OK bike is back together. Started right up this morning, at work at lunch, and at the gas station. Didn't light up the pipe. Got it home, and now it won't even turn over, sounds like the starter relay clicking. Soo.... time to check my relays and grounds.

 

[unlucky1]

Relays and grounds cleaned off, seems to be starting OK.