Poor Fuel Mileage

[rhino 2]

Don't know about that but mine is red and we all know that red bikes are fastest.

Red is not a color its a layer of Pigment [Red] That absorbs Sunlight which will cause a molecular level of negative drag, Known as a Slowdown effect through ambient and especially in non-ambient air, And it will limit the velocity [speed] of said red vehicle by a factor of 2.1:5...

Source;..Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Weekly...The June 2017 edition...

[ultrafxr]

deleted duplicate post made in error

[ultrafxr]

Jerry, have a look at this link

Check for codes, you may have a stored code already

This will give you a heads up for your dealer, tho they can look deeper with their scanner

https://www.fuelmotousa.com/p-29661-...ble-codes.html

Thanks much Jack. Unfortunately due to myriad problems on various 110" Twin Cam motors I am all too familiar with the DTCs and how to check for them. Did so several times and nothing at all.

Went by the dealership today and spoke to the lead tech / shop manager and he told me to bring it in Monday afternoon and he'd check a few things. We'll see if he can find anything then.

[Bikerbozo]

HMMMMM, I dunno about that

Seems to me all the trikes in the US are shipped with the same tune

However, the tune may have an update worth asking the dealer about

I am wondering what his shift points are?

Sometimes I wind mine out and shift it a bit later

Shipped with same tune, but in case of my local dealer. As far as my '10 TG and '04 FLH, they have their own preconfigured tuning maps that they use since HD ships everything with low emissions in mind. Which would mean no power.

[ultrafxr]

So I went to the dealer today and after hooking my trike up to their digital technician we learned that there is in fact an updated configuration which he loaded. I had 41000481B and it was updated to 'C.'

No one could tell me exactly what had changed or when the C calibration was released. In any case I am current now and hoping this will do something to improve the fuel economy a bit.

Thanks for all the good suggestions but couldn't find anything obvious. If I continue to have poor mileage I'll take it back and complain more loudly, lol.

[Capt.Bob]

So I went to the dealer today and after hooking my trike up to their digital technician we learned that there is in fact an updated configuration which he loaded. I had 41000481B and it was updated to 'C.'

No one could tell me exactly what had changed or when the C calibration was released. In any case I am current now and hoping this will do something to improve the fuel economy a bit.

Thanks for all the good suggestions but couldn't find anything obvious. If I continue to have poor mileage I'll take it back and complain more loudly, lol.

Jerry, according to my research, the 41000481B ECM map was an update from the A version to address the low idle condition of the M8. There was no reference to the new C version that I could find.

[ultrafxr]

Jerry, according to my research, the 41000481B ECM map was an update from the A version to address the low idle condition of the M8. There was no reference to the new C version that I could find.

Thanks. I saw that too in my research on this and other forums. Be nice to know what issue(s) C was for. I took a photo of the digital technician screen while he was doing the update so I could get the calibration number. But he and I couldn't find any info about it. Probably a way to do so but they were a bit busy. Next time I'm in there and the service manager is there I'll ask him to research it for me.

[DK Custom Products]

Thanks. I saw that too in my research on this and other forums. Be nice to know what issue(s) C was for. I took a photo of the digital technician screen while he was doing the update so I could get the calibration number. But he and I couldn't find any info about it. Probably a way to do so but they were a bit busy. Next time I'm in there and the service manager is there I'll ask him to research it for me.

Hope the "C" update does it for you...but I'm sorta thinking it is something else. I've spent time on A & B calibrated M8's and they both got better MPG than you were getting.

BUT, it could have been that your "B" calibration had gotten corrupted somehow, and with the new upload you have a clean tune. Does not happen often, but it does every now and then (tunes getting corrupted)

Did you ever find out if your riding bud was running significantly different RPM's than you?

Kevin

[ultrafxr]

Hope the "C" update does it for you...but I'm sorta thinking it is something else. I've spent time on A & B calibrated M8's and they both got better MPG than you were getting.

BUT, it could have been that your "B" calibration had gotten corrupted somehow, and with the new upload you have a clean tune. Does not happen often, but it does every now and then (tunes getting corrupted)

Did you ever find out if your riding bud was running significantly different RPM's than you?

Kevin

After talking to him I learned that he and I ride very similarly shifting around 3k and in 6th gear by 55 or so. My low rpm limit when cruising is about 2,200 on level ground. If having elevation changes I'll keep it around 2,700. But with the lower gearing on the trike I find that 6th is usually just fine at 55 and above. In fact above 65 I wish I had a 7th taller gear, lol.

The master tech who was to check the calibration had an emergency and one of the other guys loaded the calibration but weren't able to check anything else. I think I'm pretty observant and knowledgeable about Harleys and I don't see anything at all amiss. The motor pulls strong, runs and idles smoothly. A couple mpg's I could attribute to riding style but this is more significant. I did bump up my tire pressure in the rear to 24 psi so we'll see if any of this makes any difference.

[DK Custom Products]

After talking to him I learned that he and I ride very similarly shifting around 3k and in 6th gear by 55 or so. My low rpm limit when cruising is about 2,200 on level ground. If having elevation changes I'll keep it around 2,700. But with the lower gearing on the trike I find that 6th is usually just fine at 55 and above. In fact above 65 I wish I had a 7th taller gear, lol.

The master tech who was to check the calibration had an emergency and one of the other guys loaded the calibration but weren't able to check anything else. I think I'm pretty observant and knowledgeable about Harleys and I don't see anything at all amiss. The motor pulls strong, runs and idles smoothly. A couple mpg's I could attribute to riding style but this is more significant. I did bump up my tire pressure in the rear to 24 psi so we'll see if any of this makes any difference.

Yeah, when the M8's came out I wondered why HD did not go back to the higher gearing that they initially used on the first couple of years of the Tri-Glide. It surely seems like the M8 would handle it fine.

Hope you get it figured out...you should definitely be getting more MPG.

Kevin

[Capt.Bob]

Jerry,

I stopped by a Harley dealer out of town yesterday on a 325 trip through some beautiful countryside. I had them look up the VIN of my 2017 M8 TGU and they said that there were no ECM updates. I guess that the low idle update was for some 2017 M8 engines and some 2018 engines apparently including the Tri Glide?

The only outstanding Service Bulletin relates to the inability to start a TGU when you have the brake depressed and the clutch pulled in. Harley has come up with a remedy for this fault if people are experiencing that. Other than that, they had no information that they could share with me about any ECM updates for my 2017. I wonder what is up with all of this?

I did, however, run the tank down to only having .3 gallons left when I went to fill the tank. There were some pretty lonely roads I was on in Southern Alabama yesterday. I did get a great meal of Poblano Chilies at the El Jalisco restaurant in Eufala, Alabama which is situated on the shores of large Lake Eufala. What a fun riding day!

[rchays57]

On my 2015 if I ride in a lower gear the mileage can be up to 4 mpg worse than If I go up a gear. Hills and downshifting the factor here. Stay in one gear or up and down shifting. Just a thought.

[Burnerboy]

I'm a Honda Goldwing guy, (so I can't help with Harleys) but I'm interested on how you made out with your problem?? I wonder if the same problem could happen to Honda's also??

I have never compared mileage with another Goldwing, BUT I ride quite often with another Honda Valkyrie, that gets much worse gas mileage then I do.... BUT he has six carborators where I have fuel injection., and he rides much faster then I do for sure..(I like to take my time and enjoy the ride, and he's long gone, leaving me in the dusk all the time.. I have to say that he make a great police radar for me cause quite often I see blue flashing lights, (and he's pulled over) so I slow down and just ride past him and wait at the next intersection..

BUT, back to our mileage, his gas amount is always higher then mine, by approx. $1.50 - $2.00 per full up.....Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Ronnie

[rhino 2]

I just took a 161 mile run yesterday, With my Stock 2017 Tri...38 point something mpg..

Like i said many times before i don't ride fast and i don't ride slow i just ride and let the numbers fall where they may,

[Capt.Bob]

I too have a 2017 M8 Tri Glide and usually get about 34-35 mpg. Today, I went to a large ancient Indian settlement about 90 miles from the house and instead of running 65 plus, I just putted along at about 55. My mileage only went up to about 39-40 mpg but that is about a 10-15 percent increase in mileage. I have 6300 miles on the trike and the mileage does not seem to be improving since it was new. I was thinking about what Kevin said about those big fenders hanging out in the wind and thinking about the whole frontal area that is pushing a lot of air around. However, I did not buy the trike to get great gas mileage so don't really worry too much about it. I do find that the rising gas prices, especially for Premium have been going up rather quickly this Spring.

[paws]

Here in the middle of the oil patch our newspaper today said $3.00 gas is coming soon.

The article stated it will be the costliest driving season since 2014. Oh joy... oh well... you can’t take it with you.

[Jack Klarich]

Here in the middle of the oil patch our newspaper today said $3.00 gas is coming soon.

The article stated it will be the costliest driving season since 2014. Oh joy... oh well... you can’t take it with you.

Carla, it is SAD the oil companies have such a strangle hold on us

Never going to change I am afraid

[paws]

Carla, it is SAD the oil companies have such a strangle hold on us

Never going to change I am afraid

What really gets my goat is that we produce it right here in our backyard, the refinery is 40 miles away, and our gasoline cost is the highest in the state! Go figure...

[rhino 2]

Here in the middle of the oil patch our newspaper today said $3.00 gas is coming soon.

The article stated it will be the costliest driving season since 2014. Oh joy... oh well... you can’t take it with you.

We are at that now for 93..........And i'm sending some ahead......

[Jack Klarich]

What really gets my goat is that we produce it right here in our backyard, the refinery is 40 miles away, and our gasoline cost is the highest in the state! Go figure...

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