M8 Tuners

ISP-FL

600+ Posts
Mar 16, 2017
641
641
Lake Suzy, FL USA
With the recent post on a member having his warranty voided due to aftermarket add-ons, I have a question about tuners.

I assume that if you had a Screamin Eagle tuner installed it would not effect your HD factory warranty? I've got slip on mufflers and a flow thru breather now.

The reason I'm asking this is because next Monday I'm riding across the state with a buddy to a small shop. The guy has slip-on pipes that his son makes and my buddy is having them installed. We have another buddy over in that area that just had them installed for around $320 and they are the deepest, best sounding pipes I have ever heard on an M8 motor. Anyway, this shop apparently said they had a tuner for the M8 that could be installed for under $200.

As I get a little closer to my factory warranty expiring I am going to switch to Jim Palmers extended plan. I just didn't want to do it until the spring.
 
With the recent post on a member having his warranty voided due to aftermarket add-ons, I have a question about tuners.

I assume that if you had a Screamin Eagle tuner installed it would not effect your HD factory warranty? I've got slip on mufflers and a flow thru breather now.

The reason I'm asking this is because next Monday I'm riding across the state with a buddy to a small shop. The guy has slip-on pipes that his son makes and my buddy is having them installed. We have another buddy over in that area that just had them installed for around $320 and they are the deepest, best sounding pipes I have ever heard on an M8 motor. Anyway, this shop apparently said they had a tuner for the M8 that could be installed for under $200.

As I get a little closer to my factory warranty expiring I am going to switch to Jim Palmers extended plan. I just didn't want to do it until the spring.

Any tuner, other than the HD one, that Harley sees when they plug the trike into the digital Tech will void the powertrain portion of your warranty (this is applicable on 2017 & up models, it does not apply to 2016 and earlier).

The only tuner I know of that can be "undone" and not visible to the Digital Tech is the PowerVision.

Since you do not want to wait, you can get the plan from Jim Palmer now, and have it active, even while the original 2 year factory warranty is still in place. That way you can do what you want to your trike without being handcuffed by the ridiculous HD/EPA warranty.

btw, if you could share more about these slip-ons, I am interested.

Kevin
 
I know they say if you have the screaming eagle tuner it won't void your warranty, don't know if true or not, just what they say, unless somebody can chime in that has it and has had warranty work done. I just have to say if you have a good dealer they might warrant it and maybe not, harley is getting down right bad, could say more but then it would be flagged and deleted. And my point is the screaming eagle tuner is EPA approved I believe so that tells me it is not the greatest tuner out there.

Now as getting the extra warranty from Jim Palmer with what ever tuner you get, power vision, FP3, etc etc, just because he says it will cover warranty work with these tuners, I think he said this anyway, not sure, but you take the chance if you go with this plan, this is what I think anyway. I know my warranty from HD expires this September, then my extended warranty kicks in that I bought from the dealer. Then I will know how good that is when I put a tuner, a hitch and a few other things that would void the harley warranty, time will tell, basically I'm happy with the stock bike I have right now with stock exhaust, stock air cleaner, no tuner, its get me where I want to go and since I'm old now I don't need the loud exhaust or a fast bike now like I did on my 2 wheelers.

Just food for thought is all

All for now Trampas
 
From my understanding if you install stage 1 air cleaner and exhaust upgrades the SE tuner brings the bike to factory EPA settings.This is coming from a master tech who runs the dyno at a local HD shop.
 
From my understanding if you install stage 1 air cleaner and exhaust upgrades the SE tuner brings the bike to factory EPA settings.This is coming from a master tech who runs the dyno at a local HD shop.

And this means it is still running lean IMHO, maybe better than stock but still lean after doing all of these upgrades.

I haven't got a complaint to say about Jim Palmer and his plans, just saying he is the middle man if I read his site right, he has several company's that he deals with and this will give you the best plan and price that you want. I already have a plan after the HD warranty and it did cost me more than what is charging for the eagle guardian plan but I will stick with what I have for now, the plan I bought from my dealer basically is a third party, not a HD plan. Basically if buying a new bike this would be a good plan to have from what I have read anyway.

All for now Trampas
 
I bought a policy from Jim, he told me as long as the work is approved for the bike he would cover my claims. Everything I have done to my bike has been approved and designed for it
 
I was the one that Harley had voided my warranty. About 6 months or so after I bought my bike, I put the Power Vision Tuner on my bike and I downloaded a tune from FuelMoto and it was the wrong one, it was for a twin Cam so when it loaded it disabled the radiator fans. I was about 60 miles or so north of me, stopped at a traffic light when it blew part/all of the coolant all over my right foot. I took it to the local dealer which was a couple miles away and when they plugged the scanner into the harness, they/scanner notified Harley. That flagged my bike because of the tuner so from then on I had no warranty. They did the clutch slave cylinder upgrade with no problems, but when the local dealer called Harley last Saturday for authorization to install the primary case vent Harley said No. The local dealer told me that my extended warranty would not cover the cost of the vent install.
 
Question ?

Any tuner, other than the HD one, that Harley sees when they plug the trike into the digital Tech will void the powertrain portion of your warranty (this is applicable on 2017 & up models, it does not apply to 2016 and earlier).

The only tuner I know of that can be "undone" and not visible to the Digital Tech is the PowerVision.

Kevin

Kevin, I assume you mean if the PV file in the ECM is removed and the original stock file is loaded back into the ECM.........then the PV loaded file would not be detected?
 
Kevin, I assume you mean if the PV file in the ECM is removed and the original stock file is loaded back into the ECM.........then the PV loaded file would not be detected?

That is correct. The PV needs to reflash the original tune to the ECM, then the digital tech cannot tell that there was ever a PV tune installed on the ECM, so it will not flag the bike.

Kevin
 
Regarding the service plans that Jim Palmer sells, best if you talk to him. But I worked with him to have the administrator of the program put in writing that if a Tuner was used, like the Power Vision, that as long as a tune was installed for that bike, then it is covered.

If one put a tune on the bike that was not meant for the bike, it is not going to be covered. ie. if a Sportster tune is loaded onto your Tri Glide and you then put in a claim for an engine burning a valve or some other engine failure, it will not be covered.

But, if you put in a tune from the PowerVision that is for your Tri Glide, and there is an engine problem, it will be covered.

The really nice thing about this plan from Jim is that it also covers the actual aftermarket parts.

For example: Dynojet give a 1 year warranty on the Power Vision. When you buy a Power Vision from us it is doubled to a 2 year warranty. But, let's say 4 years out the Power Vision takes a dump...there is no warranty, unless you have the plan from Jim, then it is covered. Pretty cool.

Kevin
 
Any tuner, other than the HD one, that Harley sees when they plug the trike into the digital Tech will void the powertrain portion of your warranty (this is applicable on 2017 & up models, it does not apply to 2016 and earlier).

The only tuner I know of that can be "undone" and not visible to the Digital Tech is the PowerVision.

Since you do not want to wait, you can get the plan from Jim Palmer now, and have it active, even while the original 2 year factory warranty is still in place. That way you can do what you want to your trike without being handcuffed by the ridiculous HD/EPA warranty.

btw, if you could share more about these slip-ons, I am interested.

Kevin

The main reason I'm waiting awhile to contact Palmer about a warranty is more of a financial reason. I just traded cars and I am in the process of waiting 6 to 8 weeks for a refund on my vehicle extended plan. My idea was to use those funds to get a Palmer plan on my bike and then dump my Harley extended plan. It will probably take over a month to get the actual refund from my Harley extended plan.

Kevin, the pipes are being sold by this small shop: Reno's Motorcycle Service, Okeechobee Florida. Apparently his son, who has a business somewhere else in Florida, makes the pipes on a small scale.

The pipes come in black or chrome. Reno does not ship them but will sell them and/or install them at his shop. The price was suppose to be $250.00 plus tax. He charged my buddy around $65 to install them.

I have a set of Rush slip-ons on my 19. It doesn't sound nearly as good as my 16 did of course. When my buddy from Okeechobee showed up last week with his set of Reno slip-ons I honestly thought he had changed header pipes and possibly even cams! His 18 now sounds really deep and throaty, better than any "near" stock M8 I have ever heard. These pipes accomplish this without being really loud.

Another mutual friend who you talked to at your shop a few months back (Ricky Lee) is going over to Reno's and having the pipes installed Monday. I'll ride over with him. I was going to have a set installed or just buy them and install myself but after spending the money on the Rush ones I am having a hard time justifying it.
 
I was the one that Harley had voided my warranty. About 6 months or so after I bought my bike, I put the Power Vision Tuner on my bike and I downloaded a tune from FuelMoto and it was the wrong one, it was for a twin Cam so when it loaded it disabled the radiator fans. I was about 60 miles or so north of me, stopped at a traffic light when it blew part/all of the coolant all over my right foot. I took it to the local dealer which was a couple miles away and when they plugged the scanner into the harness, they/scanner notified Harley. That flagged my bike because of the tuner so from then on I had no warranty. They did the clutch slave cylinder upgrade with no problems, but when the local dealer called Harley last Saturday for authorization to install the primary case vent Harley said No. The local dealer told me that my extended warranty would not cover the cost of the vent install.

To be totally honest, if this same situation happened 10 years ago Harley would have denied your warranty claim and possibly even cancelled the rest of your powertrain warranty. I know you didn't mean to download the wrong tune and install it in your bike but the fact remains that it happened. The damage to the bike was no fault of Harley or the bike's components.

Probably no different than changing your own oil and forgetting to put oil back in. Take the bike out for a hard run and lock it up. Damage to the bike was the direct result of a mistake by the owner.

What does make your exact situation a little different is that the oil migration issue seems to be a very common defect on a long run of M8 motors. Even with a cancelled warranty Harley should have treated that claim almost like a recall issue IMHO.
 
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The main reason I'm waiting awhile to contact Palmer about a warranty is more of a financial reason. I just traded cars and I am in the process of waiting 6 to 8 weeks for a refund on my vehicle extended plan. My idea was to use those funds to get a Palmer plan on my bike and then dump my Harley extended plan. It will probably take over a month to get the actual refund from my Harley extended plan.

Kevin, the pipes are being sold by this small shop: Reno's Motorcycle Service, Okeechobee Florida. Apparently his son, who has a business somewhere else in Florida, makes the pipes on a small scale.

The pipes come in black or chrome. Reno does not ship them but will sell them and/or install them at his shop. The price was suppose to be $250.00 plus tax. He charged my buddy around $65 to install them.

I have a set of Rush slip-ons on my 19. It doesn't sound nearly as good as my 16 did of course. When my buddy from Okeechobee showed up last week with his set of Reno slip-ons I honestly thought he had changed header pipes and possibly even cams! His 18 now sounds really deep and throaty, better than any "near" stock M8 I have ever heard. These pipes accomplish this without being really loud.

Another mutual friend who you talked to at your shop a few months back (Ricky Lee) is going over to Reno's and having the pipes installed Monday. I'll ride over with him. I was going to have a set installed or just buy them and install myself but after spending the money on the Rush ones I am having a hard time justifying it.

Thanks for the info...if you happen to get an audio of those pipes on RL's TG, that would be great.

Kevin
 
Any tuner, other than the HD one, that Harley sees when they plug the trike into the digital Tech will void the powertrain portion of your warranty (this is applicable on 2017 & up models, it does not apply to 2016 and earlier).

The only tuner I know of that can be "undone" and not visible to the Digital Tech is the PowerVision.

Since you do not want to wait, you can get the plan from Jim Palmer now, and have it active, even while the original 2 year factory warranty is still in place. That way you can do what you want to your trike without being handcuffed by the ridiculous HD/EPA warranty.

btw, if you could share more about these slip-ons, I am interested.

Kevin

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Megaphon...vidson&hash=item4b19bb81ed:g:IZsAAOSwWE9ZjA~c I believe this is what he is selling
 
The main reason I'm waiting awhile to contact Palmer about a warranty is more of a financial reason. I just traded cars and I am in the process of waiting 6 to 8 weeks for a refund on my vehicle extended plan. My idea was to use those funds to get a Palmer plan on my bike and then dump my Harley extended plan. It will probably take over a month to get the actual refund from my Harley extended plan.

Kevin, the pipes are being sold by this small shop: Reno's Motorcycle Service, Okeechobee Florida. Apparently his son, who has a business somewhere else in Florida, makes the pipes on a small scale.

The pipes come in black or chrome. Reno does not ship them but will sell them and/or install them at his shop. The price was suppose to be $250.00 plus tax. He charged my buddy around $65 to install them.

I have a set of Rush slip-ons on my 19. It doesn't sound nearly as good as my 16 did of course. When my buddy from Okeechobee showed up last week with his set of Reno slip-ons I honestly thought he had changed header pipes and possibly even cams! His 18 now sounds really deep and throaty, better than any "near" stock M8 I have ever heard. These pipes accomplish this without being really loud.

Another mutual friend who you talked to at your shop a few months back (Ricky Lee) is going over to Reno's and having the pipes installed Monday. I'll ride over with him. I was going to have a set installed or just buy them and install myself but after spending the money on the Rush ones I am having a hard time justifying it.

I talked with Reno and Believe this is what he sells.https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Megaphon...vidson&hash=item4b19bb81ed:g:IZsAAOSwWE9ZjA~c
 

I was at his shop with my buddy today because he was having a set of the DNA Megaphone slip-on pipes installed. Not sure how our other buddy got his original information twisted around about the pipes, but it was wrong.

Reno had a set of black ones so I had him install them on my 19. As much as I hated to take my Rush pipes off these DNA pipes sound a ton deeper and better. Rode back to the Ft Myers area with the new pipes and finally my M8 actually sounds "almost" like a Harley.

Reno has a nice shop and from talking to him it is obvious he is an expert in all things "Harley".
 
I was at his shop with my buddy today because he was having a set of the DNA Megaphone slip-on pipes installed. Not sure how our other buddy got his original information twisted around about the pipes, but it was wrong.

Reno had a set of black ones so I had him install them on my 19. As much as I hated to take my Rush pipes off these DNA pipes sound a ton deeper and better. Rode back to the Ft Myers area with the new pipes and finally my M8 actually sounds "almost" like a Harley.

Reno has a nice shop and from talking to him it is obvious he is an expert in all things "Harley".

Hey Joe could you feel any difference on the low end? I had a pair of DNA's on my trike last yr. or the yr. before & it fell on it's face. It sounded good & deep but I couldn't live with the power loss. This was on a twincam not an m8. I don't remember who's mufflers they were.
 
Hey Joe could you feel any difference on the low end? I had a pair of DNA's on my trike last yr. or the yr. before & it fell on it's face. It sounded good & deep but I couldn't live with the power loss. This was on a twincam not an m8. I don't remember who's mufflers they were.

Thomas, I couldn't tell any difference, but I wouldn't be making a good comparison probably anyway. I already had Rush slip-ons and a flow thru air breather (stock air box) so I felt I had lost some power anyway from when it was totally stock. I really think if I get a tuner installed I'll be about back to stock, maybe slightly stronger.

My buddy who also had them installed on the same visit to Reno's shop said he didn't notice hardly any difference on the ride home (80 miles). He was 2-up and mostly highway speeds. He is thrilled with them. He is on a 18 completely stock TG.
 

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