Well, the only thing I know left to do is rip the exhaust off and replace all the gaskets. I found a definite leak on the left side just as it comes out of the crossover, and all the clamps took a good turn. I'm fearing that the gaskets are toast from not being tight and that is where my problem is, at least with the poppin. After tightening, it seems to do better but I have not put it through the test yet so I'll not make any real claims now.

More update on the poppins. It DOES NOT pop as bad, but it will still cut off , even with the wife unit. "uh oh, that ain't good, what does that mean?" "It means its got character."

Okay, I'm still in a firm belief it is not the gizmo's that is causing the problem, efi, o2 sensors or anything else but a vacuum leak, intake leak, or an exhaust leak. Is there any wrench want to chime in and tell me any different? Now these kind of things can be different from one bike to another, yet similar and I believe with mine, something sucks or it blows, I haven't figured out which just yet.

What do I need to do, soak it with soap and see where the bubbles are? I hate being this close to a perfect running bike and can't pin point it, but I definetly think if I can find the leak I don't have second guess everytime I get caught up in traffic, or get left sitting at a light when there is a pack of harley's gawking.

Thanks for the input. Since I was cagin' today because a) my leathers is still soaked, and 2) because it is still raining, (boy, I feel like such a whimp) I was thinking on my exhaust. I'm going to get with Catlin's and order all new gasket and muffer bearings. Then, when I pull the tires in about another 2K, I'll pull the exhaust down naked.

I'm also going to check out the intake as well and any vacuum hoses. I think it is in that area and not in the controllers and sensors. But don't take my word for it as I am neither a motorcycle wrench or an up to date technician. I know from old school experience that if something was poppin' it was because it was either suckin' or blowin' somewhere it ain't suppose to be.

Ok, wimp. lol

I rode home to Chesapeake in the rain from Fredricksburg on. lol Amazing how that 220 mile trip home was like a trip to the store after doing the Redwing19 run.

dwhite28 - 2009-05-17 11:17 PM Ok, wimp. l;ol I rode home to Chesapeake in the ran from Fredricksburg on. lol Amazing how that 220 mile trip home was like a trip to the store after doing the Redwing18 run.

I'm doing a short write up on the ride and hope to post soon. But we hit the rain around Harrisonburg to just out of chantilly, about a hundred miles of beating rain. I know some you other guys got it longer then us that rolled in about 8:30pm, 15 hours, an average of 69 mph. No, I never hit a 100, or got that close. Anyway on the way home it rained hard all the way to Richmond. I stopped around Thornburg and called the wife to see if was raining at home. At the time it was no so I decided to press on. But I was actually wanting to stop and take a hot shower as I was getting chilled. But I finally realized that I had a dry T and a shirt and put those on, then I was ready for another 1,000, but just did the remaining miles home.

By the way, go to Youtube.com and search on Redwing19 and find the little video I did for the day. I think it captures the essence of the whole ride. I had planned to lone wolf the entire time, but this guy just kept popping up. We were lined up side by side at the start. Then when we left I didn't see him until as we got onto I-95 south he was riding behind the Military Vet MC and I fell in with them. The MC hit an exit before Fredericksburg and that left me and him. When we got to Newport he stopped first for gas, and I stopped in Hampton before the bridge, I was riding alone, remember. Well, I hit the road again and I've got a few riders behind me now through the lower 64 and on to 58 West including the professional IBAer's, and him. So we hit the first light on 58 and he's beside me. When the light turns green I keep the front and ride through to Emporia and somewhere we lose the Pro IBAer's and it is just me and him. We get to I-64 and I wave him past as I figure I'll stop and get gas with him. I start to get concerned as I'm needing to get gas at the time he finally stop. So I told him that since I can't shake him, we can ride together since I found out he can do 200+ on a tank and he's wanting to make time. He is also the Navy seal that drew the rider number 146, the tail number of the ill-fated CH-47. This made the trip all the more special and he was not letting moss grow anywhere. Our stops were 10 flat or under and we kept a steady pace all the way. When we got back there was about 8 of the Pro IBAers, him, another harley rider and myself. By the time I left maybe 15 more came in, I was glad to hear that 409 finished.

Oh, and to keep from hi-jackin' my own thread, it never shut off, but it did pop a time or two.

L E A K

It's killing me until I get to it, but I'm going over every inch of my intake and exaust system to ensure, double ensure there are no leaks anywhere. As technology goes I cannot imagine, though many will disagree and please do, we are after the PERMANENT solution, that we are experience bad stuff across a broad spectrum and we cannot make a good product to fix it. I say "we" meaning them who make this stuff for a living. I believe even when we "fix" the problem with a new product it is compensating for the real issue.

Merely tightening the joints will not simply fix the problem as it could be a slight leak that is not detectable, but the conditions within the sphere of influence is still affected. I rattle on about this in hopes that someone will beat me to the punch and find the real issue and fix once and for all across the board. I would like to start a list of "I did this and it fixed it." as there is NO exact combo that I have read, and I wonder how many there is that we haven't read. I do believe this, the majority of the bikes DO NOT HAVE this problem, but the ones that do on a consistant basis is suffering for something leaking, intake or exhaust. I can believe that the HUGE airbox might have problem somewhere as well.

Thanks for letting me ramble about this time and time again, but I believe for MY BIKE this is the issue and I will believe so until I eliminate that there is any leaks. I can say that mine suffered with pop and backfire and stalling and I had all that RECALL crap done and IT STILL DID IT, just not as bad. The VAST improvement came from tightening a few nuts. I did some tightening of the exhaust recently and just as of Saturday, I took a few short rides and on one of those rides it did something it never did before, never acted up one time. Throttle response was on time and everything was perfect. I thought great, it fixed itself, and then on the next ride, pop, pop, almost stall, stall. I rode to work this morning it was back to the normal way of acting.

The biggest problems have been fixed by the simpleist of solutions.