| Author | Message | ||
     Pso |
Thanks-When I replaced the fan two weeks ago I was able to just rotate the ecm out of the way, didn't need to remove it. | ||
| Nobuell |
Until this weekend, I really had no big complaints about the heat. Sure it did get hot, but no big deal. Friday the wife and I left Indiana for a long weekend in Door County Wis. We were in stop and go (mostly stop) traffic for nearly 3 hours going through Chicago and nearly to the Wis boarder. It was 90 deg F outside plus the heat off of the expanse of concrete. Everything on the bike was hot, especially the right side rail, seat and air blowing out of the side vents. I could tolerate it, but my wife was extremely uncomfortable. Fortunately, I ordered the comfort kit this past Wednesday evening. Originally, I ordered it because of the better engine temperature management it offers, but now it truly developed into a comfort issue. I just received a call from Calumet HD & Buell, the kit is in! Only two working days later. You just cannot beat that kind of service. I am looking forward to the install later this week after my business trip. | ||
| Pnw_uly |
Real pleased with the kit. Ordered the kit during the PNW heat wave a few weeks ago, picked it up Friday at Destination H-D in Tacoma. Since the temps have cooled here, decided to install only the RRS and header cover; will wait until next Spring for the fan shroud (already running Odie's "Maximum" blanket). Took the bike out for about 120 miles on Saturday - including some "stop & go" traffic and noted much less fan run and significantly cooler temps on the right side of frame. After dismounting noted the right side frame temps seemed identical to the left side of the frame, so mission accomplished. Will wait on the ECM flash (perhaps after I install the fan shroud, or) after feedback from others, but overall, completely satisfied with this upgrade. Paul (Message edited by pnw_uly on August 17, 2009) | ||
| Jphish |
+1 0n just joining the ECM front bolt/nut together, BEFORE reinstalling pan. Pan goes back in with ECM attached just fine. Just leave the bolt/nut a tad loose, so you can swing the ECM out of the way as you replace all the underseat 'guts'. | ||
| Svh |
Nobuell next time head up into Michigan and take one of the 2 ferries across to WI. Nice break from riding plus NO Chicago parking lot. | ||
| Nobuell |
Svh Good suggestion. Next trip we will try it. We were a little pressed for time this trip. We only had Saturday to sight see. We spent most of the time going to Lighthouses and parks in between. We had to leave early Sunday to get back to Downers Grove for the national criterium championship. My son's racing team was in town for the race. After the race, a huge line of thunderstorms hit. It was the hardest rain I ever had to ride in. I am glad that I installed new magnecor plug wires because I had trouble with the old wires shorting in wet weather. The bike ran perfectly. | ||
| Svh |
Those were some good storms! It isn't super cheap but it is worth the expense to me because of the reduction in stress from that giant parking lot. http://www.lake-express.com/ Fast one that is more $$$ but less time. http://www.ssbadger.com/home.aspx Slower but less $$$. Depends on where you want to come/go from also. Back to the comfort kit thread.... | ||
| Kimberley |
Did I read somewhere in this thread that the Buell dealers are doing a free install w/the comfort kit??? | ||
| Idaho_buelly |
Nobuell, was your bike just missing @ a certain rpm,or just not running at all?..Thanks,Tim | ||
| Hughlysses |
Kimberly- for 08's and 09's, there is a free ECM update. You'll probably have to pay for the time for them to hook up your bike, but the flash itself should be free. | ||
| Nobuell |
Idaho One cylinder would cut in and out when the bike was wet. I found this out when riding in a short rain. I experimented in my driveway with a garden hose. I found that I could repeat the problem when I sprayed into the left air intake. It would stop if I blew air into the intake with my shop vac. I suspected it was a plug wire. I purchased new plugs and magnacor wires and installed. I found that one of the plug boots had a distorted hole that would not seal completely around the plug. The new wires solved the problem. | ||
| Nobuell |
Svh Thanks for the info. We will look into it for a trip in the early fall. Tim | ||
| Alchemy |
My fan has not come on during riding since installing the kit. I was curious if the fan/temp probe was operating. In the high 80s I would have to keep the rpm under 2500 to keep the fan off before installing the kit. Yesterday I purposely ran the rpm higher to see when the fan would come on. I ran at 3k and no fan. I ran at 3.5k and no fan. I down shifted again and ran at 4k+ dong about 40 mph and ran for several miles until finally at the top of a hill the fan came on. This test lasted about 40 minutes in traffic at moderate speeds (temp maybe 88-89). I would expect in my normal usage that the fan would rarely if ever come on. I can't believe the difference. When this 06 Uly was new the fan would come on at about 12 minutes of moderate riding. For the next 20k miles the fan operation has been running less and less such that it only came on at about 35 minutes of moderate riding. Now it does not come on. The only thing I have not tried yet is a sustained higher speed ride. Pretty amazing. I wonder if the RSS increases the pressure on the fan blades such that they would windmill on their own over a certain speed. Not easy to tell. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Alchemy- that pretty much matches what I'm seeing on my 07. I did find so far that if I get stuck in traffic long enough for the fan to come on, it will not cut back off even at speed, at least not with the current outside temps in the high 80's F. That may change when the outside temperature drops a little. I don't notice any difference in the fan run time once I shut the bike down, but the shroud does reduce the sound level significantly. One thing I did notice while riding over the weekend- the increased air pressure in the frame from the RSS actually caused an increase in the hot air blowing out between the frame and the seat. I think some of the seats may fit more tightly here preventing this effect; my own seat has a much smaller gap on the left side than on the right so the problem was worse on the right side. Remembering a fix posted on here prior to the introduction of the kit, I picked up some automotive weatherstripping at a local parts store and added a ~4" long piece to the top of the frame rail on each side under the seat. The seat seals against the weatherstripping, which completely stopped the hot air flow at the seat/frame gap. This was an easy fix. The frame still gets very warm, but even commuting in traffic yesterday afternoon (mid 90's F) I could grip the frame with my thighs without roasting myself. IMHO the heat problem is gone. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
As soon as mine comes in at the dealer I will install on my 06' and report how it affects the oil temp. Mine should be here by Thursday this week. The only time mine ever seemed hot was when the gas was low in the frame tank. | ||
| Etennuly |
Are those of you with the "Flashing Light/Run/Skip", with temperatures above 90F, seeing any improvement? As of my latest testing, after repairing the wires, I am looking to this "Comfort kit" for a little more engine cooling. | ||
| Florida_lime |
Etennuly, After finding one of my dealer installed OEM plug wires not fully seated (replaced with more Magnecor wires like I originally had  ), and replacing the ETS and exhaust actuator, plus installing the kit, I have not had any issues with the skip spark BS. However, I have been working 12 hour days since all the work was done, and have not had the chance to run it much longer than the 1/2 ride to work. Definitely feels cooler, so it might take even longer to turn up the problem. I'll keep you posted once I can really test it out. | ||
| Etennuly |
excellent!  | ||
| Marks3tbillet |
Anyone know how big the box is that the kit comes in? Mine should come in tomorrow and I need to know if I can ride the Uly to work or not. I have a Givi E47 topcase and am wondering if I can get it in there or bungee it to the passenger seat. Thanks for any help, Mark | ||
| Hughlysses |
It's a pretty big box Mark. IIRC, it was about ~24 inches x ~18 inches x ~6 inches. It's not heavy at all, so you could bungee it to the passenger seat. | ||
| Marks3tbillet |
Thanks Hughlysses. Mark | ||
| Squidbuzz |
I had to take everything out of the box and put the individual parts in the bags so that I could carry it home. The box was too big to fit in my bags. I have an '09 XT. | ||
| Werewulf |
my 08 scg never activated the fan until the bike was shut off... bike ran like poop, i might add.. it never got hot though.. 08 uly, fan comes on as soon as it hits normal operating temperature... usually runs at low fan speed until im in traffic... | ||
| Trevd |
Have any of you that installed the comfort kit have any issues with the bolts that hold the battery pan in? I had a hell of a time getting one of the bolts to line up with the hole - and in the end I think I must have messed up the threads because the bolt was only going in at an angle... the bolt is nice and tight though, so probably nothing to worry about until the next time I need to take the battery pan out. I installed the front ECM bolt before putting the pan back in, and just used a pair of pliers to hold the nut in place. One thing that struck me though - does anyone know why the kit provides a new front bolt for the ECM - it looked the same as the old one to me.... Anyway, other than that, everything went smoothly - I'm going to install the RSS tomorrow. (Message edited by trevd on August 19, 2009) | ||
| Nobuell |
Just installed my comfort kit. It was not to bad of an installation. I did have a lot of bolt to hole alignment issues once things were apart. The worst were the bag brackets. I had to totally remove them to get things to align. The battery tray took awhile to get aligned as it sprung out of shape. The bottom line is to just take your time and only install screws with your fingers to make sure threads are properly aligned. It was to late to ride, plus it is raining out. Hopefully I can ride it tomorrow and see how it works. I will get the reflash after I ride it for a while and learn how the fan operation has changed | ||
| Prowler |
I installed my comfort kit on Monday and my fan hasn't run since......cool....seriously... | ||
| Hughlysses |
One thing that struck me though - does anyone know why the kit provides a new front bolt for the ECM - it looked the same as the old one to me.... Trevd- as near as I can tell, the only reason for the new bolt is it has pre-applied Locktite. The nylon inserted lock nut that's used under the seat pan is supposed to be a one-use item; I guess the new bolt is Buell's way of ensuring the bolt's secure. I just re-used the old bolt with some blue Locktite applied so it would screw in easier. | ||
| Jphish |
Trevd / Hughlysses - Someone postulated the 'one size fits all' theory on ECM bolt. On the 06 & 07 model years, the stock bolt is shorter than the replacement - for the 08 & 09, the stock bolt is same length as replacement bolt. (at least it was on mine) They had to cover all years with the least amount of parts ? Either way - I just locktited the old bolt - now I have a spare. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The bolt was the same size as my '06...but I added the later year standoff blocks (that come with longer bolts) to my ECM a while back. Riding yesterday, in traffic, 2 up, with all three bags...is the first time my fan's come on since installing the kit. Of course, even when I did get on the highway and could do 80, the thermometer on my dash - in the wind turbulence and the shade - was *still* reading 100. It was hot. It was also the first time I'd managed to make my bike ping. HOT. Aside from riding in a blast furnace, though, I was not uncomfortable. Seat, frame, leg...stayed as comfortable as ATGATT would allow. I am thinking of adding a white or hi-vis mesh jacket to the closet next to my black Buell mesh, though. That black gets HOT sitting at a light with no airflow. | ||
| Charlie_zulu |
I've been going through this thread and I'm puzzled. My fan comes on riding hiyway speeds in about 10-12 minutes and stays on for the duration of the ride. I have the aftermarket RSS. This new RSS system makes that big a difference? Does the kit come with the reflash or is that a seperate charge? |
