COMPUTER ON THE BIKES

[jimizee028]

Could someone tell me exactly what is the purpose of having all this computer stuff on our bikes? and is there a diagnostic machine to plug into it that would be able to tell us exactly what is wrong with the bike instead of majority of time somewhat guessing and throwing parts at the bikes?and if so why wouldnt the dealers carry this product to make their jobs easier????i see the plug comin off the computer under my seat is this only for the company (BDM) to see if we over revved the motor during warranty type issue things goin up on our bikes or what????it just seems there is sooooooo many electrical nightmares at one time or another listed on this site that it still remains somewhat a guessin game to all,and alot of these guys i read just aint able to get a qualified mechanic from a dealership to fix their bike under waranty and they are left to there own demise........
Everytime anything ever goes wrong the first to get blame is the EHC and most the time it is not and in my case 3 times it has been something as stupid as loose battery wire,bad solenoid connection andthe other was battery wires dirty............now of course i had my ignition module go on me and the usual culprits of the speedo issue.......but for real who would think these things present such a problem in most cases????

 

[TheDeadOne]

Jim,
You're asking a very Good Question that has been asked "verbatim" around here by so many others and so many times. I don't think that anyone here could count the number of times they've heard this very complaint!

And it's a very loaded statement as well, might I add.

But if you find out the answers to all you questions, if you don't mind, please share them with us so we'll have the answers as well too!

But keep in mind "bitch'en doesn't fix any of the problems we've all seen. But working together does"!

"You can draw more flies with Honey"!

:2thumbs:

 

[jimizee028]

please dont mistake my question for a bitch session or a venting or whatever..i have accepted in life that things are just the way things are...including my bike...just when it comes to electrical things they dont come easy to me and i get a bit confused easily and sometimes regret the fun i had with chemicals in the 70s,80s and 90s and wonder if they are to blame... so i really dont know the answer to the question i asked...........:bang: :bang: :bang:

 

[avdhunter]

Oh no.... Not the chemically enhanced brain cells!!!!:loony: :loony: I feel your pain Jim when it comes to some of the electrical gremlins these things have!!!

 

[Raywood]

Could someone tell me exactly what is the purpose of having all this computer stuff on our bikes? and is there a diagnostic machine to plug into it that would be able to tell us exactly what is wrong with the bike instead of majority of time somewhat guessing and throwing parts at the bikes?and if so why wouldnt the dealers carry this product to make their jobs easier????i see the plug comin off the computer under my seat is this only for the company (BDM) to see if we over revved the motor during warranty type issue things goin up on our bikes or what????it just seems there is sooooooo many electrical nightmares at one time or another listed on this site that it still remains somewhat a guessin game to all,and alot of these guys i read just aint able to get a qualified mechanic from a dealership to fix their bike under waranty and they are left to there own demise........
Everytime anything ever goes wrong the first to get blame is the EHC and most the time it is not and in my case 3 times it has been something as stupid as loose battery wire,bad solenoid connection andthe other was battery wires dirty............now of course i had my ignition module go on me and the usual culprits of the speedo issue.......but for real who would think these things present such a problem in most cases????

I get so tired of hearing that the EHC is the problem when 85% of EHC returned to the factory test good. Problem stems with incopetent mechanics. That's why I always state when you are visiting a dealer you should ask the manager how many Tech Summits the mechanics have attended.
Why they have to use this kind of system I can't answer for you but your dealer has the ability to plug into the EHC and check thing.
Rev hits and RPM records are stored within the ignition.

But I will also state that evey car on the road now a days has the same system. My Denali gets a check engine light and I have to pay the dealer $80 just to plug the diagnostic machine into it to clear it on top of any fixes.

I can understand why everyone wants to go to the Wire-Plus system and with the cost about the same as the EHC I guess it makes sense to change it out. But if you look hard you can find the software to plug into your EHC.

HD has done the same now with there ABS and fly by wire throttles and EFI. Getting a re-map is expensive! :loony:

 

[Nomad2day]

I wrote the below a long time ago to corporate seeing how the car industry crossed this bridge a long time ago.
Raywood, you can go to autozone and have them read your car codes for free.
I once offered to to write a script or in lieu asked BDM to place a script on their home page where owners of BDM motorcycles could hook up there bikes via the Internet and get a read out on what had triggered a code on their bike to tell them the severity of the problem before they made plans to get it to the shop. BDM could track ALL the info on their bikes they produce in real time and get a snap shot of problems on the horizon before they became recall conditions and at the same time educate the owners of the machine they have purchased. They have yet to produce a service manual worth a crap so how can you expect a shop who is affiliated with them to know what is going on with the bike without some kind of telephonic response after corporate looks at the data.
Yes, they could be on the cutting edge and lead the way for ALL manufacturers but after all the layoffs and such I wonder where they are going with being responsible for training service centers and maintaining the products they produce. The owner seems to be kept in the dark more than anyone on what is going on with their bike and the blame is shifted back and forth between corporate and the dealer making the repair depending on who you talk too

BDM Corporate,
How about a hand held scanner for the EFI bikes so "everyone" can read the codes. Please tell me why this would not be a good idea for the BDM Owner of a 30K bike to know what is triggering a alarm in his scoot. Is sitting in a shop for weeks the real answer to find out why?
Work with us brother and feel our pain......

Even I am eliminating the EHC due to the history of them and I feel I have no need for it in my future for my bike....For some reason I can't justify leaving it in my bike.
Neil

 

[ChopperJeff]

Completely agree 100% that there should be an easy, inexpensive way to see if the EHC is good or bad. That said though, I too have heard that a grand majority of the EHCs returned to Big Dog prove to be perfectly fine. I think most of the time a poor connection is the culprit. Of course, if there weren't so many damn connections to begin with, then there wouldn't be so many connection related issues.

My bike recently quit on me while cruising down the road at about 30 MPH. Totally dead, as if someone ripped out the battery. This type of thing has occurred on rare occasions in the past, but it's always been while idling, or just taking off from a standstill. After about 10 minutes of cooling down, the bike will come back to life and run fine, as is what happened this last time. EHC or ignition module perhaps? Who knows! All I know is that I'm not about to pay the dealer $110/hour to have them throw parts at it in hopes of fixing it.

One of those times when having a diagnostic tool to troubleshoot it would be a blessing.

Oh well. I guess being that Big Dog is more into building bikes than designing and building electronic diagnostic tools is part of it all. At least Big Dog steps up and gets things fixed pretty well when issues arise.

 

[Raywood]

Completely agree 100% that there should be an easy, inexpensive way to see if the EHC is good or bad. That said though, I too have heard that a grand majority of the EHCs returned to Big Dog prove to be perfectly fine. I think most of the time a poor connection is the culprit. Of course, if there weren't so many damn connections to begin with, then there wouldn't be so many connection related issues.

My bike recently quit on me while cruising down the road at about 30 MPH. Totally dead, as if someone ripped out the battery. This type of thing has occurred on rare occasions in the past, but it's always been while idling, or just taking off from a standstill. After about 10 minutes of cooling down, the bike will come back to life and run fine, as is what happened this last time. EHC or ignition module perhaps? Who knows! All I know is that I'm not about to pay the dealer $110/hour to have them throw parts at it in hopes of fixing it.

One of those times when having a diagnostic tool to troubleshoot it would be a blessing.

Oh well. I guess being that Big Dog is more into building bikes than designing and building electronic diagnostic tools is part of it all. At least Big Dog steps up and gets things fixed pretty well when issues arise.

Hey Jeff, you ain't catching me with mileage. I've been busy lately. You better get to riding!!!!! :roll: :lol:

 

[Vegas]

Easy....so they can void your warranty if you have to many rev hits....

 

[Exotic]

The module controls the ignition curve, monitors RPM and Rev hits, headlight and system problems. It was also the first step to EFI use on the bikes where you will want the "secret" software for trouble clearing, timing advance and pulse width modulation. Not to mention the amount of tuning you could perform with cam, throttle body, and exhaust mods. A dyno with a wideband O2 sensors and you will gets a lot of power with very good fuel economy.

I am sure it has a lot to do with EPA compliance as well. Makes me wonder how long we will see these V-Twins without cat's from factory.

If you can get the software to access the mod and make changes it would be well worth it for timing curves and to figure out WTF is going on with your bike.

I plan to go with the Thunderheart at some point, but until then :bang:

 

[RRRUFF]

I agree with Ray, the EHC gets the rap for alot of problems. The EHC is supposed to shutdown when it sees a problem in the electrical system. I think the EHCs got a bad rap in the early days of the 40 amp charging systems and the faulty voltage regulators in 05 and 06 when they were shorting out and smoking the EHC. Now with that said, the only problem I have with the BD EHC is they have a femine quality about them in they are just to sensitive. When/if mine fails I am going to the WirePlus system.

 

[Five Five]

I get so tired of hearing that the EHC is the problem when 85% of EHC returned to the factory test good. Problem stems with incopetent mechanics. That's why I always state when you are visiting a dealer you should ask the manager how many Tech Summits the mechanics have attended.
Why they have to use this kind of system I can't answer for you but your dealer has the ability to plug into the EHC and check thing.
Rev hits and RPM records are stored within the ignition.

But I will also state that evey car on the road now a days has the same system. My Denali gets a check engine light and I have to pay the dealer $80 just to plug the diagnostic machine into it to clear it on top of any fixes.

I can understand why everyone wants to go to the Wire-Plus system and with the cost about the same as the EHC I guess it makes sense to change it out. But if you look hard you can find the software to plug into your EHC.

HD has done the same now with there ABS and fly by wire throttles and EFI. Getting a re-map is expensive! :loony:

So Ray I think you got 90+K miles out of your EHC .... I'm running mine until it fails..... and then I will pull out my backup and run that one too... Hope to get as many miles as you have... I just want to see how long the BDM controller will last for me before I do an upgrade .... and i'm still on the fence in regards to a system

 

[QBNC]

Does anyone know of any place that has EHC for sale?

 

[QBNC]

Or does anyone have a link for the EHC or PDM(replacement) kits. I saw this on youtube but the links keep me running in a circle.

 

[Jwooky]

Tons of threads on this.

http://wildsteedworx.com/ has axle’s EHC and BDM RIP units.