• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

Dynojet Power Commander III Using Too Much Fuel

Forums New posts
T

txox4

0
Joined
Mar 8, 2016
Messages
122
Reaction score
3
Location
Spring
First Name
Frank
Last Name
Ledwell
I recently purchased my first Harley, an 06 FLSTN with 6954 miles on the odometer, from a local H-D dealer and the bike apparenty had a Dynojet PC III previously installed. I've been riding the bike for several weeks now and am finding my bike to be using way too much fuel. The fuel light comes on with about 85 miles since the fuel tank was filled. I've tried "resetting" the PC III by holding all three buttons down, turning to the Ignition, then flipping the Run button without starting the bike based on a video I managed to find on YouTube. This doesn't seem to do anything and I can't seem to figure out how to manually adjust the fuel setting downward.

I've tried searching online and again am having very little luck. I've also tried reaching out to Dynojet but to no avail. If you can help or know of a shop in the Houston area that does tuning and is familiar with Dynojet and mapping a Softail Deluxe, please post up as I know I should be getting about 50mpg and right now I'm getting maybe half that amount. Thanks!
 
Have you clocked your gas mileage, to see what it's actually turning in? That'll give you a baseline. Just looking at Fuelly.com, it appears that people with FLSTNs are averaging around 35 mpg or less.
 
tshelfer said:
Have you clocked your gas mileage, to see what it's actually turning in? That'll give you a baseline. Just looking at Fuelly.com, it appears that people with FLSTNs are averaging around 35 mpg or less.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this as I hadn't heard of Fuelly. I have been calculating my mileage based on miles and fuel-up gallons. My current mpg is around 25 which is low, even compared to what's on Fuelly.
 
I had a WR250R that had a power commander installed by the PO. Mileage was in the 30's. Disconnected it and couldn't notice much difference in running but mileage jumped back up into the high 50's and greater.
 
There should be a zero map for your PCIII that basically makes it so the power commander isn't doing anything. You should be able to plug into a computer and run that and see if it's better.

I used the zero map on my TLR as a part of troubleshooting and forgot to reload my other map. Took it for a ride a week later and spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out why the beast felt muzzled. Ran home and loaded my old map right back on and the beast was unleashed again.

Most times it won't help your fuel usage much having the PCIII on there, but it does usually make a bit of difference even on a stock bike as there's usually a bit of the curve tuned for emissions and sound tests that you can smooth out. If your bike is opened up a bit then it'll help to take advantage of those mods as well, usually to the detriment of your mpg.

Of course, having it tuned right will make you smile more which will make you twist harder which will definitely affect your mpg. Around town on my TLR every light was a drag race and my around town mileage was trash. Cruising on the highway was much better. No idea how it all affects your specific bike though, but this could be the case.
 
I've got a 2002 Vstrom that is getting crap mileage and it also has the miracle PC 3. Next weekend I have a ride to go on that will preclude me taking the DR650 but mission one when I get home from that ride is to yank off the PC 3 and toss it in the spares bin. The bike's had nothing done to it and I'm pretty sure that it's the reason I am getting the garbage mpg's. The only thing you should check on your bike before yanking it is if there have been any air cleaner mods or exhaust mods.
 
txox4 said:
Thanks for this as I hadn't heard of Fuelly. I have been calculating my mileage based on miles and fuel-up gallons. My current mpg is around 25 which is low, even compared to what's on Fuelly.
Click to expand...

It's a very handy website. People who go to that much trouble to record their mileage (I'm one of them) aren't prone to making up numbers. Yeah, 25 is seriously low - about 60% of what you should be getting.
 
rpcraft said:
I've got a 2002 Vstrom that is getting crap mileage and it also has the miracle PC 3. Next weekend I have a ride to go on that will preclude me taking the DR650 but mission one when I get home from that ride is to yank off the PC 3 and toss it in the spares bin. The bike's had nothing done to it and I'm pretty sure that it's the reason I am getting the garbage mpg's. The only thing you should check on your bike before yanking it is if there have been any air cleaner mods or exhaust mods.
Click to expand...

It's only junk if you are running a junk map. First thing you should be looking at is which map it's running. It's entirely possible that the PO was running something not suited to the bike. Check the PC website and find a map that matches your bike and it's mods to get close. Or get a custom ($$$) map made for your bike.
 
gixxerjasen said:
It's only junk if you are running a junk map. First thing you should be looking at is which map it's running. It's entirely possible that the PO was running something not suited to the bike. Check the PC website and find a map that matches your bike and it's mods to get close. Or get a custom ($$$) map made for your bike.
Click to expand...

In this case the PO put it on because he was trying to fix the supposed 3k to 4k stumble/rumble, could not do it with the power commander, and upon later inspection the vstrom was suffering from a case of unseated throttle body boots, which sometimes occurs on the DL1000. At that point they replaced the boots and the PC was never taken off, and I bought it. He told me before the TB issues started he was regularly getting mid 30 to low 40 mpg and had not fiddled much with it since adding it all so I had not really ridden it a lot in comparison to another DL1000 to tell how good or bad it was comparatively. The other weekend down at the Stromathon I was riding with another DL1000 at which point I was consistently using way more than the fellow DL1000 that was riding the same roads at the same speeds. That being said I am going to strip off the PC first, double check the boots, because it does seem to still have a really rough acceleration under 3200 RPM, and then also check the TB sync. At that point I'll ride it for the weekend to better determine MPG's without the PC and everything working the way it should be before I do anything further. I'll probably also hook it up to a laptop and see about what map is loaded and how it compares to some of the forums on Stromtroopers and what not.
 
Yea, applying the incorrect fix certainly can create issues. Take a look at the Power Commander website. There should be a zero map available you can load. That's effectively the same as removing the Power Commander. The PC has a map that has adjustments it applies at certain rpm/throttle positions. The zero map has zero for all values, meaning no adjustments are applied at any rpm/throttle position. I don't know how easy it is to get to the cable connections on your bike, but loading a zero map as a first option could be easier. Once that's done, then you can load up a more correct map and see how things go from there.

That said, there have been issues with PCIII's in the past. As the VStrom 1000 is similar to the TLR I had, mine had an issue that needed fixing. I found out why the PCIII was so cheap to buy because it was defective and the previous owner was unloading it to get any $$$ he could quick and I got stuck with it. Thankfully it was a known issue and I sent it in for a free fix. PO could have done that but his loss ended up being my gain. There is a possibility yours could have an issue but, mine for the TLR is the only one I've been familiar with that's had an issue.

Another plus for the zero map option is it gives you the ability to do back to back rides and evaluate with the butt dyno the impact a map has. It takes very little time to actually change out the maps. Ride, pull in, hook up the cable. load new map, disconnect cable, ride. It can be kind of fun actually.
 
That is a good suggestion. It does lend to only having to pull the tank once to check and sync the TB setup. I have a tiny windows 10 laptop/tablet I can toss in the top box with the USB cable and do just what you suggested!!!
 
That's even better, you don't have to keep coming home to the garage!

My PCIII is under my seat so it's super easy to get to. But to disconnect the cables requires some work to get to the connectors. Seat, plastics, tank, t-bar, heat shield, etc etc. Again, it all depends on your individual setup of course.
 
I had a PCIII on my Z1000. I played with quite a few maps. Some helped some not so much. My main issue was lean off idle, a map for otherwise stock engine worked well. Then as I added bits it was easy to find maps to tweak it.

If your mileage is that far off I'd be plugging into it in a heart beat and trying different maps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top