[vroddrew]

I don't buy that story on the dyno engines. Harley's manufacturing is far too sophisticated to allow that to happen.

Actually, there WAS a recall of a few (~100) bikes. As part of the final roll-out testing, each bike is put on a dyno and run in for a few miles to check that everything on the bike is working correctly. In the case of the recalled bikes, the control parameters on the test exceeded specification (i.e. the engine temps. got higher than the engineers recommended.) I don't know if there were any field failures as a result - but Harley did step up and correct the problem. It was limited to a few early '02 bikes. There is link to the story here.

Personally, I think that the professional way Harley handled this problem says a lot about the quality of their product.

 

[vroddrew]

Since they were honest enough to replace all the customers engines that MAY have had this minor problem, the issue should be closed.

We don't want you to violate your donor's trust. So maybe the rest of us can figure out what the issue was. We know the following:

1. The problem was caused during testing - i.e. break-in mileage
2. It was related to the engine seeing too much heat
3. It may cause some of the affected engines to be low on horsepower
4. It is a relatively easy fix.
5. Despite this, it was not possible to repair the engines in the field - i.e. they swapped engines.

Any guesses out there? Valves? Head? Gaskets? Pistons?