Backfire

A little concerned .... I installed V&H Ovals, AN Big Sucker and a Power Commander on my 05 Road King about 4 months ago. Bike runs great but I get backfiring when shifting up and when down shifting. Thoughts?

Mark

More than likely your bike is running a bit on the lean side. I have a 2004 Road King Classic and have basically the same set up as you have but I'm running with the 95ci set-up. I had the bike re-mapped and I still have some popping on de-excelleration. I'm don't think you can get rid of the popping all together. Ride Safe, David.

I run the ovals on my 2003 FLHT with a 95 kit, SE heads, and a 211 cam and get no backfiring at any speed or deceleration. It can be adjusted out, it just takes time to find the right combo.

You are running lean. The best cure for this is to have the bike dyno tuned by a quality tuner so your fuel and timing meet all of the requirements of your engine combination.

Sounds like.......?

Can someone explain the difference in sound of a lean backfire. On my 2003 FLHRCI that is stage 1, i get a "plop,plop" when coasting, but not a "BANG" ,which i thought was backfiring.
Hope my sound effects helped!

Lean pop is a muffled sound usually. Sounds literally like pop-pop-pop. A backfire traditionally is out the intake and is a loud bang and totally different in sound from a lean pop. Sometimes you can get backfiring in the exhaust due to excessively rich mixture or an air leak in the system. The rich mixture ignites the remaining air with a loud bang as it is an explosion. A leak allows fresh air to be drawn in which ignites the remaining combustibles.

Think of it this way. If it is a muted popping noise, and no one looks at you strangely, it's lean pop. If it is a loud banging noise and the cop next to you flinches, it probably is a backfire.

lean pops

Possibly antiriversion cones.