[taw8987]

I have been reading several post, and talking to HD Dealer ...Still confused !!
I have a 2011 RG when purchased new had 103 kit , cams , tuner , and breather installed. It has always had issues when starting hot, Kicking back against starter. I have extended warranty and just took it in to HD and they told me they could set the compression reliefs ?? Do I have them ?? I still have the stock 96 heads.

What do I need to do to correct the problem ?

Thanks !!

 

[smitty901]

The 2011 RGU came with ACR from the factory it also had a 103 from the factory the first non CVO to do so. The rest got it in 2012. Now if someone messed with them they may not be working.
There is good reason they mad them factory you need them.

 

[ironmark]

The RGU had the 103 engine and the RG had the 96 engine in 2011.
The problem is the compensator sprocket and it needs to be upgraded, you do not need a new starter and you don't need compression releases.
My 08 has the 103 big bore kit just like your bike has and I use the stock heads and I don't have any compression releases and the bike starts just fine.
Just replace the compensator and you will be fine.

 

[RGKen]

The RGU had the 103 engine and the RG had the 96 engine in 2011.
The problem is the compensator sprocket and it needs to be upgraded, you do not need a new starter and you don't need compression releases.
My 08 has the 103 big bore kit just like your bike has and I use the stock heads and I don't have any compression releases and the bike starts just fine.
Just replace the compensator and you will be fine.

From what the OP described this^^^^ is what I would say the problem is too.

 

[FrankieB]

I have been reading several post, and talking to HD Dealer ...Still confused !!
I have a 2011 RG when purchased new had 103 kit , cams , tuner , and breather installed. It has always had issues when starting hot, Kicking back against starter. I have extended warranty and just took it in to HD and they told me they could set the compression reliefs ?? Do I have them ?? I still have the stock 96 heads.

What do I need to do to correct the problem ?

Thanks !!

It could be the compensator but it also could need the CR. It really depends on compression, CCP, and if the bike was actually tuned or a map flashed.

 

[smitty901]

compensator,compensator that seems to be a buzz word.
I put over 75,000 miles on an 07 not one issue current owner has over 80K on it now, about 40K on 2011 103 rgu Not one issue until I totaled it. Almost 50K on the 2013 103 until traded, current owner very happy with it.
These engines need ACR on them. There is good reason HD made the standard on the 103's.
When you have engine work done it changes the game ,When that TC86 was built to the 103 if the CR were not right it is hard on every thing from the battery on down. The higher draw by starter wears battery down weak battery adds to the problems. Often with 103 kits you see the ACR not done to save cost. A short cut that comes back to haunt you latter.
I know and ride with a lot of Harley owners riders that do put on some miles , Not 1 of them has ever had a compensator fail not 1.
Can it happen sure .

 

[RGKen]

compensator,compensator that seems to be a buzz word.
I put over 75,000 miles on an 07 not one issue current owner has over 80K on it now, about 40K on 2011 103 rgu Not one issue until I totaled it. Almost 50K on the 2013 103 until traded, current owner very happy with it.
These engines need ACR on them. There is good reason HD made the standard on the 103's.
When you have engine work done it changes the game ,When that TC86 was built to the 103 if the CR were not right it is hard on every thing from the battery on down. The higher draw by starter wears battery down weak battery adds to the problems. Often with 103 kits you see the ACR not done to save cost. A short cut that comes back to haunt you latter.
I know and ride with a lot of Harley owners riders that do put on some miles , Not 1 of them has ever had a compensator fail not 1.
Can it happen sure .

Just because you haven't experienced the problem doesn't mean it's not a real common problem. I read about the 110" lifter issue all over the place and I personally never had an issue with them in over 50k mi. Also have 3 close friends with CVO's, that ride a ton of miles, and only 1 of them had the problem (it was at 40k mi.) so I know it could happen but in my real life experience it didn't seem as common as what I was reading.

The comp issue is real common (I've had my dealer tell me as much) but keep in mind that that when you read issues like this on a forum you will always get way more people talking about the problem (especially if it has to do with MOCO) and not very much on the successes so it seems as though every bike will have that issue and in reality it's not as high of a percentage when you consider how many bikes are out there.

Could compression be causing his issue? Sure, but on his setup it is way more likely to be a compensator issue than it would be a compression issue.

 

[Smarty]

I have been reading several post, and talking to HD Dealer ...Still confused !!
I have a 2011 RG when purchased new had 103 kit , cams , tuner , and breather installed. It has always had issues when starting hot, Kicking back against starter. I have extended warranty and just took it in to HD and they told me they could set the compression reliefs ?? Do I have them ?? I still have the stock 96 heads.

What do I need to do to correct the problem ?

Thanks !!

According to what compression your motor is set at, cams they put in, and tune that is in the bike. All can cause what you are experiencing.If it has compression releases and they are working, they may need to be set to kick off later in the cranking sequence. With CR, you should not be having kickback at all. But understand, the tune at crank up could be part of the problem along with the CR.

 

[FrankieB]

I would have the CCP checked first before i spent the money on converting the comp. to the SE comp.

 

[RGKen]

I would have the CCP checked first before i spent the money on converting the comp. to the SE comp.

Not a bad idea but if it is the comp his ESP should cover it and he shouldn't be out of pocket.

 

[ironmark]

On my 08 I had the 103 BB put in and with 6000 miles on it the bike had a hard time starting especially when it was hot, it had starter grind, starter stall, and starter clunk. The HD dealer replace my starter and by the time the bike had 12,000 miles the starting problems came back and the HD dealer replaced the starter again and they wanted to have me pay for compression release to be put in the bike.
I did some research and I found that the compensators have been having issues on the new twin cam engines so I bought a SE compensator and had the HD dealer install it. The service manager wanted to know why I was putting in the SE compensator and I told him it was the cause of the starting problems I been having with my bike and he look at me with a dumbfounded look.
The bottom line is I had to pay for the SE compensator and the install and I never put compression releases in the heads and the same starter been in the bike for the last 85,000 miles and the bike still starts just fine.
The only reason HD put compression releases in the bikes is because it was costing them a fortune replacing starters that were actually good and then they found the real problem and they had to replace the compensators which were junk.
By the way if the compensators on the twin cams were good right from the start then why is HD on the 3rd version of it's compensators ??