Mark Hammond
Committee
The Rev Max engined bikes rely on a lot of electronics and electrical dependant systems to function correctly and with a bike that is so dependent on its electrical systems, any weaknesses in the bike’s systems will quickly manifest itself in the way the bike functions or in the form of fault codes stored within the bike’s electronics control systems.
2021 and some 2022 model year bikes have been known to display some electrical problems that some dealers were struggling to diagnose and correct. The attached Technical Service Bulletin was released to dealers in December 2021 and details some areas that dealers were asked to check on all Pan America and Nightster 975 bikes that came into their workshops. Whether this work has been completed on any prospective purchase, or bike that is already owned, will be down to the diligence of the servicing dealerships workshop. For any prospective purchase from a HD dealership, the selling dealer should be asked to confirm that all of the bikes electrical systems have been checked as detailed in Technical Service Bulletin M1573 (you might have to ask some further questions to determine whether the dealership in question was previously aware of this Technical Service Bulletin. It will probably be difficult to confirm whether the detailed checks have been completed without physically checking the bike yourself, so you will probably have to accept whatever answer you are given, or try to get sight of the bikes detailed service records.
Battery Health/Condition: Of particular importance on any prospective purchase or currently owned Rev Max engined bike is the health of the battery. These bikes rely very heavily on a battery that is only just powerful enough in peak condition to run the bikes electrical systems. Any deterioration in battery performance will result in the bike regularly taking more than one push of the starter button to start and the bike will emit a whine from the starter as the starter clutch eases the bike over the top of the compression stroke.
This starter whine condition is particularly prevalent on 2021 model year bikes and a modified starter clutch is available for retro fitting into bikes that suffer from starter whine. This modified starter gear and clutch is discussed in detail in this post: https://www.hdrcgb.org/threads/tech...ard-start-or-starter-whine-condition.1192426/
On 2022/23 model year bikes, and earlier bikes equipped with the modified starter gear and clutch, if the bike is fitted with a healthy battery, this starter whine will still occasionally happen and is to some extent a normal condition of the way the starter clutch works. For bikes with a battery that is starting to fail, the starter whine condition will manifest itself very regularly, especially if the bike’s battery has a standing voltage of 12 volts or less. For any prospective purchase of a used bike from a HD dealership, ask to see the results of the battery test that the dealership is obliged to complete on all approved used Harley’s, if the test results don’t show battery performance at least at a level as detailed in the attached bulletin, negotiate a new battery to be fitted to the bike.
Some dealerships will insist that a Pan America will function perfectly well with a battery that shows 11.7 to 11.9 volts on the bikes dash display. Yes the bike will start, but it require at least two pushes of the starter button on about 70% to 80% of all starts. A bike with a healthy battery that holds more than 12 volts will be more likely to have the battery power to allow the starter to spin the bike over on the first push of the button and not be prone to needing to use a first push of the starter button to ease the engine past peak compression to enable it to start with a second push of the button.
When not in use, the Rev Max bikes should be kept on a good quality battery charger/maintainer. As with many Harley’s, the security system on these bikes is a drain on the battery and if left off of a charger for more than a few days will drain the battery down to the point where starting problems will manifest themselves.
Fortunately the majority of the checks detailed in the attached bulletin are checks that can be completed by an owner and are for the most part visual checks and checks on the tightness of connections and bolts securing things like earth leads and power leads.
It’s likely that the attached information will only be relevant to 2021 and 2022 model year bikes and hopefully, any dealer maintained bike will have received the works detailed in the attached document.
If asking a dealership to complete the work detailed in the attached document, its worth noting that you shouldn’t be asked to pay for the work to be completed, and the information that the dealer needs to be able to charge HD for the work is contained on the last page of the attached document (you may have to take a copy of the document with you because not all dealerships are particularly good at paying attention to Technical Service bulletins
)
As usual, this info is being posted for prospective and existing owners of the Pan America and Nightster 975 bikes, so that they don’t have to search the internet looking for causes of problems on existing bikes, or to simply go into any prospective purchase armed with the information to be able to talk to a dealer in an informed manner and hopefully ensure that any prospective purchase is properly prepared prior to taking ownership of the bike.
No need to comment on this post if you simply don’t like the Rev Max bikes, lets keep this a positive and informative post for owners and prospective owners of these bikes
2021 and some 2022 model year bikes have been known to display some electrical problems that some dealers were struggling to diagnose and correct. The attached Technical Service Bulletin was released to dealers in December 2021 and details some areas that dealers were asked to check on all Pan America and Nightster 975 bikes that came into their workshops. Whether this work has been completed on any prospective purchase, or bike that is already owned, will be down to the diligence of the servicing dealerships workshop. For any prospective purchase from a HD dealership, the selling dealer should be asked to confirm that all of the bikes electrical systems have been checked as detailed in Technical Service Bulletin M1573 (you might have to ask some further questions to determine whether the dealership in question was previously aware of this Technical Service Bulletin. It will probably be difficult to confirm whether the detailed checks have been completed without physically checking the bike yourself, so you will probably have to accept whatever answer you are given, or try to get sight of the bikes detailed service records.
Battery Health/Condition: Of particular importance on any prospective purchase or currently owned Rev Max engined bike is the health of the battery. These bikes rely very heavily on a battery that is only just powerful enough in peak condition to run the bikes electrical systems. Any deterioration in battery performance will result in the bike regularly taking more than one push of the starter button to start and the bike will emit a whine from the starter as the starter clutch eases the bike over the top of the compression stroke.
This starter whine condition is particularly prevalent on 2021 model year bikes and a modified starter clutch is available for retro fitting into bikes that suffer from starter whine. This modified starter gear and clutch is discussed in detail in this post: https://www.hdrcgb.org/threads/tech...ard-start-or-starter-whine-condition.1192426/
On 2022/23 model year bikes, and earlier bikes equipped with the modified starter gear and clutch, if the bike is fitted with a healthy battery, this starter whine will still occasionally happen and is to some extent a normal condition of the way the starter clutch works. For bikes with a battery that is starting to fail, the starter whine condition will manifest itself very regularly, especially if the bike’s battery has a standing voltage of 12 volts or less. For any prospective purchase of a used bike from a HD dealership, ask to see the results of the battery test that the dealership is obliged to complete on all approved used Harley’s, if the test results don’t show battery performance at least at a level as detailed in the attached bulletin, negotiate a new battery to be fitted to the bike.
Some dealerships will insist that a Pan America will function perfectly well with a battery that shows 11.7 to 11.9 volts on the bikes dash display. Yes the bike will start, but it require at least two pushes of the starter button on about 70% to 80% of all starts. A bike with a healthy battery that holds more than 12 volts will be more likely to have the battery power to allow the starter to spin the bike over on the first push of the button and not be prone to needing to use a first push of the starter button to ease the engine past peak compression to enable it to start with a second push of the button.
When not in use, the Rev Max bikes should be kept on a good quality battery charger/maintainer. As with many Harley’s, the security system on these bikes is a drain on the battery and if left off of a charger for more than a few days will drain the battery down to the point where starting problems will manifest themselves.
Fortunately the majority of the checks detailed in the attached bulletin are checks that can be completed by an owner and are for the most part visual checks and checks on the tightness of connections and bolts securing things like earth leads and power leads.
It’s likely that the attached information will only be relevant to 2021 and 2022 model year bikes and hopefully, any dealer maintained bike will have received the works detailed in the attached document.
If asking a dealership to complete the work detailed in the attached document, its worth noting that you shouldn’t be asked to pay for the work to be completed, and the information that the dealer needs to be able to charge HD for the work is contained on the last page of the attached document (you may have to take a copy of the document with you because not all dealerships are particularly good at paying attention to Technical Service bulletins
)As usual, this info is being posted for prospective and existing owners of the Pan America and Nightster 975 bikes, so that they don’t have to search the internet looking for causes of problems on existing bikes, or to simply go into any prospective purchase armed with the information to be able to talk to a dealer in an informed manner and hopefully ensure that any prospective purchase is properly prepared prior to taking ownership of the bike.
No need to comment on this post if you simply don’t like the Rev Max bikes, lets keep this a positive and informative post for owners and prospective owners of these bikes
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