[Bill M.]

Hey all-

Yesterday I headed 50 miles north to my Indian Dealer to have them fix an oil leak coming from the Oil Adapter assembly. (Under warranty)

As I pulled off the interstate and stopped, I realized that my gear indicator showed dashed lines, and then the bike shut down. I found neutral mechanically, however, it wouldn't start. I ended up mashing the ignition several times and it did finally start. I made it down the road to the dealer and parked it in neutral. They asked me to drive it into the service bay, so I made sure I was in neutral, but the bike wouldn't start. I ended up raising the kick stand, and was able to start the bike in first, holding onto the clutch.

Turns out even though I had the recall done, the ECM needed to be reflashed. After they did that, and fixed my oil leak, it has been running fine ever since, which was only 50 miles back home.

I did some searching but didn't see anything about this, so I wanted it to be a resource for anyone else in a similar situation.

 

[Dr.Shifty]

Thanks for the heads up.

It's the VCM they need to reflash, not the ECM. The ECM controls fueling and tuning. The VCM controls all the switch gear and lights etc on the bike.

There are other threads where people report that the dealer has wrongly flashed the ECM and they've lost their custom tune. Others report that the dealer has not flashed the VCM and the indicator reverses 1st and 6th gears until it's flashed properly.

It's troubling that yours had a failure after the sensor was replaced. The fact that you had to raise the kickstand means the bike thought it was in gear even when you'd parked it in neutral. Even without the reflash, the bike should have known it was in neutral with the new sensor.

 

[WillieD]

Had my recall completed last week - the dealer asked if I could bring it over at 11 and leave it so it could cool down for the tech. the service advisor ran me home and said they would me by 2 - right at 2 the call came and said it was done and he was on his way to get me. Rode the bike home without any issues - next day made a run down to Indiana to get a beer and a burger because Michigan is still shut down, it was 90 degrees HOT and so was the the Chieftain Darkhorse - not any hotter than any other day when it’s 90+ degrees 143 miles total miles and it shifts fine even clutchless just like it was before the recall. My dealer has the Best Techs and service dept.