Rev Performance EMS tuner review

[tracerbob]

Just installed a Rev Performance EMS on my 2010 Street Glide along with a Fuel Moto header, stage 1 A/C and Jackpot 4" muffs.  Installation was a snap and initial start up was uneventful.  I really like the crisper throttle response, smoother idle and less heat!  Too soon to tell about gas mileage.  Overall, I like it!

Why did I chose this over other systems like the TTS.  The major factors are the lack of a decent dyno tuner in my area and I would rather ride than fiddle around with a laptop.  The Rev Performance EMS is a true plug and play system. 

[Thumper Buttercup]

Good luck with it,

   I'm having to rebuild my top end due to it dumping fuel
into a fresh re-build and washing out the rings,  never worked right
for us.

[turboprop]

Good luck with it,

   I'm having to rebuild my top end due to it dumping fuel
into a fresh re-build and washing out the rings,  never worked right
for us.

After how they handled their nikasil cylinder/ring issue, am real interested to see how they handle this, if they step put o the plate like men, or if they pull their old 'it's not our fault' or 'you did something wrong', or maybe the 'someone else did something wrong' line. Please share. 

[Thumper Buttercup]

Andrew had the e-mail,

    Was told early this week of what we found in the engine and
the compression tests and leak-down.  Was told we are having
to rebuild.  Also asked about piston weights and if there will
be a problem with balance with the over sized pistons.  Got
a e-mail that he would check but nothing else since then.

[fatboi1959]

I am very happy with my RP EMS. May not be getting every last bit of power from my 120R but don't need to if i ride conservatively i'm getting around 40 MPG. Driveability is very good now after putting on some miles.

[gabbyduffy]

I am very happy with my RP EMS. May not be getting every last bit of power from my 120R but don't need to if i ride conservatively i'm getting around 40 MPG. Driveability is very good now after putting on some miles.

What kind of AFR readings are you getting with the EMS on the dyno? My drivability is great also, but when I run it on a dyno my AFR is all over the place.
                   I'm wondering if that is normal for this tuner?

[turboprop]

Andrew had the e-mail,

    Was told early this week of what we found in the engine and
the compression tests and leak-down.  Was told we are having
to rebuild.  Also asked about piston weights and if there will
be a problem with balance with the over sized pistons.  Got
a e-mail that he would check but nothing else since then.

Did RP offer any explanation as to why their device caused fuel to dump and in effect destroy the top end of your engine? Did they admit any fault, offer to offset the cost of the rebuild?

[fatboi1959]

Gabbyduffy i have never had it on the dyno.

[harpwrench]

gabbyduffy--Mine is really flat. I spent time riding it like you would if you were doing a TTS V-tune data run. Think about it. They flash your ECM with a canned map. RP's literature says the VE's are reprogrammed as you ride IIRC. If that's true, logic tells me you need to spend enough time in all the cells for the ECM to collect enough info to do that. If you just run it up through the gears and never spend 5-6 seconds in each cell, you're always running off the canned map with O2's chasing but never catching up, in the areas you don't normally spend time in. Does your bike run smoother than everywhere else, from 2500-3200 or so, where you spend the most time riding? I think it would be interesting to put your bike on a dyno and have the operator spend enough time in all the ranges/loads, and see what the sniffer says the system does with it. I think cycling the key switch also has something to do with the process. Anyway that's just my thinking on it, could be wrong!

[FLTRI]

...Think about it. They flash your ECM with a canned map...never spend 5-6 seconds in each cell, you're always running off the canned map with O2's chasing but never catching up...put your bike on a dyno and have the operator spend enough time in all the ranges/loads...

A very quick and efficient way to get the autotune happy which should make for a great running bike!
Bob

[Thumper Buttercup]

Andrew had the e-mail,

    Was told early this week of what we found in the engine and
the compression tests and leak-down.  Was told we are having
to rebuild.  Also asked about piston weights and if there will
be a problem with balance with the over sized pistons.  Got
a e-mail that he would check but nothing else since then.

Did RP offer any explanation as to why their device caused fuel to dump and in effect destroy the top end of your engine? Did they admit any fault, offer to offset the cost of the rebuild?

We had the unit on the bike for 2 months 1536.7 miles, bike was reprogrammed
4 times with one of them where they came here.  During this time we had to
do 5 oil changes due to fuel in the oil.  We gave up the beginning of August
and put in the TTS.  We did get our money back on the unit going through
Frank at Drago's where we bought it through.

If we babied the throttle and did nothing but very easy throttle work it seemed
fine, if we rode normal giving it some throttle or got on the interstate it sucked
gas 30 mpg avg and we could smell the fuel riding.  Plugs looked like we were
running coal each time we checked them, 4 sets of plugs changed during this time
also.

We never got anything in the way of a reply why the bike ran like this, if fact
the beginning of August we found some things that we thought were part
of the problem but those e-mails went unanswered also.

So we went to the TTS and finally got the bike running tune wise thanks to
all the help from Steve at TTS and Mayor.  But it was too late for the engine,
we finally got 2300 miles on a oil change but then noticed oil loss due to the
fuel washed rings.

Bike was test ridden in all speed conditions repeatitly but never came around
to run with good gas mileage.

[turboprop]

Did you say that RevPerf never answered your emails about this situation but they did send a techrep out to your location? Wow.

[Thumper Buttercup]

Did you say that RevPerf never answered your emails about this situation but they did send a techrep out to your location? Wow.

If the bike did not run right we would e-mail, they would e-mail a return
slip and we would ship the EMS back.

Brian (owner) and Joah (main programmer) came here in person after the first
two programs and the unit still did not perform.

Josh rode the bike and said it ran like a dog, worked on it for a few hours and
taking rides.  I rode it up the down the drag we were on, bike pulled good.
We got a test ride in 7 days later and problems still there and unit shipped
back again for changes.

We got tired of all the waiting for the ECM every-time it needed programming,
which was alot.

Bottom line is it did not work for our bike.  We were never told why.

[harpwrench]

I remember you saying that the ECM they supplied was faulty, wasn't it? That's a different issue than the EMS simply not working for your combination. Still a bad deal though.

[Thumper Buttercup]

I remember you saying that the ECM they supplied was faulty, wasn't it? That's a different issue than the EMS simply not working for your combination. Still a bad  deal though.

There are a bunch of issues that came up, but I cannot go into them, there was  some problems, they were brought to their attention but we never received any more reply's on those issues and they quit communicating with us.

That is when we made the decision to go to the TTS and more answers came up when we uploaded the TTS Calibration.  We had errors that showed up with their ECM but not with our old 04 ECM or with the new one with TTS Cal loaded.

We even took off every electrical connection on all engine sensors and did electrical checks to make sure there was no issue with the bike wiring.

At the end we sent 5 e-mails and some phone calls that were never replied to.  Even the one where we stated we give up and why.

[turboprop]

Hmmm, perhaps all is not hunky dory with RevPerf as some would like everyone to think. Seems odd that after going to meet with you and work on your bike, that they would essentially unplug you and call it quits on you. Knowing what I now know, had this happened to me RevPerf would be standing in a court room and probably end up with a judgement against them. Sorry for your troubles, seems like you have them worked out now. -Ed

[gabbyduffy]

gabbyduffy--Mine is really flat. I spent time riding it like you would if you were doing a TTS V-tune data run. Think about it. They flash your ECM with a canned map. RP's literature says the VE's are reprogrammed as you ride IIRC. If that's true, logic tells me you need to spend enough time in all the cells for the ECM to collect enough info to do that. If you just run it up through the gears and never spend 5-6 seconds in each cell, you're always running off the canned map with O2's chasing but never catching up, in the areas you don't normally spend time in. Does your bike run smoother than everywhere else, from 2500-3200 or so, where you spend the most time riding? I think it would be interesting to put your bike on a dyno and have the operator spend enough time in all the ranges/loads, and see what the sniffer says the system does with it. I think cycling the key switch also has something to do with the process. Anyway that's just my thinking on it, could be wrong!

How do I spend time in all the cells? Please explain.
                       What do you mean when saying spend 5 seconds in each cell?
                       Thanks for the advise, I'm willing to try anything to get my AFR's where they need to be. Before I put the bike on the Dyno I rode it for 500 miles to learn the map then I ran it on the Dyno and got the AFR reading that were all over the place.
                      I think what you are suggesting is,....... before I put it on the Dyno to run threw the whole RPM range in each gear. Run it wide open throttle a few times then put it on the dyno?

[dmrdn]

Hmmm, perhaps all is not hunky dory with RevPerf as some would like everyone to think. Seems odd that after going to meet with you and work on your bike, that they would essentially unplug you and call it quits on you. Knowing what I now know, had this happened to me RevPerf would be standing in a court room and probably end up with a judgement against them. Sorry for your troubles, seems like you have them worked out now. -Ed

Give me a break. 1 person has a problem and the product is a POS. My bike runs like gang busters with the EMS. I have 10k on it and not problem 1. Others have the same GREAT story to tell. I am one that if it were a problem you would be reading about it on all the forums.  It would be interesting to hear Rev Perfs side but they have too much class to stoop that low

[turboprop]

Please don't put words in my mouth. I never said it was a POS.

I think it is great that the RevPerf guys went to see the bike and tried to make it work. The fact that they couldn't make it work, the bike was not an extreme build, the top end was destroyed and in the end they refused to talk to the customer. 

It is what a company does when things don't go right that matters. In this case they failed. Their tuner thing might be the best thing in the world, but when it failed, the company cut and run. I am glad for you that yours is working and you are happy with it.

I stand by my statement.

[oldguy]

I've been watching this thread since the beginning, and have not wanted to get involved in slamming the ems, but I feel I should give my experience with it. I purchased the precision early in the spring and had high hopes that it would eliminate a long trip out to a tuner that is competent. First trial didn't work-after about 5 miles of riding, it fattened up the afr so much it was running only with extra throttle added. Went through approximately 6 or 7 times of sending the ecm back to revperf for modification and it still wouldn't work. Finally sold the unit , and it works fine for that person.
Having said all this, Brian and Josh tried their hardest to resolve the problem, but in the end it was both my fault, and also the type of exhaust/ cam combination I have that was the problem. First, I had an undetected exhaust leak on the rear cylinder- couldn't hear it even when plugging the pipe with a rag, finally discovered it by passing smoke over the exhaust manifold and could see the smoke get sucked in. Second, I think the pipes I use have an inherent reversion problem at idle.
The precision should work on 99% of the bikes out there if everything is sealed up tight the way it's supposed to be, the bikes it won't work on need special tuning ie, some open loop tuning in the low rpm/kpa cells.
Just my 2 cents, I hate to see someone or thing get a bad rap when it's usually a fault of something else!

[tracerbob]

All I can say is it works for me and I'm happy with it. 

[dmrdn]

I've been watching this thread since the beginning, and have not wanted to get involved in slamming the ems, but I feel I should give my experience with it. I purchased the precision early in the spring and had high hopes that it would eliminate a long trip out to a tuner that is competent. First trial didn't work-after about 5 miles of riding, it fattened up the afr so much it was running only with extra throttle added. Went through approximately 6 or 7 times of sending the ecm back to revperf for modification and it still wouldn't work. Finally sold the unit , and it works fine for that person.
Having said all this, Brian and Josh tried their hardest to resolve the problem, but in the end it was both my fault, and also the type of exhaust/ cam combination I have that was the problem. First, I had an undetected exhaust leak on the rear cylinder- couldn't hear it even when plugging the pipe with a rag, finally discovered it by passing smoke over the exhaust manifold and could see the smoke get sucked in. Second, I think the pipes I use have an inherent reversion problem at idle.
The precision should work on 99% of the bikes out there if everything is sealed up tight the way it's supposed to be, the bikes it won't work on need special tuning ie, some open loop tuning in the low rpm/kpa cells.
Just my 2 cents, I hate to see someone or thing get a bad rap when it's usually a fault of something else!

Glad you have a clear and understandng nature about your particular combination of pipes, cams, etc that could have caused the problem.  Thanks for the additional input.

[Thumper Buttercup]

Our pipes were sent to Rev-Perf to do the bungs, we pulled the pipes off
almost every ride, along with a oil change and spark plug change.  We
used Permatex gold to help seal the exhaust at the heads and the pipe
joints.

If you look at my old posts I have said nothing bad about Rev-Perf or
their attempts to help, during the two months we tried to get this system
to work.  Read our old posts.  I did my homework when we ordered this
unit, I know of all the guys running this with no problem, I really liked
the ideal of plug and play.

But when it came down to the end we were left to hang and they quit
responding to our communication attempts.

The 48N cams are not a radical cam and our build was a mild 95 build.

Josh knew something was wrong when they came here, Josh said this
bike ran like a dog.

We really wished this unit would have worked for us, but it did not and
we worked our butts off trying to get it to work.  Now we are having
to rebuild the top end our our bike because of the Rev-Perf EMS.

I wish the best to all running it but I will warn others that this unit does
not always work.  If you are running this unit I would have your AFR
checked to make sure you are ok.

This is the last I will post on these posts, but if there are new questions
about the Rev-Perf EMS I will post up a warning that you could have
issues like we did and that we are having to rebuild our bike on our own
because of it.

[mike 120]

Old guy, would you share the cam/pipe combo that might have been causing an issue?

[oldguy]

I'm using an s&s 640G, and was running two different sets of pipes, RB racing 2-1 with 2" head pipes, and Bassani RR B1's.
I used permatex to seal the headpipes with no results, ended up getting some Wurth exhaust sealing paste, which finally did the job. My bungs were perfect on both sets of pipes, there was no problem with the o2 sensors.
Nuff said.