bike shutdown
- Thread starter hippee
- Start date
yea looked at the ones on ebay and have the wrong plugs. i called thunderheart and i need to look for part #EA5000BD-107. They said they will build one for $225. hoping i can find one a little cheaper. still not sure why it did what it did. so kind of worried bout putting a brand new one in the bike and hoping not to fry it.:angry:
Fat_Bastard
Active Member
How to diagnose bad EHC 2004 and fix
Hi,
I have a similar problem...
I have a 2004 Big Dog Chopper. I just wonder what your initial symptoms were and how you can determine if the EHC is bad? ____
My "EHC" symptoms are:
a) months ago Low-Beam started to intermittantly go out; had to use Hi-Beam only; All else was OK.
b) got New Battery and trickle charged every night. Problem went away two months ago.
c) one month ago Low-Beam out again, Hi-Beam only; bike randomly just lost all power to spark plugs while riding; continued to quit electricaly (no spark, but other lights, horn, turn signals OK, but no Hi-or-Lo beams) Let it sit by side of road for ten minutes then could start and ride it home. (I knew no spark by carrying spare spark plug I connected and held to side of cylinder while cranking.) no signs of weak new battery. All else was OK.
d) rode home, checked voltages:
on same New Battery: 13.5 while on charger, 13.1 off charger; 12.5 dip at startup cranking; started engine --running it charges immediately to 14.2 volts, seems OK. But no Headlight at all.
e) Checked Headlight voltages at bulb connecter:
Yellow wire 10.5, White 7.5; with key ON or engine running. (of course checked/swapped bulbs and jumper wired temporarily off battery to be sure all were working ok).
f) Pulled Connecter to Headlight under gas tank and measured same exact voltages as at Headlight connector; Yellow wire 10.5, White 7.5; Checked ignition wire 12.1 volts.
g) Checked voltages at EHC 50 pin connector while connected and ignition key ON: pins 16 & 17 same yellow and white wires to headlight, same voltages 10.5 and 7.5
I think this means my EHC is bad --cannot get 12 volts out of the EHC to headlight...
I can only ride with no headlights for 9 miles or fifteen minutes and bike quits per item c) above.
Any help or advice is much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Fat_Bastard
Irvine, CA
UPDATE 7-5-2012
****EHC was in fact Bad****
Just got my Wire Plus Kit and Ignition Key Switch (after a Loooooooong Wait, 3 months!)
It has fixed all my problems per above, bike runs great now even seems slightly stronger at low rpm and idle --perhaps the failing EHC was not allowing strong voltages and current to other areas...
All in all I feel a strong Nuetral to the whole Wire Plus Solution. My 2004 Chopper had no PDM alternative product offering. Third choice was to rewire Harley style -- out of the question for me, too much money. Had no other reasonable choice; So for $500 and change I expected more from Wire Plus -- a "plug and go" solution.
Pro and Con:
Con:
Installation instructions are very poorly written and lack enough proper helpful photos.
(youtube video helped, showed me the wrong way to mount the modules backwards blocking view of LED's; and they probably thought they were showing you the right way, LOL) Many things omitted... -- and all wires and connectors should have come as more of a "plug and go" set up for the $500 plus... I felt they just built two modules and let you build the rest supplying a few pieces of wire and bunch of connectors. Very expensive and they took my money upfront, pretty much ignored my requests for updates and status and a 3 month wait for fabrication WTF!!!
Pro:
It worked.
Nuff said.
PS: Sorry about the Hijacking.
Hi,
I have a similar problem...
I have a 2004 Big Dog Chopper. I just wonder what your initial symptoms were and how you can determine if the EHC is bad? ____
My "EHC" symptoms are:
a) months ago Low-Beam started to intermittantly go out; had to use Hi-Beam only; All else was OK.
b) got New Battery and trickle charged every night. Problem went away two months ago.
c) one month ago Low-Beam out again, Hi-Beam only; bike randomly just lost all power to spark plugs while riding; continued to quit electricaly (no spark, but other lights, horn, turn signals OK, but no Hi-or-Lo beams) Let it sit by side of road for ten minutes then could start and ride it home. (I knew no spark by carrying spare spark plug I connected and held to side of cylinder while cranking.) no signs of weak new battery. All else was OK.
d) rode home, checked voltages:
on same New Battery: 13.5 while on charger, 13.1 off charger; 12.5 dip at startup cranking; started engine --running it charges immediately to 14.2 volts, seems OK. But no Headlight at all.
e) Checked Headlight voltages at bulb connecter:
Yellow wire 10.5, White 7.5; with key ON or engine running. (of course checked/swapped bulbs and jumper wired temporarily off battery to be sure all were working ok).
f) Pulled Connecter to Headlight under gas tank and measured same exact voltages as at Headlight connector; Yellow wire 10.5, White 7.5; Checked ignition wire 12.1 volts.
g) Checked voltages at EHC 50 pin connector while connected and ignition key ON: pins 16 & 17 same yellow and white wires to headlight, same voltages 10.5 and 7.5
I think this means my EHC is bad --cannot get 12 volts out of the EHC to headlight...
I can only ride with no headlights for 9 miles or fifteen minutes and bike quits per item c) above.
Any help or advice is much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Fat_Bastard
Irvine, CA
UPDATE 7-5-2012
****EHC was in fact Bad****
Just got my Wire Plus Kit and Ignition Key Switch (after a Loooooooong Wait, 3 months!)
It has fixed all my problems per above, bike runs great now even seems slightly stronger at low rpm and idle --perhaps the failing EHC was not allowing strong voltages and current to other areas...
All in all I feel a strong Nuetral to the whole Wire Plus Solution. My 2004 Chopper had no PDM alternative product offering. Third choice was to rewire Harley style -- out of the question for me, too much money. Had no other reasonable choice; So for $500 and change I expected more from Wire Plus -- a "plug and go" solution.
Pro and Con:
Con:
Installation instructions are very poorly written and lack enough proper helpful photos.
(youtube video helped, showed me the wrong way to mount the modules backwards blocking view of LED's; and they probably thought they were showing you the right way, LOL) Many things omitted... -- and all wires and connectors should have come as more of a "plug and go" set up for the $500 plus... I felt they just built two modules and let you build the rest supplying a few pieces of wire and bunch of connectors. Very expensive and they took my money upfront, pretty much ignored my requests for updates and status and a 3 month wait for fabrication WTF!!!
Pro:
It worked.
Nuff said.
PS: Sorry about the Hijacking.
Last edited:
05 old dog
Well-Known Member
can the old one be sent in and new circut board be installed?? maybe save some bucks...
okay update. after talking to thunderheart i sent the strike plate, ignition module, and EHC to them for testing and hopefully rebuilding or repair. got the call today all 3 parts are bad. now im waiting for the really bad news of cost to replace. my next question, should i go back with this same setup or go to what he called a single point ignition. and then how do i verify that my bike electrical (voltage regulator) did not cause this issue in the first place. in other words putting all the new components in and repeating this event. please help. :angry::angry::angry:
BadBrad
2005 Pitbull
If it's the VR, it will just drain your battery until there's nothing left, but it shouldn't short out your ignition module. Have you looked under your rear fender to see if your tire rubbed the wires going to the rear lights? Sounds like that's a possibility and could have shorted your entire electrical system if that's what happened. Happened on Rocky's '03 Mastiff twice. Shuts down everything!!!!!!!!! Lights and all. First time it happened, she had the ECH and it fried. Second time, she has the Wire Plus and once the wires to the light were repaired, no other issues.
BTW, what's a striker plate?
BTW, what's a striker plate?
BadBrad
2005 Pitbull
FB.
I think you'll get a lot more help if you post this as a separate thread. You posting an issue on someone else's thread is called HI-Jacking the thread. Just giving some advice. Once you post your own thread, come back and delete your entry on this one. Multiple issues with multiple riders on the same thread get confusing.
BadBrad
2005 Pitbull
Hippee, did you get a chance to look under your rear fender? It's a quick check. From the front of the struts, remove the second bolt on both sides, then loosen (but dont' remove) the first bolts on the struts and the fender will swing up. Once it's up, just tighten one of the first bolts to hold it up in place while you inspect. Generally, right around the area where the wires go into the hollow bolt for the light assembly is where you'll find wires may rubbed by your tire.
yes i was able to inspect the wiring for the rear light and there was no problem. i got everything coming from thunderheart to replace everything. talk to them and they said if the battery shorted and sent to much voltage, it could have fried everything. will replace everything this week and let yall know. BTW thunderheart folks were awesome. had plenty of questions answered and they sold me everything at a discounted rate since i sent in the old parts. very helpful folks. and im sorry, not a striker plate, its called a trigger plate, not a striker plate. sorry.
okay all new ignition in the bike. going thru process of setting timing. back firing like heck. having issues finding the TDC on the bike. is there a simple way to do this. someone said i need to pull the plug on the left side at the bottom of the scylinders and look for markings. its an 01 mastiff. any ideas. ? like i said the bike will run but crazy backfiring. thanks in advance.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
TDC is very easy to find, raise the rear wheel off the ground, pull the spark plugs to make it easy to turn over with the rear wheel. Remove the timing plug between the cylinders on the side of the block. Then if you have a helper to turn the rear wheel very slowly, you can watch the timing hole while you insert something into the front cylinder to feel the pistol come up to TDC. The pistol will come to the top and the timing mark will appear in the window when the engine is on the comression stroke, so if you don't see the mark on the first rotation, it will appear in the second rotation.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQmhenP_4nI&feature=fvsr"]Engine Timing and Building A Bobber - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQmhenP_4nI&feature=fvsr"]Engine Timing and Building A Bobber - YouTube[/ame]
alright im at a lost. found TDC and set static timing. everything hooked up correctly. bike still will not run right. back fires like crazy but only out of rear cylinder, at least only flames come out of that one. checked voltage to coil and its battery voltage. checked coil and its 4 ohms. replaced both plugs and still bike will not run right. im completely at a loss. i figure you guys have helped as much as you can and i appreciate it but im to the point of checking anything, out of the box, ideas. dont know what else to do. mind you this bike was running like a champ when the problem started and the bike just shutdown. my bike has the 107" TP motor that was available on this model if that makes a difference. found the timing marks ( T : C ) and verified that the front piston was full up. thanks again. does anyone else have this bike to show me a pic of timing plate. ? maybe im 180 out or something. really am at a loss.