Dog won't run.

Energy One
popsicle069

popsicle069

Member
Over the weekend my buddy tried to start his 2004 pitbull and had a wire burn up while cranking. He quit cranking and turned off the ignition switch and no more smoke.

He brought the bike over to my garage and I found what looked like a black wire from the ECH to the Thunder Heard ignition module that had all the insulation melted off. I replaced the wire with another one and tried to start the bike.

The bike turns over but no fire. Where should I start looking. The LED on the Thunder Heart flashes like it is giving spark signal while cranking. All the lights dash headlight and blinkers work.

Thanks Rich.
 
C

ChoppaNoob

Active Member
I'm sure others will chime in with experience with the T.H. But i would try to find a wiring schematic for the ignition and ohm each wire to chassis ground. And also ohm each wire to be sure they are isolated from each other. In the process of one wire burning, it could have damaged another or the connector.
 
popsicle069

popsicle069

Member
Update. My buddy (Mike) brought the bike to the local Harley dealer that recently lost there dealership. That's another story. Anyway they did not want to work on his bike because it is a Big Dog. Whatever!!! They did settle on working on the bike. They put in a new cam sensor and said they put in a new coil, not sure on that. They did put in a new battery. About $700 later now the starter is stuck.

Man what a mess.

Mike calls and lets me know that he needs help. Ok bring the Dog over. Well the first this is to get the starter fixed. Turned out to be one of the gears in the nose cone stripped some gears off and jammed up the starter. Easy enough. Hey the bike starts and runs.

The next day Mike is out running around and guess what. Yeap the Dog dies, luckly less than a block from my house. Mike pushes the bike over and we start to try to figure out what the deal is. Yeap sure enough there is a new battery and what appears to be a new cam sensor and the coil not sure yet.

Well the task begins we test the cam sensor per instructions here and it tested good. Hmmm now what, unplug the sensor and bypas the extension sure enough the Dog starts. Plug the extension back in and no start. Damm what the hell. Has to be a short. Ok keep looking. Please see above rember that wire that wire that melted, yeap it melted into some other wires also and at least one of those other wires would short out when the bike would hit a bump or I would move a wire just right.

Solution was to remove 6 wires and splice in new wires where there were melted insulation. Took about 6 hours trouble shooting and repair time but the Dog is running and Mike is very happy again.

Thanks for the forum and the trouble shooting tips in other post as it helped lots.
 
Oscar Maldonado

Oscar Maldonado

Guru
Calendar Participant
Glad to hear you have it all worked out.

I might have another ThunderHeart mod at the house. If I still have it I can send it out to you, let me make sure I have it first. I'll post up this evening and let you know. It was one of (2) spares I had for my bike same make and year as your buddies.
 
Th3InfamousI

Th3InfamousI

Administrator
Staff member
:job:
popsicle069 said:
Update. My buddy (Mike) brought the bike to the local Harley dealer that recently lost there dealership. That's another story. Anyway they did not want to work on his bike because it is a Big Dog. Whatever!!! They did settle on working on the bike. They put in a new cam sensor and said they put in a new coil, not sure on that. They did put in a new battery. About $700 later now the starter is stuck.

Man what a mess.

Mike calls and lets me know that he needs help. Ok bring the Dog over. Well the first this is to get the starter fixed. Turned out to be one of the gears in the nose cone stripped some gears off and jammed up the starter. Easy enough. Hey the bike starts and runs.

The next day Mike is out running around and guess what. Yeap the Dog dies, luckly less than a block from my house. Mike pushes the bike over and we start to try to figure out what the deal is. Yeap sure enough there is a new battery and what appears to be a new cam sensor and the coil not sure yet.

Well the task begins we test the cam sensor per instructions here and it tested good. Hmmm now what, unplug the sensor and bypas the extension sure enough the Dog starts. Plug the extension back in and no start. Damm what the hell. Has to be a short. Ok keep looking. Please see above rember that wire that wire that melted, yeap it melted into some other wires also and at least one of those other wires would short out when the bike would hit a bump or I would move a wire just right.

Solution was to remove 6 wires and splice in new wires where there were melted insulation. Took about 6 hours trouble shooting and repair time but the Dog is running and Mike is very happy again.

Thanks for the forum and the trouble shooting tips in other post as it helped lots.
Click to expand...
Too bad he didn't just trust you with it and probably would have saved $700. Doubt the cam sensor and coil & battery were all bad. :job: Ill give them maybe 1 out of 3 was bad but no way all 3 went at once.
 
popsicle069

popsicle069

Member
Oscar Maldonado said:
Glad to hear you have it all worked out.

I might have another ThunderHeart mod at the house. If I still have it I can send it out to you, let me make sure I have it first. I'll post up this evening and let you know. It was one of (2) spares I had for my bike same make and year as your buddies.
Click to expand...
Oscar, please let me know if you have the spare or not.

Thanks, Rich
 
popsicle069

popsicle069

Member
Th3InfamousI said:
:job:

Too bad he didn't just trust you with it and probably would have saved $700. Doubt the cam sensor and coil & battery were all bad. :job: Ill give them maybe 1 out of 3 was bad but no way all 3 went at once.
Click to expand...
Yea I wanted to get back to the bike but was getting ready for Daytona and he was working and we did not hook up before I left. Any way good lesson for him on the electrical trouble shooting as I wanted him there the whole time to learn about his Dog.

Rich
 
New Boots

New Boots

Human
Oscar good job helping out – A Gentleman & A Scholar - Not many message boards function like this one! To help someone you don’t even know says a lot about a man. :cheers:
 
Oscar Maldonado

Oscar Maldonado

Guru
Calendar Participant
popsicle069 said:
Bike is up and running, Thanks for the module.

Rich
Click to expand...
That's awesome news Rich.:cheers::2thumbs:

KennyBob - Oscar good job helping out – A Gentleman & A Scholar - Not many message boards function like this one! To help someone you don’t even know says a lot about a man.
Click to expand...
I do the best I can to help out here. If I have it and it's an extra, it's yours.:2thumbs:
 
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