Intermittent No Spark. Please Help.

[onewheelf4]

I have been doing some searching around on here and have found a bunch of posts to be very helpful. I'm not a newbie in the motorcycle world, just the Bigdog world. My bike has the low voltage controls, which makes chasing an ignition problem down a tad bit harder. The bike has a no spark condition only every once and a while. You can be going along down the road and the engine will just die. You can fire it up, let it idle for 30 seconds, it will die. Then some other times you can ride the bike all day and have no problems with it at all. when i hold the run button down i notice the light on the EHC will sometimes not light up. there is also a polished aluminum sword and heart device located right next to the battery. the LED on that is also not illuminated. then i checked all of my connections, grounds, etc, turned the key on and off, then magically the LED's illuminated and the bike fired right up. Could i possibly have a loose connection somewhere that i am missing? Is the EHC bad? I'm hoping that one of you guys could point me in the right direction. So far everything has been fine again and i haven't ran into any problems. I am just waiting for the evening that the Mrs and i decide to go out for a ride and the big girl just leaves us stranded on the side of the road. I'm sure that wont lead to any luck at home after that! Jk anyways any help is appreciated, THANKS!!

 

[Little-Boo]

I have been doing some searching around on here and have found a bunch of posts to be very helpful. I'm not a newbie in the motorcycle world, just the Bigdog world. My bike has the low voltage controls, which makes chasing an ignition problem down a tad bit harder. The bike has a no spark condition only every once and a while. You can be going along down the road and the engine will just die. You can fire it up, let it idle for 30 seconds, it will die. Then some other times you can ride the bike all day and have no problems with it at all. when i hold the run button down i notice the light on the EHC will sometimes not light up. there is also a polished aluminum sword and heart device located right next to the battery. the LED on that is also not illuminated. then i checked all of my connections, grounds, etc, turned the key on and off, then magically the LED's illuminated and the bike fired right up. Could i possibly have a loose connection somewhere that i am missing? Is the EHC bad? I'm hoping that one of you guys could point me in the right direction. So far everything has been fine again and i haven't ran into any problems. I am just waiting for the evening that the Mrs and i decide to go out for a ride and the big girl just leaves us stranded on the side of the road. I'm sure that wont lead to any luck at home after that! Jk anyways any help is appreciated, THANKS!!

You may have a bad ignition switch, the problem you are having is a common issue with BDM. My advice is to find yourself a Tractor Parts Supply and get a ford Tractor ignition switch which is what most all of us on here have done. If you continue to have that issue also check the Battery Ground wire at the starter make sure it is not loose. Hope that helps :2thumbs:

Carlos

 

[onewheelf4]

Thank you for the reply. Is there a certain ford tractor ignition switch that I am looking for? Also by chance would anyone have a part number? Sorry for be a pain but that would be awesome if so. Thanks again

 

[BigDogBro1]

Thank you for the reply. Is there a certain ford tractor ignition switch that I am looking for? Also by chance would anyone have a part number? Sorry for be a pain but that would be awesome if so. Thanks again

Read this post:
http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/how/40535-ignition-key-cylinder-replacement.html

 

[Jwooky]

Before you do so, I would just jumper the terminals to verify that is the issue.

 

[Sven]

turned the key on and off, then magically the LED's illuminated and the bike fired right up.

As the tractor switch comes into play, this has to run [inside the switch] I assume is the switch angles onto these connections and notice how you kept on moving the keyfob the LED came on.

Then, the suggestion of jumping the wire to the other [LED] connectors just to make sure. So technically you could daisy chain one wire touching all leads out and leave the one dangling at the main input. This way, the old lady can get off the bike, you under the switch to hot that off the battery and home you go no key needed... Which now says Jwoo said; before you throw money at a part, check or cancel the part with this event occurring and now jump the bike to eliminate the switch. Keep key on, no toggle or there goes the variable. You turn the key off, this may make contact back to the LED where the LED did not rear its ugly [phantom] face, etc.

 

[onewheelf4]

Awesome guys thank you for all of the help. So how can I tell if the switch is the actual faulty part in the combination of all parts and connections? Will the randomness of it eventually fail and just stop working all together. Thank you again guys

 

[Jwooky]

Awesome guys thank you for all of the help. So how can I tell if the switch is the actual faulty part in the combination of all parts and connections? Will the randomness of it eventually fail and just stop working all together. Thank you again guys

see post #5

 

[rasdes]

I can attest to the defective IGN Key switch, my bike was doing the exact same thing, ordered a new OEM Big Dog switch from Donna, it was good for a short bit and the bike started doing the same thing again. I ordered a plain slender on / off switch from Ebay, there are thousands on there. I replaced the switch and haven't had a problem since. I did order the tractor switch and just by moving / jiggling the key I would lose continuity on my multimeter so I didn't want to take a chance. Curtis (WSW) convinced me to try another switch, other than BD before I started replacing part after part by guessing. Nothing to lose but a little time and a 10.00 switch.

 

[onewheelf4]

I just got back home, sorry i should have stated this earlier. It is only a single pole switch with 2 terminals. When the key is in the on position i never lose power to anything else other than the coil, causing a no spark condition. the headlamp, dash, and everything else still stays powered up, causing me to thing that the key switch is not the issue. The fault must be lying somewhere else. Any input? Sorry to beat a dead horse btw, i should have been more specific in my first post. I was at work and wasn't sure if the key switch was a three terminal switch, with one lead going to the ignition and the other to the coil.

 

[rasdes]

I thought the same, it couldn't be the switch, it was new, you have nothing to lose but about $10.00 for the switch, 2 new fiberglass washers for the coil cover, a little red loctite and about 45 minutes labor....it's well worth replacing just to eliminate the possibility.