Need Help,Please!

[1goodsinner]

Went for ride yesterday,bike died 1/4 mile down street.Bike restarted 20 minutes later.2 hrs later my gf wants to ride,so we leave.9 miles down the road bike starts to sputter and dies.Starter turns over,but bike won't start.I have it hauled back home.Today I go to start it and the starter turns over for 1/2 second and then the 4-ways come on...bike will not start!No abnormal EHC lights on. I need my bike to get to work guys,I need help!

 

[phatchopper300]

Sounds like a bad battery or loose connection to battery. Have the battery load tested need 12.8 volts.

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[stlmikie]

Phatchopper is right.

 

[1goodsinner]

Ok,I didn't realize a bad battery or connection would cause the motor to sputter while riding !?! Owning a BD has me learning(putting up with) more all the time.Never spent so much down time with an HD before,but then I've never had as much fun riding an HD as my BD Chopper!

 

[Dakotabos]

Mine did the same thing years ago turned out to be a bad Cam Sensor. When it heats up expanded and died. Cooled down ran fine heated back up :bang:

Its a love hate relationship but alot better to ride than my ex :roll:

 

[bigdogtech01]

Just as stated above, sounds like Ignition is failing. Partly battery at this point because you tried starting it so many times and now the voltage is to low to continue turning over. Put the battery on charge so you can try to Dio with a known good battery.
With known good battery, take seat off so you can look at all LED lights on EHC and Ignition. Try starting bike while watching the lights on Ignition. If you are not seeing any lights come on and flash while starter motor is turning over, that's a very good indication your Ignition system is bad. You can further Dio it to determine what part of it has failed and replace just that. Or you can replace it with entire Ignition kit and will actually be an upgrade.
Another thing to make sure of is that your ignition switch is good. How much play is in the key? Can you pull key out of switch with it in ON position?
Let us know what you find.

 

[1goodsinner]

It does same thing when cooled down.Have had charger on it over night and same .Ignition switch was replaced last yr with sporty switch,that's not the problem.Power/Controller/Ignition lights are only ones lit,as normal,with current battery.Can it still be the battery?

 

[bigdogtech01]

Do lights on Ignition box flash while starter motor is turning over? It's possible you have a charging/Battery problem. Have you tested your battery? Load test? Have you tested charging system with motor running? If so, what was your output?

 

[1goodsinner]

I'm getting ready to take battery to have load tested.Controller and ignition lights flash when bike is turning over.Power light is steady on.How is the charging system tested?Who can test it for me? Does the volt. reg. come into play w/ the battery decharging?

 

[bigdogtech01]

I'm getting ready to take battery to have load tested.Controller and ignition lights flash when bike is turning over.Power light is steady on.How is the charging system tested?Who can test it for me? Does the volt. reg. come into play w/ the battery decharging?

You test the charging system using a Voltage multi meter. Test across the battery just like you would to test the battery itself without running, only now your testing with bike at idle to 3000rpm. But, if the bike will not start now, then you can not perform this test. If the starter is turning over fine and keeps turning over then I would say that your battery is probably ok. Something else is causing your problems. Do you have a spark tester to plug between the spark plug and plug wire? If not, you might want to go to an auto store and pick one up. Then you can verify that you are, or are not getting spark at plugs.
Does the motor seem to want to fire at all? Spit out carb or anything?
Have you looked at the plugs to make sure they are wet?

 

[bigdogtech01]

Another thought, have you made sure the vent in the fuel cap is removed?

 

[1goodsinner]

Had battery tested and it was only charging to 214 amps.Purchased new battery.Installed battery and bike now turns over fine,but acts like either not getting spark or fuel.Will check plugs for wetness.I don't have a spark tester,so I can't check that tonight.I changed the gas cap to a flush mount,but I have had a problem with vapor lock now and then since.I have tried numerous times starting the bike w/o the gas cap...no go!

 

[1goodsinner]

Bike turns over and the plugs are DRY!Where do I start tracing down this problem.

 

[Brew]

Did you loosen the gas cap as BD01 stated earlier? If not try that and see if your plugs get wet or the scoot starts...

 

[stlmikie]

When did you fuel up last?

 

[1goodsinner]

Actually fueled up the night before the breakdown.I only had 15 miles on a full tank.I,at first,thought I got bad gas,but how do you explain my dry spark plugs when starting bike.The plugs should still be wet.I've tried starting the bike without the gas cap on,and nothing.Don't think it's the gas cap gremlin.There must be an order to go through when finding the "no gas to plugs" problem.

 

[woodbutcher]

check the petcock screen for trash, check the inline filter if you have one. tank liner could be degrading on you blocking flow. just thinking,

 

[bigdogtech01]

You can pull the plug on the bottom of the float bowl of the carb to make sure you do in fact have fuel in it. Another way to tell is to take the air cleaner cover off so you can look down the throat of the carburetor. With a flashlight, look inside the bore of the carb and twist the throttle. Your should be able to see fuel fan out of your accelerator pump nozzle. If not, then it might be plugged.

 

[1goodsinner]

I thought I had it narrowed down to vapor lock from the newer gas cap(because it started last night),but it was back to the same thing this morning.I checked out a couple of things tonight,but will check out a couple of others tomorrow morning.I will keep ya'll updated! Thanks!

 

[1goodsinner]

Here is what the problem ended up being...My breather filter is on the end of a ss braided line and it was rubbing on the coil contacts(yes,it was cleaner to run the line down the left side of motor).Mistake?Maybe in hindsight.Also,The spark plugs were totally carboned up.No gas cap vapor lock after all!How this killed my bike and cost me the price of a new battery and the $85 tow back to the house I don't know.I love this chopper,but I've had so many more problems with it than any HD I've owned in nearly 40 yrs of riding on the street! Thanks for all the help guys! I know it's difficult problem-solving when you don't know the history of the bike involved.