Where went the sparks of life?

 Hello all,

Have something on me. Whatever you like.

The bike is a 2000 FLTR, carbureted.

Put it away last December, as usual.

Spring came a little late, due to both chilly weather here
in CT and the fact that I slipped on ice at the end of
January and ended up with a distal radius fracture at the
wrist. The wrist is better, just going back to work today
for the first time in 10 weeks. So the bike's been in
storage for about 4 1/2 months.

Put the battery back in, lights came right on, battery is good.

Crank it and it just cranked, won't start.

As I said, the battery is fine. Next thing to check is
fouled plugs (I'd put a little oil in the cylinders when I
put it away).

Swapped plugs, no go.

Thinking, "no fuel" or "no spark".

I pulled the air cleaner cover off and removed the filter to
look inside the carburetor throat. Tweaked the throttle and
got the usual squirt, seems to be fuel in the carb. Tank was
filled and stabilizer added at put-away time. Time to check
the spark.

Pulled out a plug and reattached the wire. Held it with a
glove and put the plug against the cylinder fin, cranked the
engine. If there was a spark, I couldn't see it. Same
results with the other spark plug, too. So, I'm thinking
ignition components or wiring.

I have a second ECM. Swapped it out. No go.

I have a second ignition coil. Reached under the tank,
pulled the spark plug wires and electrical connector, hooked
up the second coil. Dang, that thing is hard to get to with
the tank in place! Still no spark and no start.

I've checked the "ignition circuit" fuse in the fuse panel
(left side cover). It's good.

I even pulled the battery out and checked around the wiring
in that area, to see if I could find anything loose. Things
look ok.

My "check engine" light can be a little flaky at times -
sometimes when you turn the ignition on, it lights up and
goes out normally after 4 seconds. Other times it doesn't
light at all. Might be just a loose bulb. These things
happen when you've got 112,000+ miles on the bike.

I'm no mechanic, I can take care of basic things but this
one's got me stumped.

Any suggestions before I have to give up and have the thing
trailered to someone who actually knows something about
diagnostics?

Thanks,
- John
(and did I mention to have another on me?)

 


The battery might be good enough fro
--
"But I Don't Mean That in a Bad Way"
Roach, ASSHOLE#123, BS#196, Philly Hoodlum©#2
'98 SuperGlide "FXDirty"

 lights and even cranking
and still not have enough left over for spark. If it was mine,
I'd chatge the battery for a while and try again before I went
into diagnostic mode. If it didn't start after that, then I'd
be glad I have a '98 with no computer or check engine light.
In your case, you can't say that. :)

 roach AH#123 wrote:


I LOVE those battery tenders.

Bought mine the same year as my bike(in '03)
  .. and MY bike, that I just recently sold WITH the Original battery in
'03, started right up in March '09!

So much for the fallacy that OEM batteries (and tires) only last for a
few years, eh?

"Da Wife II" is now somewhere in PA, being resold for a better price.


Love that cash!

 

Garage queens don't count hahahaaa!

Tony D AH129

 
How many years old is the battery?  Did you trickle charge it during
the 4 1/2 months?  Roach might be onto something.