a shop manual and an ohm meter, one wire at a time will yield results.Don't be skeered jump into it.One thing I've seen was the starter button corroded from being washed too much and never air dried.My neighbors bike.Can't say how much he spend at the screwball dealer that he thought was God. We sat done for 1-1/2 hrs and found the problem.You can bypass that with a jumper lead.Good simple explanation on the ohm meter piasspj.G.

 

I have a 1999 Sportster with the exact same problem. If you find a fix, please let me know. Thanks to all for thoughts on the problem, I will try your ideas.

 

The threaded stud on the engine that the ground cable attaches to can be loose even though the cable nut is tight. I found that by accident when I replaced my battery recently. Ground faults can be real frustrating.

 

hey guys sorry im new to this... im having issue with my 1988 xlh883h and getting it started well toward the end of season of 2012 it was slowly getting harder to start....the starter wines but doesnt spin the motor constantly maybe only one revolution at a time.. so me thinking the starter going bad i boutbrand new high proformance 1.4kw starter from jp cycles installed it over the winter still does the same thing.....so thought maye was the battery...replaced that with a 275 cca battery nothing so thought maybe a fault in one the wires going to the starter so i jumped the starter main power directly to it off a car battery that has 675cca and even bypassed the relays and went straight to the starter solenoid.....this still nothing.... i pulled out the plugs and spins motor fine and normal i put my fingers over the plug holes it makes the starter wine and stop spinning...... im at a lost here i cant figure this out.... and before i took it to a hd dealer figured i try this out...

thanks guys

 

Have you tried jumping it with big cables off a car or truck to the battery that is installed. I have a 88 sportster and when it is really cold out it will crank slow not sure were you live but what weight oil do you run?

 

try to wiggle your key in the ignition
see if this works next time u get no start
or wiggle the wires running out of it

 

yeah i have jumped up many of times with heavy duty cables and also high powered jump box its not the fact it doesnt have power cause i went to local harley dealer and they tested battery and 100 percent....... and also i live in pa and running 20/50 which harley dealer told me to run.......and to the ignition question that ignition has nothing to do with it if i bypassed the hole key and everything and hooked direct power to starter solenoid.....it has spark ive tested that..... the motor just will not turn as if too much compression or something..... cause nothing is biding up or hanging up cause it spins freely with no plugs (therefore no compression) so any further advise thank you very much

 

You should probably start your own thread on this topic if you can.
Meanwhile, I would try pushing it in 2and or 3ard gear and see if you can turn the engine over. Kind of sound like a valve issue as in not opening. Or a real bad timing issue. Something is overloading the starter with compression.
I used to have an old chevy that the timing seemed to have a mind of its own, and I would have to turn the distributor to get it to turn over and start then turn it back a few degrees. Kinda like the old harleys.
I know you can't do that on a sportster, but something is definitely wrong if your new starter and battery can't turn it over fast enough to start.

And did you connect the ground cable of your jumper directly to the starter body. It could still be electrical if you used the ground from the battery. A low volt/amp condition will also burn your starter up quickly while not providing enough power to turn the engine over. If you can push it and make it turn over fairly easily, I would keep looking at the connections, especially the ground.

 

For any of you out there who read this thread about starting problems due to intermitent loss of fire to plugs, my 99 1200C turned out to be the ignition module. Took eleven months to get it fixed, but the module fixed my problem. Sometimes it would start, sometimes it would not. Swithing the on/off switch on the handle bars 4 or 5 times, sometimes taking several times, it would start. Read a lot of possible problems, kill switch, coil, wires and even the key switch. Nope! Tested all of above. Ignition module fixed it. Best buy was a HD unit (OEM) from Surdike HD for $207.00. Just wanted to pass this little bit of info on.

 

I have the exact same issue. Look at the kill switch circuit. when the bike fails to start, keep the kill switch in the on position, cycle the key and see if it starts. That works for me. It's like the circuit is loaded up and cycling the key unloads whatever resistance or charge or whatever it is doing.