Bike died again

wils5150 · #1 04-14-2008, 02:19 PM

Hey all, 2 weeks ago my bike died like someone hit the kill switch. since then I have replaced the circut breakes and the battery as well as clean and tighten the cables. I put 150 trouble free miles on it during the week and on Saturday it died again. while on the side of the road a old gent lent me his testlight and voltage meter. I have power everywhere and the bike cranks over strong. I have power going to the coil but no spark.My crane hi-4 has a solid led and a blinking one when it is cranking as it should. when this has happened in the past the bike will fire up sometimes right away or I may have to wait awhile. I put a old coil in and got her home. I did notice the crimp om terminals to the coil looked suspect to me so I have cut the old ones out and replaced them. I am going to order a new coil and plug wires. I do not want to throw money at a problem so I would like any tips, sugestion or advice. the bike is a 98 fatboy. sorry this is so long!
Thanks Wils

Ribcracker · #2 04-14-2008, 03:23 PM

if your going for new coils dynatek ( used to be just dyna) coils are one fo the best. I have one of their coils on My dyna and used to always run them on My drag bikes. Big fat sparks and reliable as hell. Then for a set of high quality leads in the UK I would say Taylor or Magnacor but not sure what brands you get in the US.

Dr.Hess · #3 04-14-2008, 03:59 PM

It is always best to find the problem first instead of throwing parts at it.

When it is not starting, do you have spark? If not, I would suspect either the Crane unit or the pickup or possibly the wires between them.

wils5150 · #4 04-14-2008, 04:17 PM

Dr Hess,
According to crane if the led is on when the key is on and it blinks when cranking (which it does) the unit is ok. I just had it running and wiggled the wires and it didn't stall. looked for any chaffing and found none. I hear coils can intermitenlly go bad. I am trying to find info on testing a coil but haven't had any luck. Like I said earlier some of the terminal rings looked and felt lose so I cut them out and put innew ones with heat shrinking. dealing with electrical is like black magic to me.
Thanks

85FXSB · #5 04-14-2008, 10:42 PM

wils5150,
hey i'm new on here but i had a sim. prob. with my crane unit i had on my triumph. It drove me crazy....????? ended up being the pick-up unit was heating up and shorting out. check it out, hope this little info helps you keep some of your hair !

John

Stkman · #6 04-15-2008, 02:25 AM

Take a hair dryer and heat up the Crane HI-4 and then try starting it or heat it up with hair dryer while it is running and see if the motor dies.

kiwidave2 · #7 04-15-2008, 07:41 AM

hair dryer tip is always a damn good one.

Here's how i trouble-shooted my Crane Hi4 single fire a couple of years back when it was driving me crazy

http://www.harley-davidson-hangout.c...vels-evos.html

don't forget the possibility that the soldered wirehas come adrift from the kill switch....

wils5150 · #8 04-15-2008, 02:27 PM

when it was dead on the side of the road I could crank it and I had power to the coil but no spark coming out of it. I did put new terminals on the wires feeding the coil as well. if its not the coil I am thinking rotor cup maybe? I would think if it became heat sensitive it would have craped out the other day that I put 100 miles on. both faliures seem to happen a few miles into a trip.Thanks for everyones help
wils

Dr.Hess · #9 04-15-2008, 04:11 PM

When it was stopped on the side of the road, was there spark? place a screwdriver into the end of your spark plug wire, hold the insulated handle, hold the metal shaft near but not touching the engine and crank. Spark?

Power to the coil and no spark does not necessarily mean a bad coil. Could also be a bad ignition unit, bad pickup, bad wires between the three. Just because the light on your crane was on doesn't mean that it isn't suspect. Try the hairdrier trick, heating the crane up some (not too hot) while it's running. Then try taking the cone timing cover plate off and heating up the pickup coil some. Not too hot, again. Say to no more than 150F, 175F at the max. Most automotive electronics should be able to handle that.

wils5150 · #10 04-15-2008, 06:14 PM

tried the hair drier trick held it on there for almost 10 min. Bike kept on running fine. does anyone know how to test a signle fire coil?