Long story, so please bear with it. I REALLY need some help.
2013 Street Bob with V&H short shot pipes and V&H air cleaner, and V&H Fuel Pack.
Bike ran perfectly. Had to have new tank painted. Found paint around inside of filler neck and cleaned it all out very well. So I get it all back together, dump a gallon of gas saved from removal of original tank. Ride about 20 miles and all is well. Day 2 I filled tank with fuel. As all problems begin with full tank, here goes. Bike starts, runs perfectly from gas station to the store. Again bike starts, runs perfect to restaurant. All in all about 15 miles. Come out of restaurant and bike cranks, but will not fire. Electronic compression reliefs, so all I got was the whomp whomp whomp of the releases like it always does. Get a rescue and get the bike home.
First thing I checked for spark. Nice white spark. Next I popped the fuel quick connect loose to verify I have fuel. Get a healthy dose of drips, then turn on fuel pump and get a bath, so I know I have the pump pressuring. At this point I'm thinking clogged injector, but how can it take both at the same time and the bike should at least try to hit if only 1 injector is clogged.
Pulled line off at injector housing, had fuel to there and verified pressure by kicking pump on. Removed injectors, sprayed with carb cleaner and reinstalled and reassembled line to tank. Lost O'ring at quick connect so couldn't test until that was replaced.
Decide fuel pack took a dump. Replaced O'ring to tank Q.C., removed fuel pack from equation by plugging direct back into ECM. Bike fired and ran like a champ. For ***** and giggles plugged fuel pack back in. Bike fired, ran like crap. Re-removed fuel pack and left it off the bike. Bike fired, ran great. Took it for a test ride and all was well. Problem solved, right? HA! So I thought.
This morning went to leave for work and got nothing but whomp whomp whomp again. Will not do anything but crank over. NOT dead battery.
Had people saying it's the rectifier, but as that is simply charging it shouldn't stop bike from starting. Had someone else say coil and I haven't been able to check for fire today, but I know I had fire first time this happened and expect no different this time. The filter is low enough microns to stop anything getting to injectors and I have verified I have fuel at the Q.C. again today. Talked to one person who said there could be a hole or kink in one of the lines inside tank from swapping pump, but looking up the breakdown, there's only 2 lines; one from pump to filter housing and one from filter housing to Q.C. fitting, both of which are pretty stout. He said to pull cap, turn on pump and see if I hear fuel being sprayed inside tank. I will do this when I get home.
Any other ideas? I ride this thing EVERY day. It's my primary to work and home vehicle rain or shine or cold and it's quite a pain to not have it running due to several factors. I'm a po boy and can't really afford to have someone else mess with it. Besides that, I like to do my own wrenching.

 

Lol that was the short version??? Just kidding. Anyway people always assume because fuel comes out of the line, that they are good. However that is not always the case. It's very important to test fuel pressure with a gauge, and verify it is within spec. I'm having a hard time understanding whether or not you LEFT the fuel pack disconnected. If not, I would start there. If your pressure is good and your fuel pack is disconnected, check your fuel filter, you should be able to blow through it with little restriction. I'd also highly suggest you drain the tank and get fresh fuel as sometimes you will get "bad gas". Start here and let us know what you find.

 

In addition to waht Nick said above, take off the air cleaner assembly and shoot starter fluid in there while cranking. If it runs OK on starter fluid, you can be pretty sure it's a fuel delivery problem. Likely electrical. If so, inspect injector connections at both ends (ecm & injector body). Check continuity and resistance of those wires as well. Wouldn't rule out the crank trigger, either. Same deal there. Service manual should have a diagnostic procedure for the sensor.

Every time I've personally had an intermittent fuel delivery/no start issue on EFI it's been either a crank or.cam position sensor...

 

I second the crank/cam sensor. You can also check to see if the injectors are firing by using a stethoscope (15 bucks at auto zoo) or a long blade screw driver. You should hear a distinct clicking noise if they are firing.

 

Yes, fuel pack is laying on the workbench. I know I should have around 60PSI fuel pressure. I'll try to get my hands on a gauge. Only place I could see to even hook one up is on the throttle body and it's direct injection into the cylinders, so have no idea how that would tell me anything there.

 

Figured I'd just pull the injectors this evening and see if they're spraying. Keep hoping I don't need to go though all that disassembly again. I understand the crank/cam sensor idea, makes sense. That'd be a hell of a coincidence it went out after tank replacement, but I'll figure out test procedure and try it. Uggg. Would a crank/cam sensor error not give me a check engine code, though? I'm not getting any check engine light

 

Don't pull them, just listen/feel for the click they make when they fire. A crank/cam sensor "should" give you a code, however they don't always do. If the sensor voltage is within the specified range .5-4.5 volts, it won't set a code. It could be at a voltage that the ecm would see when it's not supposed to fire the injectors. Also check your throttle/cables to make sure they are closed. On automotive applications, if the throttle is applied during cranking, it goes into "clear/flood" mode, which shuts off the injectors. There's a good possibility our Harleys have the same function.

 

Good point. Yea, injectors are noisy as hell. Easy to diagnose with a stethoscope. Also a good point about throttle position.

 

Didn't think of the throttle situation. I'll check that too. It couldn't be thaaaat simple.

 

Well in automotive applications we say two things: "fixin cars isn't easy, it's simple" and "keep it simple stupid". The objective is to simplify everything. First things first, check your injectors, if they're not firing, it's a simple power/ground problem. If they don't have power, check the crank/cam signal as you crank the engine. If it doesn't change or is erratic, (even if it's within the allowable range) then you know it needs to be replaced. Since this is an intermittent issue, I doubt it's your throttle. However it's still a good idea to rule it out.