Stalls and conks off when hot
my ride is a 1995 Superglide Sport, FXDX, carburetted.
She is strictly stock, no mods whatsoever.
I bought her around Eastertime from a private seller,
and ever since day one she has been running rough.
I rejetted the carb (OEM air filter) and replaced the plugs
then I replaced the cam/crank position sensor.
[EDIT : WORKSHOP JOB NOT BY MYSELF]
Everything seemed OK for about one month, then she started playing games once again.
Now, she will run OK for about 30' in the morning, and I can commute to work 07:15-07:45 without a problem.
But when it's 5:00 pm and I ride back home (in the heat of August) she will eventually misfire from the rear cylinder, then the front...
... then she will quite simply stall and I will have to coast to the kerb and wait for her to cool down - about 20 minutes.
I checked the plugs - they're white and that is a clear indicator of superlean air/fuel ratio.
Superclean and dry electrode tells me mixture is too lean ?
Still, I don't undestand whi she should stall - unless the plugs overheat so much they simply stop working ?
Or is it the coil / ECM ?
I took a picture of coil and ECM yesterday and everything looks OK...
Ignition module and coil BUT
What is this loose white/black wire?
Coil and ECM do NOT appear to be fried nor do they smell of overheated plastic/rubber... still...
...if I were to replace them, MUST they be exactly the very same items or can any 92-99 coil/ECM be used ?
Or would a contemporary item off a Touring or Softail be programmed with different advance and rise curves ?
If so... as I do not intend to race but tour and putt-putt my way along, which might be preferrable ?
Please help, I am losing my mind over this and as it's summer vacation time here all the indies and local dealerships are closed at least until Mon 29 August...
Last edited by mpescatori; Aug 16, 2016 at 02:26 AM.
Or even the ignition pickup in the cam nose cone. Look for brown melted goo.....
Pop off the small round cover to inspect....
If it ain't the coil (FSM has a test to see if the coil is good) I'm leaning towards the thermal breakers.
I guess I can buy one and replace it myself... 3ohms dual fire right ?
(and new plug leads/boots while I'm at it...)
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You can test the coil, the factory manual tells you how, but, sometimes they test out OK and are still bad under real conditions especially when they heat up.
Same thing with wires, you can check them with a meter, but, probably good idea to replace them if original.
Also, I think someone mentioned circuit breaker? Might want to replace your main/ignition breakers while your in there.
Your bike is old, so connections can be lose, oxidized, etc. Check your wires, terminals and connections. If it were my bike, my next step would be the coil, but I have a second 3.0 ohm coil so swapping is no big deal.
If not the coil, then I would replace circuit breakers (after checking connections). You have one 30 amp as the main, and two 15 amps tied together with a bus bar for ignition. The 4th is for accessories (15 amp).
You can pick up circuit breakers locally at orielly or advance but they will have a metal mounting strap on them. The strap can be cut off so it will fit in your bike or you may get lucky and find them without the strap.
It kind of sounds like intake O-rings leaking after the bike gets good and warm. Have you checked that for leaks? YD
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I was also advised to investigate fuel starvation due to vapor lock (gas boiling in carb bowl)














