Hey, guys,

I'm having a heck of a time geting mine to run,......would appreciate any input.
I have an "87 FLHTC, but not stock. I've only had it for a little over a year, and now have what I believe is ignition problem. It starts, idles just fine, but when accelerate to more than 2500 rpm, it will begin missing, and will cough, sputter, backfire,and die if I don't back off the throttle.
I first thought, gas problem, and checked carb, and fuel line, all ok. Then it wouldn't start at all, no spark at plugs. I replaced coils, thinking they had faile, (work until hot, then fail).Still not fixed, although would start now, but back to same prob. I read here some others had same symptoms, and was ignition mod. Replaced,....same prob persists. My indy shop says since it has dual plug heads, it has been wired differently from stock. The ign/mod is from a (one year only----label on bike says #284 / 800, 1987 custom)
Serv tech at local dealer said it had to be cam sensor,.....my indy has it now, but he said '87's didn't have a cam sensor,.....does it, or not?...if so, where is it located? Could it be also known by another name?
About to just give up and park it til next yr,save up some money,..........help....? Thanks....

 

I had problems with my cam sensor. Usaully when they go bad they will soften.
You can tell if they are bad by removing the cover and seeing if you can dig your fingernail
into the sensor it will soften from the heat when it fails. Mine would just quit running, thenstart
after it cooled down a little bit a few minutes or so. However, my coil and module also went
out for some reason.Anyway mine is a 92 ultra classic. Also I was looking at the parts catalog
and the year model goes back to 84 for the cam sensor. 84 to 93 for the one i was looking at.
I'm sure someone else knows a lot more about it them me. Hopes this helps.
Dave Oh yeah it is inside the nose cone just remove the 2 screws from the plate and you will see it.

 

ddhill, thanks,
I've looked under the nose cone before, and thought that might be it, but couldn't see how to get it out to change it. I'll talk to my indy mech about that tomorrow. Thanks,again, I'll post the end results when I get it running.

 

Cam sensor is a twin cam thing . You have a rotor cup in the nose cone behind the ignition . They usualy don't go bad . It's just a steel cup that spins triggering your ignition .

 

Well, whatever you want to call it, that was the problem. Remember I said it wasn't stock '87,....it has a timing cam sensor, and when we replaced it, the bike started running again without failing when hot......finally, after a month of head scratching, and testing, I can get some riding in before summer runs out!

 

Glad to hear it! Mine is just now running right. Its a great feeling when it finally runs the way it is supposed to. Good riding!
Dave