97 FLHTCUI

In previous thread the bike wouldn't start, fixed that today with a new battery, Yay, success.
Or so i thought.

I rebuilt the starter over the winter with all ***** parts.

So started the bike, warmed up, shut off, gear myself up, start bike and away i go to gas station, stop bike get gas, start bike and off for a ride.
I stop to enjoy the lake view.
Try to start bike, a single click, from starter area i believe, several more attempts, same thing.
Fart around checking anything obvious, nope, make a call, wait, try start again, and it starts.
Ride home fine, shut bike off in garage, try restart, starts right up.
Drink a beer.

Any idea what the problem might be?

Another slight problem is it's leaking at either/or both lifter blocks/ lower push rod tube O rings, These are all new HD parts, O rings and gaskets this winter.
Are there better quality O rings gaskets?
Thanks

 

You may have a bad starter relay, or the solenoid coil may be loose in the housing causing a bad ground connection.

 

I would check the charging system.. Stator should put out 16 vac at idle and 33 vac at 2000 rpm and 13.9-14.2 vdc at the battery providing the battery has a standing charge of 12.8 vdc nothing on..

 

O-rings are pretty much similar. It was probably pinched, so if you have adjustable PRs, you can fix that easily.

 

Check your voltage at the wire leads and the battery lead. 12.7 remember 12.3 won't crank. A new battery may be bad or just need charged.

Those lower o-rings are easy to nick or get out of place.

 

Trick on the push rod O rings, is to dielectric grease them, and the upper tubes, so when you install the tubes, they do seal correctly. Also, may have to use a Screw driver to push on the tubes flange section to seat the upper tube section into the head ring to begin with. As for install, upper tube lightly greases, drop on spring cover, spring, steel O ring with it flat side to the spring, the O ring, then lower tube in place.

As for lifter blocks, use the alignment bolts to get the oil passages correctly indexed, make sure that the block and case surfaces cleaned correctly so the new gasket can seal correctly on it own, and use 242 loctite on the 1/4" 12 point bolts so they don't come loose again once they have been correctly torqued in the end.

Amazon has the lifter block alignment index pin bolts for $10 if you don't have a lathe to just make some up isntead.

As for starter, did you rebuild the starter solenoid as well? If not, could be a burnt spot on the contact disc that is not allowing a clean contact to the cross pads. If it you did, and don't have a low battery. bad starter relay or wiring problem, then when is the last time you pulled the ignition switch apart to clean its contacts up?

 

Find the post on here for "Dreaded Click" and add a second relay to the starter ... did this years ago on my 1996 FLHTCI and never had the problem again

the dreaded click post is actually the last sticky on the list above

 

Had the “Dreaded Click” on my ‘89 EG. After a bunch of troubleshooting and research I stumbled on the “Dreaded Click” post. I had done about everything else so I gave it a try, Hallelujah!!! Worked like a charm. Haven’t had a problem since.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/evo/8...ded-click.html

 

Or you didn't quite tighten the battery terminals enough. Probably the negative...

 

My 97 Electra Glide would do that randomly.
I put one of those manual starter buttons that attach to the end of the starter.
I might of needed it only once every couple hundred starts. But when needed it was well worth it.