Been awhile since I been on. New job (real estate) is hammering me. We got some nice weather on Thanksgiving Here in Kentucky so I ride the bike to see family 100 miles away. Half way there the check engine light kicks on and stays on for 5 to 10 seconds and goes off. A few minutes later it does it again. And then again but never comes on the rest of the way. No change in how the bike is performing. Very smooth.

On the way home I get half way and it starts again and does it 4 times then nothing the rest of the way. Any ideas. It does have 50k and it is a 98 Electra Glide.

 

I would check the battery cables and any grounds.

 

On planet Spanners we are used to this phenomenon and have formed the opinion that it often only means that the engine check light is confused.

When we import bikes into NZ from the USA we get a lot of engine check light issues until the unit is used to our gas.....this is especially true of carburettered Twin Cams.

 

In order to fix that particular problem I suggest you ride your bike more often, in order to keep fresh fuel in the tank.

50k miles! Congratulations the engine is just now "broken-in".

 

Well all that sounds plausible and eases my fears a bit. I was fearing the worst and I suppose there still could be a serious problem. Time will tell. I will check cables and grounds. And I guess I am going to have to find more time to ride. DAMN!! LOL. Tongue in cheek of course.

I do have a small problem. My insurance stops on December 1 and picks back up on March 1st. Still has coverage for theft etc. Tank is full. Should I still use a fuel preserve in the tank.

 

Paul,

In my opinion fuel additive (like Sta bil) can't hurt, and it's rather cheap. That said, with the tank full today's gas is pretty stable and should remain so over the course of 4 months.

 

When I trained as an engineer I was taught that the only thing a warning light tells us is that the bulb works! If you do nothing it may continue to come on, possibly come on full time, when something finally fails. Best to investigate and fix what ever it is.

Or you could ship it to Spanners, so he can run it on NZ gas for a while!!!!

 

Anything so serious you should stop riding will usually make a nasty noise....the one light you never ignore is the oil pressure light.

 

Well thanks for the input. Exactly what I was hoping to hear. Bike is running very well so I wont worry about it now. Hell thats one of the reasons I have AAA lol.

 

Usually a check lamp will light and then go off later if the computer detects a minor voltage variance from the sensors. If the voltage variance is within the preset " dont really worry about this " parameters of the computer , you will see the lamp on for a bit , then off . The computer will keep these minor codes in its memory for later retreival . If you see a check light come on and stay on , you have a " hard fault " and it needs to be fixed asap.
Check for stale gas as advised as the o2 sensors dont like it.
I would refill tank with high test gas and a shot of SeaFoam gas additive or any injector cleaner additive then take her out and run her hard to clean the o2 sensors.