Background:[/b] '02 Dyna Lowrider 95", 9.8:1 CR, 44CV carb with a Woods KT3 needle, DTT ign., & Pro-Pipe & a new month old battery. I've had what I believe to be a lean miss when riding in temps in the low 50's & below. I passed emissions on Feb. 18th so I figured I'd try & fix the lean condition. I shimmed the needle with a #4 washer (.03 thk.). Went for a test ride on the freeway, got about 4 miles & the bike died. No coughs, stumbles or anything, the engine just lost power completely. After sitting for about 15 mins. & numerous tries at re-starting it fired up. I made it back about another 3 miles & it died again, engine just quit. Lights are all still working fine. Same thing as before. 15-20 minutes later & after numerous tries it fires back up & I made it the last mile home. I took out the washer from under the needle thinking I had way too much fuel & it was flooding out. BTW, I did pull the rear plug the 1st time it died & it looked fine. After I changed the carb back to original I went for a test drive, made it 1/4 mile & the engine died. Again waited & finally got it to fire up & made it home. Each time the engine died the DTT ign. flashed 1 flash every 3 seconds indicating a Crank Position Sensor Fault. The next day I replaced the CKP sensor went for test ride for about 20-30 minutes no problems, it's fixed!!! On the way to work the next day I got about 9 miles down the freeway & it again died. Except this time it wouldn't fire up after over a half hour of trying & the battery starting to go dead. Got a tow home. Called DTT & they said the single flash will happen anytime the engine loses power & doesn't necessarily indicate a CKP sensor issue. So now the fun begins:[/b] Took the battery to have it trickle charged over-night. The next day I picked -up the recharged battery, installed it & replaced the DTT ign. with a SE -5 degree ign. and tried starting as before. The engine will crank but not start, after about 5-6 tries the battery went dead & the starter just clicked. The next day I got a new battery & found that if I sprayed carb cleaner into the carb I could get the bike to run if I kept spraying at the right intervals.[/b] Now I'm thinking it's an air/fuel problem. When putting a vacuum to the petcock vacuum line fuel did flow so I took the carb completely apart & cleaned it thoroughly. No jets were clogged & emulsion tube was good also. Sprayed carb cleaner thru all the ports & they all seemed clear. Put the carb back together & on the bike & it still wouldn't start. It will crank, but not run. Next I replaced the stock vacuum petcock with a Custom Chrome non-vacuum petcock. Again cranks, but won't run. Finally the new battery ran down, even tried jumping the bike with my truck to no avail. Again it will run spraying carb cleaner into the carb, but that's it. I'm stumped. I can't figure this one out, can anyone help me?!?!?

 

put the DDT ignition back in, test the battery with proper equipment and replace if nessesary.

then ck the charging system. and go from there.

 

Sometimes a coil will do that when it's going bad, run until it gets hot then quit.

 

It's gotta be a fuel issue if it'll stay running with an outside fuel source. Is the bowl filling up?


It sounds like it was running the bowl dry and it took a while to fill the bowl again before it would start.

Petcock filter clogged? I know you said that you replaced it, but who knows.

Try taking the gas cap off and seeing what happens. If the vented cap goes to **** it'll starve the fuel flow. Haven't seen it on a Harley but it's kind of common on dirt bikes. Worth a try.

 

Did you check the float needle, if it hangs up it will stop or restrict the fuel flow. If it's worn(vibration can do it)it can stick in the seat and cleaning won't help.
A long shot would be if your fuel line runs up against the engine it could create a vapor lock condition. When it cools the lock goes away. Good Luck!

 

Well, I gave up & took it to a local indy. Here's what he found:
1. the gasket/seal between the carb & intake manifold had a tear in it.
2. the voltage regulator was fried.

He said after they replaced the seal the bike fired right up & idled normally. He's getting me a regulator to replace myself since he knows I do my own work on my bike. Hopefully this will take care of the lean miss as well, I'll find out tomorrow.

I appreciate everyone suggestions. I knew it had to be AFR related somehow, but everything I tried failed. It figures it was something so simple as a tear in the gasket that I overlooked. One good thing though I probably wouldn't have caught the voltage regulator either.

 

I was following your thread on the msn board (I guess I can admit that here) and have a question. Was there any indication when the regulator fired or why? I can understand how that would kill a perfectly good battery, but I would think there would be some kind of trouble code, the engine light or something indicated that would lead you back to the regulator. It may be just a coincidence that it fried at the same time or maybe the DTT had something to do with it, who knows?

 

That's an interesting thought D-glide. I'm electrially ignorant. I checked DTT's diagnostic info & there is feedback that their ign. will give if there is low battery voltage, as in almost totally dicharged, that they say is most likely a defective volt. reg., alternator or battery. I never did get the ignition throwing that code though. A knowledgeable co-worker told me a malfunctioning volt. reg. could affect the ignition timing which could've been causing what I thought were lean misses. We'll see.