I have a 2000 road king carbureted. Upon starting it runs for awhile and then shuts off. it will still turn over but not start. I shut the ignition off and turn it back on and it will start again, and then do the same thing all over again. Once it quits I leave the ignition on and pull the plugs and it has no spark. Turn the ignition off and on again it regains its spark for awhile. Can anyone help. Thank you

 

Sounds like your ignition module might be going bad.
Try cleaning the connection to see if that helps.
It might not hurt to use some dielectric grease on the connection too.

 

where exactly is the ignition module located located on a 2000 Road King. Thanks for your help

 

Before jumping to the conclusion that you have a bad ignition module, be sure to check the simple, cheap things first.
Make sure that your battery is fully charged and that all cables are clean and tight.

My 2000 Ultra (at 75,000 miles) started giving me problems ( i.e. stalling, starting).
My problem turned out to be a defective "kill" switch.

Good thing is your bike is not EFI (MM for your model year) and they have a bad rep for reliability.

If you suspect that it is your ECM, try placing ice (ice packs, frozen veggies) on/near the ECM (to keep it cool),start your bike and see if your bike runs longer than it would without the ice packs.

I had an ECM go bad on an '87 Softail Custom (they're much more reliable these days) and the symptoms ranged from stalling to failure to start.

Good luck.

 

Has the Main Breaker ever been changed? There was a recall in that period. Mine quit twice before I changed the breaker over 5 years ago. No problems since. Mine also started again eventually after ignition off/on but everything was dead up to that point.

 

This is a tough one, it can be several things, Like ragtop said clean all the connections, like dave said, could be the main, but everything will go off.
Like 2am said check all your connections, grounds.
IT could be the EMC or the TSSM/TSM.
The TSSM has the bank angle sensor and security, and could be sending a kill signal to the EMC
I doubt it is the coil, as resetting wont help a coil problem, same with the crank sensor.
Have you tried to retrieve the codes to see if it is throwing a code.
Mine was doing the same thing except mine you would have to wait for about half an hour, was not resiting with a key shut off and it was only doing it when it was cold.
It turned out to be the crank positioning sensor.
I hate giving this advice I practically never tell people this but when the EMC or TSSM is involved, because of the cost to replace either, and no way to really test them it might be better to take it to the dealer to test.
Gosh I cant believe I said that.
You can buy everything on e-bay but no guarantee, and i think the new TSSM is two hundred bucks or more, sure the EMC is about the same.
you can get aftermarket, EMCs but have no advice on that.

 

Battery is fully charged. Tried the ice method with no change. Took ECM out and went to Harley dealer here n San Jose. 281.00 dollars. Didn't buy it yet. What and where is the TSM or TSSM? Should I consider a possible key switch problem? I struggle with electrical problems. Thanks for all your help with possibilities!

 

Yes it could be a ignition switch, but there will be more symptoms to look for. Let me try to explain as simply as I can.
There are two contacts when the switch is turned to the ignition side, one is the ignition the other is the one that is wired to everything on the acc side of the switch.
If you start the bike and you loose contact to the ignition contact then the bike will die, but the lights will stay ON since it is still making contact to the acc contact.
However the lights in the speedometer will go out, same as if you just turn the switch to acc.
That is how you can tell if it is the switch, plus if you wiggle the switch just a little it will come back on.
Mine does this once in a while. You can take the switch apart and clean re-grease the switch and it will make things better, if that is the problem.
I would NOT buy a new ECM for the bike unless you are sure that is the problem. Yea most likely it is but like we said before there are too many things that can cause this problem.
The key to this riddle is that when the bike dies then you have to turn the switch off to get it to reset.
That eliminates so many things and that is why it looks like one of the computers on the bike.
Personally I would take the bike in and have a dealer put their computer on the bike and see if they can diagnose it. They might just throw a new ECM on the bike to see if that takes care of the problem, if it does then they will leave it on, if not they can take the part off and restock it, they will not do this for you.
Like I said, in all the years of giving advice I have never told someone to take the bike in, but in this instance for an hour of diagnostic time, it would be worth it for me.
You could very easily throw a six hundred to a thousand bucks at the bike and not fix the problem just replacing parts.
The TSSM/TSM I believe is under the panel on the side of the Road King, but in all honesty not sure.
It is going to look like this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151126551408...84.m1438.l2649
Like we said unplug it and clean those contact also, The TSSM and EMC work together so.



.

 

thanks Cruiser!

 

No problem, you can pick them up on e-bay pretty cheap, I think HD was still calling them ignition modules for your year. Usually about a hundred bucks give or take, some places even give guarantees, they are from wrecked bikes and you can hear them run.
The number will be on the module.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-HARL...1418c1&vxp=mtr

This is for a softail think the no are different.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HARLEY-DAVID...21310947544%26
Do you have any friends with the same type bike, these are pretty universal up until about 05 I think, see if you can swap for a test.