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There is a question at the end of this, just wanted to let you guys know what got me to this point . . .
Mechanically everything seems great. After putting just short of 100 miles on the rebuild i made the mistake of making 2 changes at the same time. Adding a tach and switching to a S&S super E. I had the Keihin butterfly carb tuned and running great before the rebuild but changing the cam from stock to J grind apparently required a jetting change and i didn't feel like going thru the hell of re-tuning that Keihin again. Coincidentally, a buddy gifted me his super E at this time . . . so . . . sure why not. After chasing gremlins i realize the wiring harness was chiwanese crap i put on when i first got the bike before you guys taught me about the "chiwanese" parts issue. So I've just spent the last 2 days going thru my entire wiring harness and replacing all my crappy connections. I now have bright lights that stay on and don't flicker or dim at random times. I've gone thru the intake and the super E has a fresh rebuild and I'm still having the popping, farting and coughing issues. After spending the last 1.5 hours reading thru all threads in this forum relating to these symptoms I am now looking at my ignition module as the suspect. A link to the one i put on the bike (which has got 5k -7k miles on it) when i first got her and my question is what is the life expectancy of these? And, of course, I'm asking for recommendations. I don't have a fat wallet I don't require a monster performance system as the motor only has what i call "minor performance upgrade".
Popping and coughing.... are you sure that you do not have an intake manifold leak? What is the jetting on the E-carb?. I would not assume the ignition module is suspect until you rule out the jetting on the carb as well as ensuring the intake manifold is not leaking. Also, what are you using to support the carb body?
That system from J&P looks like it is also some foreign crap.I know zero about that brand. Dyna S (IMO anyway) is probably the best on the market for Shovels today if you replace the module.
And just a question as to "why" you changed out the ignition module when you bought it. What was in there? Stock would have been the V-1 electronic system (in 80 they went with the V-2). Was it not functioning properly? Yes the earlier units were suspect; seemed they either worked...or not. My 78-1/2 has the V-1 system and it is still functioning correctly (knock on wood). My 84 is running the V-2 system. Almost 80K on the clock and no problems yet.
Last edited by panz4ever; Apr 8, 2020 at 11:21 AM.
Popping and coughing.... are you sure that you do not have an intake manifold leak? What is the jetting on the E-carb?. I would not assume the ignition module is suspect until you rule out the jetting on the carb as well as ensuring the intake manifold is not leaking. Also, what are you using to support the carb body?
That system from J&P looks like it is also some foreign crap.I know zero about that brand. Dyna S (IMO anyway) is probably the best on the market for Shovels today if you replace the module.
And just a question as to "why" you changed out the ignition module when you bought it. What was in there? Stock would have been the V-1 electronic system (in 80 they went with the V-2). Was it not functioning properly? Yes the earlier units were suspect; seemed they either worked...or not. My 78-1/2 has the V-1 system and it is still functioning correctly (knock on wood). My 84 is running the V-2 system. Almost 80K on the clock and no problems yet.
I am positive the intake is leak free. Not going to even try to ramble on about what i've gone thru to make that happen. I forgot to mention the issue is intermittent. My last little test ride is when my brain started working again and i realized my lights were flickering whenever the issue came back. That's when i decided to go thru the electrical and replace all connections. I've been thru all the combinations of jets that i have available intermediate: .028, .0295, .031, .032, .033, .034. main: .066 + .002" increments up to and including .078. and the symptom never changes.
When i got the bike I was told by my friend (the previous owner) that he suspected the module was going out. From memory it looked like an original, but i can't say for sure. I do remember it looking like it had been left in a toaster oven for too long. I went ahead and just replaced it with what's in there now. As mentioned in the opening of thread this took place before i learned about the issue with the cheap imitation crap, so i replaced crap with crap.
K, definitely seems like you got the carb and intake stuff ruled out.
Good suggestion by Joe12RK re: iginition switch. I assume you have the stock 6 pole switch? First position is engine running with no lights, second position is lights and ignition. Have you tried it with the ignition in the second position to see if the problem goes away. If it operates without issue that would be a dead on description of a bad switch.
Assuming you have checked all connections related to your starting and charging system, you might think about a coil getting ready to crap out. Tho usually the motor will die after the coughing, kicking and sputtering, and once the motor cools, the bike will start again and run and then repeat.
Again I know zero about the system you have installed. Looking at reviews it gets a 5 star rating from J&P (of course) but only 3/5 on other sites (did not read the reviews). Just realized too that the Dyna S is now referred to as the duna tech. And there is another brand that is popular and that is Compufire. Never used it so cannot offer reviews. Can onlyt say I have had good results with the Dyna S setup on 2 Shovels and couple of EVO motors.
Hopefully someone will chime in on your brand.
Last edited by panz4ever; Apr 8, 2020 at 02:57 PM.
Don't have a spare sensor at the moment so here's what i did. With the rev limiter set where it's always been, setting 3 @ 5800rpm, I went for a ride and watched as: the problem only occurs above 2000rpm. When the popping/farting happens the tach needle also drops in exact correlation. I then adjusted the rev limiter. As i adjusted the rev limit up the problem would start at a higher rpm. With the rev limiter adjusted to setting 8 (6800rpm) the popping /farting doesn't start until 4500rpm. Make sense?
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Re-wire and ignition
