Yep, it's stock, except for bolt on pipes and a high flow air filter. Not that it should be the cause after all this time, but I'm working on a battery cable upgrade. Even with a hot battery and new starter, I've always felt it cranks a little slow. It's not the problem, but it could be contributing..

 

Has the pcm been re flashed or have you added an after market fuel management?
Because with out it, there might be cause for air to fuel issues that might cause a similar problem

 

Nope, no after market fuel management system or anything like that..

 

Well its possible that when the engines hot there may not be enough fuel to compensate for the extra air coming in from the filter
Im not an expert but I know enough to not have added the air filter without some FMS

 

I didn't add the air filter. It came with the bike. I've since put 47,000 miles on it without a hitch..

 

Yes! You mentioned that earlier on. NVM then brother. Hope you get it sorted out soon

 

My 07 Deluxe would do this after it was good and warmed up on occasion .Someone on this site suggested to just turn the key switch on and then hit the start and kill switch at the same time. Been working for me.

 

Since you mentioned that it has a stock ecm and you once said it was carbureted and "except for an air cleaner and pipe mod"... any one of those makes a difference. So I'm going with the assumption that no one put a Thundermax (or similar) ECM on it (or a piggyback like a Power Commander), that it has a stock cam, and you have a stage 1 kit on the bike.

I am not absolutely positive, but as I recall the '07 softails didn't have a very good closed loop EFI system. This means that they did not propperly autoadjust for varying engine changes because they "held the EPA line". You are running the bike lean with the stage 1 kit unless some adjustment to the ECM has been made... either by a dealer with a dyno or by autoadjustment by an aftermarket system (if your bike has that).

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/h...erformance.htm

So when it is hot out and your engine has some 'time' on it, there may not be the correct fuel charge for starting because it's even leaner. The other distinct possibility is that you are delivering spark or fuel 'out of spec'. A fuel pressure test can get rid of the latter (this might be a symptom of a problem that will become worse) and an electrical draw down test during cranking will get rid of the former. It doesn't matter what the charging system seems to be doing... if the battery isn't providing power at startup that is in spec, then the ECM doesn't correctly respond.

And finally, heat is the enemy of electricity. Your ignition switch could be going bad and the heat from the engine combined with the heat in the environment can be defeating the good connection that is required to your ignition switch (not the start switch). Pull the dash and look to see if there is any discoloration in the connectors to the switch. Disconnect the battery, then the switch, and pull the connector to make sure there is no black on the contacts. If not, smear it with dialectic grease and put it back together and go on with the 'snipe' hunt.

Good luck.

C#

 

Thanks! I can tell you that it does run a little lean. How would I run a fuel pressure test? I did replace the main Ignition switch a couple of years ago. It was giving me trouble. I took it apart to diagnose it and from the looks of it it saw some high amperage at some point. One of the contacts had sunken into the plastic and visually it had seen enough heat to deform the plastic.

Given that it lugs hard on the compression stroke sometimes, where I usually have the problem, I've been thinking along the lines of a timing issue, but I'm not sure.

When I was at the dealer the other day one of the techs, who I think is pretty good, mentioned the engine temp sensor.

 

Pitbull, youre in Tejas where its hot, but if by chance the temps happen to dip below 60^ and the issue isnt present; cances are that some fuel management system may help