Out of town last week, as I arrived at my destination, my bike stalled out at the first stop light. Would not start unless I used a little throttle. Did this off and on over the next day. Called back home to Harley and they said probably bad gas. I ran out the tank and filled it back up with high test. Ran perfect the 110 mile ride home. Next morning on the way to work, half mile from home, she stalls again. I take it out a couple times on my breaks at work, ride and stop several times, and it's perfect. Ride home the 6 miles after work and still perfect. Riding tonight with the boys and wondering what's gonna happen. I have the only Harley in the bunch and don't want to give them any further ammo to slam me with should I stall again. Anyone have a clue? It has only done this on the downshifting when I'm coming to a stop. Thanks

 

How about some details about the bike? Any engine mods been done? Air Filter, Exhaust, EFI management?


Mike
NY

 

I'm not too sharp on the mechanics of motorcycles. I just know about some of the basics. I bought the bike used from a private owner last Febuary. It's an 06 and had 5200 miles on it at the time. The 5000 mile service had been performed by Harley by previous owner. It is EFI and I just turned 9,000 miles. It has always run perfect. It has scream'n eagle pipes that were put on at time of original purchase, also by Harley. I'm assuming they did whatever was necessary for this mod as there have never been any performance issues with the 4,000 miles I've riden it. As far as the air cleaner, I've never checked it. Like I said, I'm not up on the mechanics and pretty much was just gonna take it in for the 10,000 mile service and rely on Harley. I've done oil changes on my previous bikes and this one as well, and I know this bike has always had synthetic fluids. It is in showroom condition so I was disappointed, to say the least, when I first stalled out.

 

Check the codes or have a wrench do it for U. It should tell U whats going on.

 

So its a 2006 EFI with no mods except HD slipon mufflers.

+1 Dealership should be able to check codes for you. However, some codes disappear between riding sessions so this may or may not tell you anything.

To help others here help you, here's a few questions to try to zero in on possible causes:

-Never did this in the last 4000 miles...only just recently started during this road trip?
-Do you recall any out of ordinary circumstances during your trips or when this happens?
-Did you get gas at a no name backwoods gas place?
-Did you get some high ethanol content fuel?
-Does this occur at common times when riding; when bike is warming up, once fully warmed up, after riding for extended periods on interstate, on a full tank or below half tank, etc...?
-Is there any common weather characteristics when this happens? Excess heat, humidity, etc?

Could be dirty injectors from gunky gas. Could be dirty or partially clogged fuel filter. Could be electrical (odd ECM issue). There are some fuel delivery sensors that could be going faulty. Could also be injectors themselves. Some early 06 Softails had issues with injectors that caused driveability problems including stalling. There was a service bulletin out and injectors were replaced by HD on models affected (http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/download...jectorswap.pdf has a copy or just do a google search for M-1185). There was no specific mileage that symptoms would start occurring and not all of them had problems. So it is possible you are just now experiencing issues related to this.

Although 90% of the time stuff like this turns out to be something very simple (like crappy gas), I do suggest you review the service bulletin and at least rule that out as a possible cause.

If this persists and you don't have any telltale trouble codes, look for some MC rated injector/fuel system cleaner, use good, brand name gas for a few tanks, and consider changing the fuel filter. Those are all inexpensive steps to take. If the problem persists you can at least rule out those elements as causes. That will save you some money I think because at that point its time to take it to someone for more detailed analysis.

Good luck.

 

I'm assuming on the way home you did not stop for gas again. If there was any debrix floating in the gas it would run fine until the bike started to get low on fuel. Now keep in mint this would not be water in the gas but maybe some particulate matter. So I would rune her dry, check your fuel filter, if clean refill with gas you know is good ie Local station you always use. If it does again I would certainly take to dealer to have codes run. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

I have the same intermittent problem. I've seen a few other posts about the same issue.

Pull clutch in, bike dies. May not repeat for weeks. I'm not getting any check engine light but have a recurrent 0131 historical code (low front o2 sensor). Don't know if the two are related. Still troubleshooting.

It's not gas because wife and others get gas from the same place. Fuel filter would be last place I would look. If it's getting full flow at speed why would it stall at idle and intermittently. Plus, far as I know the only filter is in the tank and it's a project to get at.

 

I HATE INTERMITTENT PROBLEMS.

Much better when it just doesn't run. So much easier to pinpoint and fix.

 

Possibly an IAC malfunction.

 

Mine did the same thing had the dealer check and on '06 there is an injector update they did it under warranty. Runs like a top now.