Hot or Warm start trouble
Thread Starter
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Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
From: Chaska, MN
Hot or Warm start trouble
A perplexing situation. When my 09 FXSTC (softail custom) is cold it starts and runs great. When it's hot or real warm and I try to restart it, it'll go one revolution and Ill get a clunk and a cough out the intake, and some nasty sounds from the crank case. There's a new battery installed. There's also a dealer installed HD tuner and Python 2 into 1 exhaust and a heavy breather. It has not been retuned or dyno'd since going from 2 into 2 to the Python.
At first I thought it was a weak battery not having enough power to get past the 1st compression stroke. So I'm thinkin it's rocker arms-push rods- valve situation. Please.... gimme some feed-back.
(also posted in Engine forum)
At first I thought it was a weak battery not having enough power to get past the 1st compression stroke. So I'm thinkin it's rocker arms-push rods- valve situation. Please.... gimme some feed-back.
(also posted in Engine forum)
Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,898
Likes: 67
From: Saint Amant, Acadiana
That's your fuel/ignition management. Get rid of dealer installed stuff (wasted money) and go for real deal. ThunderMax is the top, several other less capable but still good solutions are out there.
Thread Starter
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Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
From: Chaska, MN
Can't afford another tuner Von. I'll have to have this one adjusted.
Cruiser
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 231
Likes: 0
My 07 Deluxe is like that at times, no most of the time . The engine builds compression when it gets hot, thought the moco got that fixed for 09. You may have an early production bike. With mine , if I open the throttle a bit on hot re-start , it does better. The real fix is to install some easy-start cams, but that is a bit costly. They work like a compression release. No more kickback on start-up. Around $8 to $9 hundred, unless you do the work yourself.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 4,109
Likes: 9
From: Connecticut
If the bike has a race tuner with it that can be adjusted out. One thing you can do too is to hit the start button before the check engine light goes out. Make sure you tell the tech what it is doing so he can adjust it out.
4th Gear
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Cypress, Texas
My '09 FLSTC performs similarly. Cold starts are picture perfect, hot starts 5% of the time, but warm starts (like if I ride for about two miles to get gas) it sounds like the starter is grinding the flywheel. I bump the starter three or four times and it catches. I've heard a ton of possibilities (compensator sprocket, battery, starter clutch, starter, broken teeh on flywheel). But until I can take it to the shop, I just live with it. The battery is fine (load tested) and I just changed the fluids and saw only minute shavings on drain plugs. If it was broken teeth on the flywheel, I'd think I'd have seen something more significant and it'd do it on cold starts. Guess I'll have to take it to the shop and let someone dig into it.
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,158
Likes: 68
From: Martinsburg, WV
A perplexing situation. When my 09 FXSTC (softail custom) is cold it starts and runs great. When it's hot or real warm and I try to restart it, it'll go one revolution and Ill get a clunk and a cough out the intake, and some nasty sounds from the crank case. There's a new battery installed. There's also a dealer installed HD tuner and Python 2 into 1 exhaust and a heavy breather. It has not been retuned or dyno'd since going from 2 into 2 to the Python.
At first I thought it was a weak battery not having enough power to get past the 1st compression stroke. So I'm thinkin it's rocker arms-push rods- valve situation. Please.... gimme some feed-back.
(also posted in Engine forum)
At first I thought it was a weak battery not having enough power to get past the 1st compression stroke. So I'm thinkin it's rocker arms-push rods- valve situation. Please.... gimme some feed-back.
(also posted in Engine forum)
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Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 705
Likes: 8
From: southern IL
Starter clutch is what it sounds like to me. I had the same problem with my 09 Fatboy, started last summer. Cold it would fire up right away, but any warming and it would clunk like it was about to explode, but if I kept pushing the button it would fire basically the 2nd time around. From what I understand they didn't upgrade the starter clutch when going from TC88 to 96B.
I thought it was still under warranty, but that ended last November... so it was $300 to get fixed. I could have done it myself if I had known but that's another story. Starter clutch kit itself is $100.
I thought it was still under warranty, but that ended last November... so it was $300 to get fixed. I could have done it myself if I had known but that's another story. Starter clutch kit itself is $100.