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Sportster Coil Problems

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Old Jul 29, 2018 | 02:10 PM
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Default Sportster Coil Problems

Son has a 1998 Sportster 1200. Was very hard to start when he first bought it a month or so ago. Now it cranks, but won’t fire up. I pulled carb apart and cleaned everything up good. Still no start.


Also, I have a hot and neutral wire going to the coil small leads. Does it matter which leads the wires get connected to, when putting it back together?

Thanks for any help.
 

Last edited by txphatboy; Jul 29, 2018 at 02:36 PM.
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Old Jul 29, 2018 | 03:50 PM
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White or white/black wire to coil is the +12V to the coil. Pink is the ground controlled by the ignition module. Doesn't matter the orientation as long as you don't put them on the same side as it will burn out the ignition. Typically the white is on the right side of the bike, and the pink is on the left, but it really doesn't matter which.

As for the starting issue, check compression, fuel, and spark. When you narrow down which of those three is missing you can start to troubleshoot.
 
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Old Jul 29, 2018 | 07:17 PM
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If you it's wired correctly, Pull the plug and see what color the spark is, should be blue....if yellow or orange, it's the coil. Had an issue with my scoot
 
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Old Jul 29, 2018 | 10:27 PM
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Thanks for the comments. I pulled plugs before I cleaned up the carb, and checked for spark. I was not seeing a consistent spark and when I did, it was not nearly as strong as when I have checked spark on my Fatboy.

Is the ni reading between the small post and the spark plug wire confirmation that secondary winding is bad?
 
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