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Tell us how you finally solved the engine quit while riding
I am a new member, so please bare with me. I have a 2006 Road King Classic I purchased 3 mos. ago. I have had 3 events where the bike has shut down while riding. An interesting story for later. Speedo died and so did engine when I pulled in the clutch. I have searched all over and found that I am not alone. What I found was that there are many possible causes and solutions for this problem. The problem is that because the problem is so often intermittent and there are so many different causes and fixes the thread would go stale and become outdated before a final solution to this problem was presented for their particular bike. So I'm not asking for an opinion on my bike, but would like to start a thread as to what was the final solution that cured this problem for you. So many times I saw I tried this or that but then the thread got old and who knows what happened. This might save others hours scouring for answers. Thanks for any input.
Need more details, but would start with pulling ignition switch to give it a good cleaning, and just replace the main breaker as well.
Also, while replacing main breaker, make sure grounding point on frame next to main breaker is clean and its nut tight as well.
From there, check battery cable to battery, make sure negative battery cable to starter mounting location bolt is tight, and put a multi-meter on the battery with bike running, to make sure charging system is charging, and not a problem with it going over voltage (should not go higher than 14.2 volts with engine rev'd.and battery should be sitting around 13.6 volts before you start the bike).
You might also be seeing some oil accumulation and/or dripping from the bottom of the air filter.
I'll bet a crisp new dollar bill that your IAC is gummed up and dirty, so the engine cannot reliably find idle when coming to a stop.
After stalling, if you start the bike it will run fine again until the next time you pull up to a stop light, etc.
If you feather the throttle, it stays running, but at higher RPM than idle.
Pull the air filter and look inside the intake throat.
Roll your throttle back and forth and watch the butterfly flap move.
It should not be all coated in black gunk, but it probably is.
You'll need to clean the **** out of the intake.
There's a small hole located at the 12:00 position, (in front of the butterfly flap). This hole goes directly to the IAC shaft, spring, etc.
Be sure to spray about 10X more cleaner than you think it should take into this hole.
You can use carb cleaner, MAF cleaner, brake cleaner, or just about anything similar if you have some hanging around the garage.
You'll have to repeat this process every couple thousand miles unless you modify the current crankcase vent routing that sends these gases back into the intake behind the filter.
Truth be known I have explored an intermittent electrical issue somewhat already. Checking cables, connectors, chafed wires and the like. Bike runs great until I look down and see no speedo, pull in the clutch and engine dies I pull over and engine starts right back up and runs fine.. My only finding thus far were corroded contacts on a relay. I cleaned this up and reinstalled but I won't now if this took care of the problem until I go back and put on some more miles. There in lies the problem. Was the fix actually a fix? I was hoping to hear from anyone who had this issue confirm they finally solved the problem. Whatever my issue it it does not trigger any diagnostic codes. Before picture of relay looks pretty bad.
You shouldn't try to patch up junk like that. Years ago, they plated a thick coating of silver on contacts.
Thing of the past. They have a skim coat on brass.
It will be back to the same problem in just a short time.
Silver has little resistance. Brass does and arcs and that resistance creates heat.
My bad. On my phone, and what you said looked line inside relay. You still ought to replace that. My guess is the fuse box is junk too. Guess MD is Maryland. Bike is been in a lot of road salt or outdoors storage.
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Aug 3, 2024 at 12:05 PM.
Corrosion on the positive side ,or the negative side cane cause problems. A through cleaning with electrical cleaner shoug get you back in the game. dielectric grease will help make the best contact. I have a '06 Road King, and last year about this time I was having about the same issue as you. Mine turned out to be a bad battery. I deduced there was a internal break inside the battery. One moment I had 12 volts, the next it was gone. When power was showing, it would start and run fine. 2 miles down the road it was spittin and sputtering, then would quit running. If I waited a few minutes, it was fine again. That **** will drive you crazy.,,
I just took a 30 minute ride without any problems after cleaning the relay contacts. I drove over speed bumps and did some left and right swerves and bike ran fine When I get back to the HD dealer I will get a new relay. A 30 minute ride w/o problems does not mean I definitely have the root problem solved. I will try to keep this thread open and pass along what I find out..
And although dielectric grease is not a helper of conductivity, its it a great coating to slow down the corrosion problem in the first place on the metal parts.
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Tell us how you finally solved the engine quit while riding
