My 1996 1340Roadking has developed a fault in the electrics first happened 10 days ago when the engine stopped on the freeway at 80 mph. The electrics had dropped out ! not completely but the ignition and fuel gauge. I managed to pull up safely turned the dead ignition off and back on and hey presto it all comes back on. Off I go again but as I build up speed it drops out again. I got home by keeping my seed and revs down without a hitch until I stopped a red light and it just died again. Its really strange as this fault is very intermttent I would rather it just stopped all together then at least you could start from scratch to find the fault. Anyone got any ideas on whats going on ??

frustrated chef[&o]

 

a few ideas,
1-possible coil taking a dump?
2-the ignition itself taking a dump.
3-run/stop switch ?
4-tilt sensor, would set after a large bump
5-ignition switch faulty?
6-missing/loose/broken battery ground(-) wire
7-intermittant short. triggered by bump or vibration.
8-review battery and charging system are OK

 

one of these videos shows how to check battery.
http://www.expertvillage.com/video-s...aintenance.htm

 

If you are unable to find any obvious issues i had the same problem with my 00 and it turned out to be the stator was shorting out when it would heat up and then cool off and shrink slightly and start right back up.

 

Chef,

I feel your pain. I have the same 1996 1340 FI in and Ultra.

I have been chasing with theeffort of my local HD dealer the same problem. It started out as a grounding problem which was traced back to the headlight. This caused a high voltage spike which looks to have fried the ECM. Replaced the ECM with the 97 programmable model which of course required a MAP. Stage 1 programmed in.Also at times the bike would not start, either there was not enough voltage to turn the bike over or it turned and the bike would not fire.I beleived that this was two seprate problems.The turn over not firehappen right in front of the service tech, so that also went on the service request. This little problem was never uncovered. They supposedly tested all power circuits and grounds on the bike, nothing other than the headlight.

Opon the ride home from this repair, my engine light which previously had onlyregistered an 8 second historical code (which was to replace the ECM) began a new dance, the light would come on a and go off on random cycles. Also, the bikemissed during acceleration, almost a cut-out of the ignition.So back to the dealer. Tested all the circuitry again, nothing.The ECMwas traced to a "Low Battery Condition", new battery. More than likely it got fried with the high voltage spikes. The engine miss was never uncovered.

Riding the bike this Sunday. Doing about 70mgh on the highway and the bike goes completely dead for like 20 seconds then it comes back to life,restarts before I come to a complete stopand all is well again. Later in the day it happens 3 more times,twice it restarted after cycling through the ignition, the last time it died and would turn over and not start. Same problem as in first paragraph but now it has grown to cutting out when the bike is moving. Take the bike over to the club, we are having a poker run and it starts to draw the attention of the 50 or so bikers in the parking lot. It failed to start again only once, we fiddled with the iginition and the kill switches and it fired back up.General concensus of the group, ignition switch.The bikewould not only die but all the lights and the tach when dead. Everybody though different things, kill switch, fuel pump and coil, but no of those would actually shut down the lights.I rode it to my nephews house a few miles awayand had it towed into HD on Monday morning.

They were presented with it and they we not to thrilled to see it again. I having them repalce the ignition and kill switches and test the fuel pump and coil. I haven't heard from them at all since the drop off so I can't give you any info on the current situation.

By the way at the dealer, it started fine and ran perfect.

I really pissed because it was taking me to Rolling Thunder this weekend, but its not going anywhere unless I feel comfortable the problems are behind me with this last fix. I won't even go into how much money this has cost me.

Good Luck, let me know how yours turns out.

Skooba

 

Check/replace the main circuit breaker. There were problems with them.

 

Peppi,

I have been assured the the main breaker is in tip-top condition and does not need to be replaced. I asked them to check it again.

Thanks