Hi, I just joined after buying a 2008 Harley Davidson Electra-Glide Classic with maybe 33,000 km on it, and coming upon what I find is a strange but hopefully simple and easily fixable problem. The bike ran perfect after a huge 20,000 km trip last summer, and around town for awhile before driving it into the unheated shed. I`m ashamed to say I took no storage precautions but its pretty dry here. The battery was strong when I tried starting it, though my keyfob battery died over the 6 months and it wasn`t recognized so the alarm went off a few times until I figured that out. With a new battery in the fob it cranked and cranked but nothing, so I opened up the throttle and after a few chugs it started running extremely roughly (perhaps on one cylinder I`m not sure) but ultimately died just when I thought I had it. I cranked it quite a bit more without going too long each time to avoid starter damage, sometimes with and sometimes without the throttle wide open in case it was flooded despite being EFI. Then I let it sit 5 days and tried again with no throttle, but zilch, so full throttle and still zilch. By now my battery in the bike was getting worn down as I must have cranked it 100 times (tough batteries!), and though I should have done this right off the bat - my garage is a disaster and crowded and I`m used to a bike that has near impossible access to plugs and didn`t realize the Harley`d be so easy - I removed the plugs and was surprised they weren`t soaked since I smelled gas in my tiny garage but maybe its just exhaust in the confined space (though if it didn`t fire there shouldn`t be exhaust.....) but they were pretty dry/damp but not wet for sure. However when I put them in the caps and grounded them and turned it over there was zero spark. Not a hint. The plugs didn`t look too bad, plus, why would it have ran a bit 5 days ago, and ran absolutely flawlessly when I drove it into the garage last fall? Is there some reason you could lose sparkplugs or coils just from cold storage (some -40C but mostly -20C) for 8 months? If the plugs don`t look all crudded up or wet, and don`t fire, could it actually be that both plugs need replacing? Certainly I`m going to try that but the stores are closed today on July 1 and it`s bugging me what to expect. Sorry for the long post, but sometimes every detail possible can help provide an answer, and yes the tank was pretty empty over winter and I added fresh gas (half tank) partway through the cranking....I forget exactly when but before I got too carried away cranking, in case it was starving a bit for fuel or something.

Thanks in advance, and the sooner the better for any answers/suggestions because I HAVE to get it running for Tuesday morning as I leave for vacation and I have another huge trip all planned out. I never imagined after buying a $20k or so 2008 Harley I`d be having problems already....hopefully this is something preventable in the future and my fault (not the bikes).

 

Pull the seat and side covers and look for evidence of mice. Nest, pathway, Those little buggers chew wires. Good luck!

 

My guess is the fuel is old and has water in it from condensation since the fuel tank was nearly empty all winter. Keep in mind that the plugs wont fire if you pull them out and crank it. You must to have compression for the plugs to fire.

 

Drain the tank, put fresh fuel treated with Stabil (or fuel injector cleaner). Crank it over a few times. If it doesn't start let it set a couple days, then try again.

Not true at all. The engine won't fire but if you hold the plug close to the engine you can see the spark jump.

 

What do you expect after 8 months ? if you left a $100,000 car for 8 months with no storage preperation it wouldn't start either .........

Start with the gas tank .....get all the old fuel out of there and fill with fresh gas with a can of injector cleaner and maybe some gas line anti-freeze ... the A/ freeze is to absorb some of the water condensation that is probably in your tank
when you've done that leave tha cap open and turn the key on ...do you hear the fuel pump ? if yes then put some fresh plugs in and start it ....once you get it started you should change the oil ...good chance with the temp differences there that there is some condensation in the oil also .......
next year either drain the tank or add some of that storage stuff to a full tank of gas ..if the tank is full less chance of the condensation forming ....8 months is asking alot of any gas ...down here it would have formed shellac in the tank and the pump and the injectors ....as it might have done to yours

1931 james grab a plug wire touch the bike with a knee and turn that key and then tell me a plug needs compression to fire ....after you jump 5 feet in the air ....................OUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I thought I might be wrong about that but I thought I had read here on the forums that they would not fire unless you had compression. I know this is not the case on older bikes but I thought the new bikes would not fire. Can you confirm this? Thanks.

 

Could be varmints, I`m taking the seat off to charge the dead battery now so I`ll look around though all lights, horn, stereo etc. is perfect unless they targetted my plug wires. There is a squirrel that wreaks havoc with cardboard in there, I see his shenanigans once in awhile, and maybe he got into my wiring but again all other electrical stuff is perfect so it would be some coincidence he`d get the plug wires only, and surely he wouldn`t be malicious enough to go after them to spite me (I`ve let him have his way for years now, with the carboard I mean and never so much as laid a trap for him).

The little gas that was in there at the beginning would have been 8 months old, but the tank read empty and there was very little sloshing around before I added half a tank of fresh over that so I wouldn`t that should be the problem now, not when I have zero spark at least. Yes could be condensation, I have isopropyl here for snowmobiles and maybe I could add that to do whatever that does (keeps it from freezing but I thought it somehow disperses it).

As for the comment about you needing compression for it to spark, I`ve never heard of that before, and read elsewhere that you do as I did (touching grounding electrode to fins and crank to check for spark...not sure how else you`d check for spark if the spark was inside the combustion chamber afterall). On snowmobiles and dirt bikes and other motorcycles you do it that way and you can see the spark, its colour and intensity etc. I bet if you took yours out, put them in the caps, and cranked with grounding electrode on your fins or frame you`ll see sparks without compression. If you don`t please let me know because I`ll have learned something (though wouldn`t understand it).

I`d take it to a dealer but there isn`t one anywhere remotely close which has me slightly panicking due to my impending road trip in 5 days.

 

stick any metallic conducter that will fit in the spark plug boot (long shafted phillips screwdriver ) and hold that a fraction of an inch from the head turn it over and watch for spark ..listen as well as you will hear a snap as the spark jumps from the screwdriver to the head
James without compression there is no combustion but the spark is there still tryin......

 

Like I said it was very very little in their (reading empty, and not much sloshing around) and then I already added fresh gas....about half a tank which would have completely diluted any 8 month old stuff. I suppose I could try, however wouldn`t I first get spark before worrying about that? I could put anything I want in there and with no spark, it ain`t going to start since it`s not a diesel. If I get spark, I`ll try some fuel injector cleaner as a next step maybe, as well as letting it sit etc. The small amount I left in there may have bunged up the fuel filter and/or injectors over 8 months. My dirt bike and snowmobile are carbed, though one is semi-direct injected, and they go 7 months between use with no issue, but agan I start them every 1-2 months that I couldn`t do with the Harley in a cold garage....or I didn`t bother trying at least, to avoid wear if the oil was like molasses. I do have several bottles of injector cleaner for cars that should work if I follow directions. Do you think despite adding 1/2 tank of fresh gas over the 8 month old gas, the 8 month old gas could still be distributed down through the injectors and filter?? Probably, since it hasn`t started, it wouldn`t mix other than up in the tank.....but again I need to get spark first. I wish a store was open today! That may save me and everyone a whole lot of typing though I`m learning a lot. I plan to get a service manual one day, but the owner didn`t even have an owner`s manual so I have nothing except this forum and half a brain right now.

 

I did try a new snowmobile spark plug (NGK BR9ES) in there, but I think its a bit bigger diameter insulator so may not have made metal contact, but there no spark with that either. Again though that may be a poor example if it wasn`t seated in the cap properly. If I see a Harley go by, it`s a nice day afterall, I may wave him down and ask if he has a spare plug I could borrow....though these aren`t snowmobiles and guys ripping around the suburbs likely won`t be carrying a plug like they would on a long trip. So I`ll try your screwdriver trick, it had barely crossed my mind but hadn`t completely formed yet, so I`m glad you volunteered it.