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My 97 police bike appers to have the same problems as you describe, but I don't have spark in the front cylinder (rear cylinder appears to spark fine) have swapped plugs, plug wires, tried a new coil, and measured battery voltage okay at the electrical connection to the coil. Working now to chase back the other two wires from the coil connection back to the ecm...and look at the ecm connections for corrosion...
When you read the fault code on my bike (check engine light blinking code) it indicates a fault 24 which is front cylinder coil.
I will keep you advised how I make out with my similar problem.
Thanks for the links. Great graphics. I got a cam position sensor coming so will deal with that as soon as it gets here. Hopefully that will solve the problem. Hey im, when you said an earlier post about checking the coil with the M was I supposed to just touch the red M lead to the outside of the colored coil wires that go into the coil clip? It will pick up the reading through the plastic coating because I don't have any bare wires showing. The fact that I didn't get any reading when I touched the clip terminals mean any thing?
97 FLHTPI (police bike) that had no spark to front plug
Problem solved.
With further trouble shooting at the ecm end found that the 35 pin connection was not fully engagged. There is a hinge side and a retention clip side for this plug at the ecm (computer). The retention clip was not engaging and holding the wire harness plug in place as it should. I pushed the plug back together at the ecm and reattached the ecm holding bracket. When I checked for spark-both cyclinders are now firing great. It turns out that with the wire harness plug coming undone from the ecm that the 1st (#1 contact) connection to be lost is the electric signal to the front coil.
With further trouble shooting at the ecm end found that the 35 pin connection was not fully engagged. There is a hinge side and a retention clip side for this plug at the ecm (computer). The retention clip was not engaging and holding the wire harness plug in place as it should. I pushed the plug back together at the ecm and reattached the ecm holding bracket. When I checked for spark-both cyclinders are now firing great. It turns out that with the wire harness plug coming undone from the ecm that the 1st (#1 contact) connection to be lost is the electric signal to the front coil.
excellent, lets hope 98-glide gets on the road soon also.
Why was retention clip not holding/loose? age, vibration or do you think it was loose since beginning?
The one spring clip that holds the plug in place never really looked originally engaged. I believe that just the vibration through time started to disengage the plug.
I believe my EFI bike is pretty much the same as the 98. To determine if you have power to the coil---There is a wire spring retention clip that has to be removed from the plug/connection at the dual coil, before the 90 degree plug can be pulled off the coil. When the plug is disconnected look into the plug and you can see three connection points. With the two ears of the plug facing up (looking into the plug end) --the far right contact ( #3) is the one to check with a multimeter positive contact (negative contact from multimeter needs to be grounded). Once the ignition is turned on and you hear the fuel pump you will get battery voltage to this #3 contact at the coil plug for two seconds.
Good info Gold,
I took the coil all the way off so I know exactly what you are talking about. I will check #3 post reading. So what if I have to change a coil and cam postion sensor? At least I won't have to worry about either for a while. The price of both items are still cheaper than two hours of labor time at the dealer! Will check the 35 pin ECM connector as that sure would be great if that is all it is. Really, the way it shut down it was just as if someone/vibration, etc. unplugged something. Thanks again.
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