Do you have spark????
John

 

noob here to harley's what is a pickup..? rebuilt the carb and fully charges batt, no ground issues etc. Its like a ghost, i cant find the issue and im gettin impatient... i might have to swallow my pride and bring it to a shop. Never had to do that before..
Matt

 

pickup - ignition pickup -- in the nose cone

 

The pickup is in the nose cone on the right side of the bike . There's a rotor cup with two cut outs in it that is bolted to the end of the cam and the pickup is a (sensor plate )on the outside of it and tells the bike when to fire the plugs . Sometimes the pickup can go bad and the bike will still have spark but weak or inconsistent. I've even seen the rotor cup come loose and throw the timing off. just a thought

 

Mine is on the left side. How do i go about checking this with a mulitmeter..?
Or how do i tell its working or not
Matt

 

Unless your 85 Electra-glide is some weird custom build, the pickup and nosecone is most definitely on the right side of the bike, as viewed from sitting on it. It's sometimes difficult to see the 2 wires that come out of it because they go straight down from the bottom of the nosecone and run along the frame. If it's never been opened before, it might still have the small round cover riveted on yet, but I really doubt that. The two wires coming from the left front side of the engine is the stator jack running to the voltage regulator. This is the bike's "alternator".

 

Bump, will get back to you guys on my break

 

could a starter jack go bad..?

 

These guys are trying to help but you seem to be jumping all over the Place. If your motor is cranking then jack shaft is good, if it's grinding or clicking then you have an issue there.
Start with nose cone ignition pickup as suggested. There is a sort of flow chart to follow when your bike won't start. Basicly you need spark, fuel, compression and of course a good cranking battery.

 

Test flow goes "Plugs, leads, coil, module, pick up" if you got sparks but no go you need to start with new plugs, always start with brand new plugs when diagnosing just about anything on an Evo, they are real fussy about plugs.

It is unlikely that its the module or pick up if you have a spark but its possible the spark is in the wrong place so must pull the pick up and check that the ign cup is still attached to the camshaft and has not slipped from its locator notch.

Mark the pick up back plate so it goes back exaclty where you found it.....unless the back plate is loose, in which case the marks from the retaining pillar bolts should give you a clue as to where it used to be and that is a good starting point.

Take the air fliter off and spray easy start (the brand name here is "Start, Ya Bastard") then try to start it, if it runs briefly or spits at you then you know its gonna be a fuel problem and you'll need to work through that one.

Do a compression test fairly early in the piece too.