Not to be a wise guy but go to harley or get a harley shop manual for the bike dont get the hayes junk or chiltons. Read the thing . leave it in the **** house . You will learn alot about the bike . Ill bet most every person on here has one . Ive been working on these things for a while now and i use that book almost every time i work on it . You cant remember everything. I love harleys but they do break on occasion. hahahah

 

brainless i have one for the bike, it was the first thing i got. factory shop manuel from the 80's. I got to check my pickup and my ignition coil tonight. im running out of things to check..
Matt

 

Check compression...bikes been sitting up for 3 years, stuck valves are very likely

 

1)Check for spark with the plugs installed, stick a screwdriver in the plug boot and hold the shaft about 1/8" away from one of the cooling fins, crank engine.

(With the starter battery draw,you may not have enough voltage at the coil/module to fire the plugs, check this first before wasting effort looking elsewhere.There's a long path for voltage to make it to the coil and module: from ign switch to a breaker, then through two connecters, the handle bar kill switch, another connector, then to the coil)

2)OK, if there's no spark at the plugs(which probably not, since you sprayed "start ya bastard" and got nothin'), connect jumpers to your car battery(with car not running) and test spark again, if still no spark, try #3

3)If you still have the stock ignition, connect a jumper wire from the battery (+)to the white wire on the coil, test for spark with the plugs installed.

Let us know what happens.

 

from what im seeing is it has to be the pickup/ignition or the VOES vac off the carb... i have no ther ideas. anyone know how to test these..?
Matt

 

VOes won't stop it from running. Did you mark the ignition and pull the pickup to make sure the cup didn't move from its slotted position? If the cup moved it will throw the ignition off. Did you check the screws on the ignition to see if the back plate is loose and has not moved?

 

Very Strange problem ?!
You rode it for 4 hrs. ok and now it " slowley lost power to dead " ?
Is this correct ?
Need as much detailed info. as you can provide here.

 

I repeat, Do you have spark????
John

 

I once bottomed out on my fatty unbeknown to me i smashed the wire that goes to the coil. woulda never found it had i not decided to wash it while I had it up in the air. have you inspected the wires coming from the ignition under your ride? mine had traveled enough to break when I bottomed out. but then my fatty is slammed pretty low to the ground. my 2 cents worth

 

yes i do have spark, and i will take the pick up off today and check the cup. thanks about the voes fact as well RIdemyevo. history on the bike was it sat for three years. did the new batt, carb rebuild gas lines tanks etc. got it running and it ran strong. on the road, my rpms dropped in 5th, so i shifted in to 4th, still was droppin, then i shifted into 3rd, and then held the clutch in it died and i coasted to the shoulder of the road. no pops backfires electrical probs etc. just slowly shut itself off, like i were to run out of gas.. very strange..
Matt