I have 04 Road King Classic running on a HD race tuner. 3 days ago I felt a brief hesitation and when I looked the engine light was on. This was just for maybe a ten of a mile so I kind of forgot about it. 2 days ago I left my house and at about the two mile mark the hesitation and/or sputtering with an occasional back fire started. Also the the engine light came on and off a few times. This lasted for about another 2 miles, until I can to a stop sign and the motor died. I couldn’t get it to start at that point. Since the engine light had come on I decided to turn the ignition switch off. When I turned It back on the bike started right away. Called the dealer and decided to take it to him to get the computer codes and see what was going on. Yesterday I left the house and at about the 2 mile mark the light came on and the hesitation/sputtering started again. As I stopped at the traffic lights and stops along the way the bike would not idle so I kept it going with the throttle. The dealership was about 20 miles away and the bike acted up on and off the whole way. When I got to the dealer the bike still wouldn’t idle and when it stalled I tried to start it without any results. But again when I turned the ignition off and back on it started right away. The tech came out took it in and put it on the computer. He came back and told me there were no codes, nothing showed up as being bad. After going thru the whole story with him all he could come up with was maybe there was an intake leak causing the idle problem. When I questioned the ignition on and off response he shrugged his shoulders. It seems to me the on and off is resetting something. The real kicker is, at least so far, once the ignition is recycled the problem doesn’t reoccur. I rode the second day for probably 30 miles without a problem and then yesterday when I left the dealer another 40 miles without a sputter or hesitation at all.

Any ideas???
Thanks
john

 

Stutter is probably caused by a leak at the intake manifold seals. The other problems sound like your Crank Position Sensor. When these are on their way out, the bike either won't start or if it does it will backfire and run like sh*t. Sometimes these sensors don't seem to throw a fault code.

 

At least pull the crank sensor and see if small metal shavings are skewing the sensor.

 

When was the last rime you changed your fuel filter?

 

Soft 02 brings up a good point. Check your petcock screen for blockage.