I am having difficulty with my buddies 2004 Deuce. It's stock with an 88" carburated engine. He bought it about a month ago as a project and rode it home. It ran ok but spitted and sputtered a bit which we originally thought to be bad gas. He's started it every week and has ridden it a few times between breaks in the weather.

He went out today and it didn't start. He called me to look at it and I found he's not getting spark. He'd rather not send it to the stealer for this problem if he can avoid it.

I'm wondering what the most common reason for no spark is on the 2004. He's changed the plugs and wires and it ran as described above so that isn't the trouble. Is there a control module or something that might cause the no-spark condition?

He'd planned on upgrading the ignition, coil etc. so doing them now isn't a problem. Paying the dealer to do the work is in his opinion. Any ideas?

 

Lots of different reasons but one that seems quite common is the crank position sensor.

If that goes then the motor has no idea when to fire.

I wouldn't buy one but just swap one out of a already running bike and see if it starts.

 

I would also recommend checking all the grounding points.

 

When you turn on the switch, does the headlight come on and the dash panel lights too ?
Yes, then when you turn the handlebar switch to run does the check engine light come on for 4 seconds while the CPU checks all the sensors out ? Yes, does it come back on after it goes off the first time, stay on for 4 seconds and then go back off ? If it does, then the CPU is telling you there is a historic trouble code stored and you will have to download with a scanner to see what that is.. If the light stays off then all is well with the sensors , so next. Dumb question, but do you have at least 12.3 volts on the battery ?
Are you getting 12 v to the coil as you try to crank it ? Did you OHM out the coil ? Is the resistance close to equal for both coil windings ? Triple check all ground connections., and the switch connections under the dash panel. Hope this helps put you in the right direction.

Stroker

 

The lights (dash and headlight) come on and the engine light goes off and stays off. The battery is good (cranks strong) and I have used a meter on it and it's 12.8 (not running).

I'll check power to the coil next when I go over there next. The bike has 9900 miles and was stored outside for 5 years so I'll check the ground points. Just weird it ran 6 days ago for 15 minutes and was shut off (witout riding it).

 

Weird. I walked over there thinking about the grounds and the bike sitting. All seemed fine so I thought wtf I'd check the fuses. I pulled each and they were fine. I hit the started button and it runs (at least as well as it was before).

It was probably a bad connection at the igniton fuse. I still suspect the carb is crudded up from sitting over the last couple years or so. I'm kind of on a roll. Maybe before I replace or rebuild the carb I'll go buy him a can of chemtool and see if that helps.

Thanks all for the help I'm sure not taking it to the dealer saved him a few hundred.

 

Good job on finding the connection problem. One more thing you might want to check is the back side of the fuse block itself. I have seen corrosion build up there, especially if the bike has been sitting out.

Stroker