My 88 sporty all of a sudden died the other day and I replaced the spark plugs no spark thought it was the coil so I replaced that and still no spark now I just replaced the ignition module that came with a kit including a coil the module and spark plug wires, I timed the bike and everything still no spark what could be the issue???

 

What year?
Any mods?
Do anything before this started?
Mileage?

 

No mods it’s a 1988 Sportster xlh 883 and it didn’t do anything before it happened and it’s has 90k miles but I’ve rebuilt the bike and ran fine before this happened

 

Gas - petcock issue.

Sounds dumb, but kill switch. Another one might be the ignition switch. I take it that it turns over but no spark, if so that is likely the ignition module on that age of bike has decided to call it quits. If you turned it over without a spark plug grounded that could blow the electronic ignition. Jut throwing out ideas.

 

I just installed the ultima ignition kit today yet no spark

 

Not sure if the 88 Sporty has the ION sensing ignition,,,,,,,
If it does, you cannot check spark like that as the ignition has to see compression for it to fire, so the plug has to be in the head for it to work.
The use of an inline ignition tester is the only way to see that the plug is getting fire.

Something like this should work....

 

When ya turn the ignition on the red status LED should light up. If not, run a new wire from the nosecone unit to the ignition switch.

 

Yeah the red light blinked when ignition was turned on, put it at TDC turned the module just as the red light turned off and tightened it down

 

With the module when the red light lite up and when I turned it just as the light went out there wasn’t any marking in the inspection hole could it be cause I didn’t time it correctly? Idk if the TDC for my bike is the solid line in the middle or two dots or one dot it’s a 1988 Harley Davison Sportster XLH 883. If anyone know the TDC mark for my bike let me know but when I had it at the solid line the red light wouldn’t go out no matter where I rotated the ignition module. I did do the do straw method the straw is at its highest point in cylinder 1 and in cylinder 2 the straw is lower down the hole and that’s where it’s at now but no markings in the inspection hole.

 

The ION sensing ignition was on the later bikes with fuel injection. I know my 08 Softail had it, but not sure if the twin cam's had it or not. The 88 Sportster would be carbed.