ok here is my first post

to preface, i did just get my first bike a2003 1200 Sporster Custom about 3 months ago, but that doesnt mean that i am an idiot about bikes

My bike has been having hard start issues when it is hot and sometimes runs a little rough.Despite thatyesterday i went out for a pre-football cruise in the texas hill country, about an hour into the ride my bike back fired several times and died, in the middle of NO - WHERE. i let it sit for about 20 min and then decided to turn around and go back. i got about 5 miles back twords home and the bike died again. after about an hour of waiting and tryng to restart my bike the battery finally died and i gave up and called my insurance company for a tow. as i was confirming the tow truck service with them a truck pulled up and the driver said he was a head something at the local Harley Dealer.
He was really awsome and actually went home and got his trailer and said he would take me wherever i wanted to go. so since the bike wasnt running, and he worked at thedealeri said great lets take it to the dealer. Turns out he is the head accountant ata local dealership herein San Antonio Texas, i cant say enough about what an awsome guy he was to take out at least 2 hours of his sunday to give me a lift to the dealer. He really went totally out of his way to help a stranded stranger.So we finally get there and i get the bike to the service dept. The Service manager gives me one look and decides he knows what the problem is.
He must have decided this after seeing me because he didnt actually fix the problem that i came there for. He must have decided that i was out of gas and didnt know how to start a harley cause he proceeded to explain to me how tostart itand keep track of how many milesi had gone after filling up. I humored him and after he assured me that he had brought in an extra tech to help with my bike i agreed to wait until they determined what the issue was.
TWO hours, TWO spark plugs, some gasand damn near $100 later they assured me that all was well and the had "fixed" the problem. Well a mile down the road and the bike died in the same way it had earlier and i had to waste another hour and a half until they had trailered it back to the dealer to figure out what really was wrong.
The bike is still there and though i did call them today tofind out if they have evenlooked at it yet, they said they have not and did not call me back about the issue.

sorry, i just had to give some praise and rant at the same time




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I wonder if your ignition coil is going bad. It sounds more like an electical problem than a fuel related one. Anyway, good luck and let us know what they find.

 

I know you wanted to humor the techs, and not step on the guys toes that helped you out, but you have got to get on those guys at the dealerships. They usually do good work, but I prefer to take my bike to a good independant shop. Make sure you follow up and let us know what was wrong.

 

I get onto the techs here at the Ford dealership I work at all the time about stuff like that. There is a couple of them that want to "shade-tree" things and rig them up and not actually fix them. I tell them all the time, "We're supposed to be professionals, that's why people bring their cars here to the dealership. If they want shade tree, they can take it to Bubba down the street working out of his house garage." They don't seem to understand that for some reason. The onesthat do understand that aren't ever the ones in charge, like shop formen or service managers. I don't get it....

Rev. George.....Chattanooga, Tn

 

WowI thought that only happened at Braeger Ford in Milwaukee WI. I took my Ranger there to find out why it was so difficult to get it into gears... They saidI needed a new clutch and slave cyl and possibly a clutch master cyl too. (everything that had been replaced a year and a halfand 6000 miles earlier by them).Quoted me over $900 for the job.
I took it back to work and bled the hydraulic clutch system upon a recommendation from the mechanic at the dealershipI workfor and low and behold it was fine....


DedulusTX, welcome to the forums. You will find that there's many "techs" who don't seem to know their a$$hole from a hole in the ground. It seems that when a diagnostic computer can't be utilized to find an issue many of todays "techs" are lost.
Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion. When you pay good moneyyou should get good service in return.

 

thanks for the imput, you allare absolutely right about forcing the issue, it seems that alot of people just try do the min to get by, unless forced to do otherwise.

they called me today anda tech says that it is the ig coil and that plus a new battery would put me back some $470!!?? 130 for parts puts the labor at like $340 divided by 75 an hour = im going to go get the bike and replace that sh** myself in a lot less then 4 hours, hopefully that really is the actual problem.

 

What you describe has happened to me a few times.
a) it was the ignition module - twice
Your battery is going to die every two years or so no matter what you do.
b) I have an FXR (am selling and thinking about a 1200) and so i don't know whether they are the same in front --- but where the module goes into the motor (left front) the little plug was always falling out and i had to get a metal piece to hold it in place. When it fell out, the alternator didn't charge and the same thing happened.