[Chuck]

My bike just went dead and won't crank. It has fuel, compression, and a weak spark. new plugs, coil, and plug wires. The ignition sensor in the nose cone has some yellow glue looking stuff that may have dripped from the sensor. Is that a common thing? and would it cause a whimppy spark? The motor spins over and just will not hit! Any suggestions are appreciated!

[chucktx]

most anytime ya get a goooo comming from an electrical item, it is not a good sign. have you done an onboard diagnostics????

[FLHTbiker]

Not being there is always hard to help out but how is the battery as you stated it won't crank does that mean cranks slow or it turns over normally. If OK a weak spark will not be enough usually to fire it over. Did you connect all the wiring correctly? Any kind of bad connections or loose grounds won't help.The voltage should read around 12.5 volts (higher is OK) If the voltage is less than this it may indicate a poor battery and can cause a weak spark.

Confirm that the electrolyte level in each cell of the battery is good. Add distilled water only to cell's with a low level. (Obviously you cannot add water to a maintenance free battery) Charge the battery overnight with a slow charger only. Motorcycle batteries cannot handle a fast charge. Make sure the charger only charges at a rate of 2 amps or less.

Install the battery and try and start her again. If she still won't go buy a new battery and your problem will likely be fixed. If she starts and runs like a charm, then you have to find out why the battery went dead. You need to check the charging system.

With the engine running, place the multimeter leads on the battery. Rev the engine a little. The system voltage should rise with engine RPM. A voltage of around 13.5 to about 14.5 should be displayed. If the voltage stays constant and/or is slowly decreasing, or if the voltage rises above 14.7 volts the charging system is not functioning.You have to check two things. The Stator and the Regulator. The stator creates an AC voltage. The regulator changes the AC to DC voltage and also maintains that voltage at the proper level.

The Stator can be checked with the Ohms function on your meter. Locate and remove the plug for the stator on the front of the engine block. You will see two or three pins inside.

Set the meter for low Ohms, and measure the continuity between these pins. 5 Ohms or less is what you are looking for here. Set the meter to the highest setting. With 1 lead attached to a metal part of bike check for continuity to each pin. You meter should read infinite, or no continuity. If these tests check out then your stator is fine. If there is a fault in any of these tests, then see your dealer

The regulator is the easiest of all to check. The regulator is made of solid state electronics and can't be opened. Replace the regulator if everything else on the charging system checks out or if there is an overcharging situation.

On most Harley's you will not know if the charging system is beginning to fail. The evidence shows up when you have dim lights or she just won't start. There are aftermarket accessories that you can install on your bike that will tell you the current state of the charging system. Hope this helps.

[hotroadking]

I've found that generally if you let the smoke or goo out of an electrical device it tends not to work, these things for some reason run on smoke and goo, I don't know how they do it.

If you have fuel, compression and spark it should run, was it running before you put on the new plugs and wires?

What year and model bike, honda? harley, ducati, Crosley?

[chucktx]

92 heritage

[hotroadking]

guess I'm a bit slow I read the msg and missed the title duh

When you say it won't crank do you mean it won't turn over
or turns over very slow?

If so check battery, have a load test done on it at an auto parts
store it might charge but not hold one. If you replace use a
HD battery about the best out there.

If it turns over fine, then check all the wires and connections

A bad ignition module will do this as well, you might be getting a weak spark,


I'd check the battery, ground cable and connections before anything else.

[cowboy]

My brother's 89 evo had all power but would not crank check it all out it had A bad stater, My bro -law's 00 TC had the same thing go out on his we pushed started it & ran like always just would not crank by the button or jumping it

[VYBR8ER]

Beings you said it has a weak spark I am going to assume that it cranks but won't fire up. The weak spark condition can be from ignition sensor in the nosecone but that usualy causes no spark condition. Most of the time when I find an ignition sensor in the nosecone that is oozing I change it just to preclude future problems. When you change out that ignition sensor, take a look at the cam and pinion gears to make sure they are turning, if the keyway for the pinion gear sheared the cam won't turn to opn the valves. Have you had the gas in the tank for an extended period of time so it could possibly have gone bad? Have you checked the carb to insure that the jets aren't fouled/plugged? When you twist the throttle does the accelerator pump out fuel? Do you get any sort of ignition at all when trying to start? If you find answers to all of these questions you will most likely have found what is causing the problem.

[Chuck]

Hey Y'all thanks for the replies---I'm gonna change the ignition sensor to see if it helps. It will spin over good and sounds like a slight "pop" of ignition?? but just doesn't sound like it's trying to crank (I even shot a quick shot of ether in the carb...if there was a fuel problem it would have shown up then). I was riding it when it stopped with no signs of problems, just like I had turned it off. Had to get a trailer and go back to haul it home (bummer)---luckily my wife's yamaha came through for us! I'm sure I won't hear the end of that anytime soon.

[Red Rider]

Electrical prob, but you probably already know that. Check all the wires, too, especially under the seat (tend to get wear or dust probs - mine did, though diff model). Good luck!

[Chuck]

Hey Y'all thanks for the suggestions on what my bike problem may have been!! While checking my timing I pulled off the cam cover and "roller bearings" came rolling out! The cam had gotten out of time with the crank when the main bearings failed. I didn't go any further for now, but did order me a 107" Ultima and new 6 speed trans! I'll go into the stocker later and see if it's repairable...if not I'll have some parts for sale.

[hotroadking]

Well that would do it.

the Ultima will be a good motor.

[Chuck]

Hey---any ideas on what may have caused the cam side main bearing to come out?? I haven't checked anything yet but I'm thinking maybe the oil pump stopped working. Just wondering if someone else has had a similar problem.
Thanks,

[chucktx]

is the cam broke or pieces missing where the brg rides??? i have seen/heard of this happening.....

[Chuck]

No, the cam is intact (1 tooth broken on the gear). Look behind it and you see the roller cages pulled loose from the case. the engine wasn't locked up and nothing broke it's way out. That suprises me, since I was riding it when it all happened.

[Mecchanica]

HD had a problem with cam bearings when they changed the source to a German bearing, if I recall correctly, right about that time (Early 90s). The fix was to go back to the Torrington bearings they had always used.