electrical, trying to avoid the dealership

Hey guys, new here, so be easy on me.

I have a 2000 softail standard with a 1550 cc motor, stock ignition. I was riding it two nights ago and it quit. Tried starting it, turned over, fired once, died, now to the point where it will only turn over, does not fire. I have cleaned the fuel filter and fuel line, removed the carb and cleaned it, checked the float and float needle, all is good. Good gas delivery from accelerator pump, too. Put in new spark plugs, and when testing, noticed the front cyl plug is firing weaker than the rear.

The dealership says I have to bring it in. I would rather not deal with them. I have narrowed it down to either a cam/crank sensor, ignition coil, or ECM. Is there any way to determine which it might be so I don't have to spend so much on parts???

Thanks!

you can switch the plug wires at the coil if the weak spark goes with the same wire your wires are bad if the weak spark stays with the same cyl. you may have a bad coil i think if you had a bad sensor or ecm it would effect both wires the same

No Fire

Buy yhe service manual and do all of the tests for the ignition system. The book tells you how to check out the coil and also if the signal from the crank position sensor is actually being triggered and then sent to the coil from the ecm. If your battery is low you can also get this type of an indication.

did you find the problem i have the same problem on my 00 heritag

what did you find out?

I've heard that the crank sensors are big offenders, especially the 1999-2001 installs. My bike (99 FLHR) has two - the only year H-D put two on them. No one seems to know why they even did that double-the-chance-of-failure BS. Or at least they won't admit to it. I was advised to replace mine just for the preventive measure. Can't remove even one (permanently, that is) without replacing the harness, though, so I'll always face that issue. Hope your bike has a better set-up.

I was told the sensor itself is under $20....but hadn't gone so far as to get 'em yet.

Good luck!

I changed the sensor on my 02 fxdx it was 70bucks It didn't need to be changed as I found out afterward what I did was cut the wires about 3 inches from the sensor staggered and soldered in the new one and covered the joints seperately and then both together with heatshrink tubing

Hi loud_pipes,
If a Crank or cam position sensor is acting up, it should set a fault code in the ECM. I found the process posted on the web to recover error codes without a scan tool for the 04 to 06 sportsters , i do not know if it will apply to your 2000 softtail but I will see if i can find the website again and post it
Tim

where

if you have that web site on how to do those codes i wish you'd share the location

Thanks everyone! I followed the service manuals tip on checking the engine code, using a jump wire from pin 1 & 2. coed 41 which is a weak cam sensor or no signal at all. replaced it and it runs great!!!

Here is the web site
04/05 trouble codes
Tim

Glad to hear you found the problem. When all else fails, use the book! It is a fairly common occurance to loose the crank or cam position sensor. They aren't too bad to change. If your problem starts up again, the wiring from the sensor connect to the ECM seems to have problems on a regular basis.