Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech cutting out

Bike starts right up and runs strong untill it gets warm. Then it starts cutting out or simply dies. When I restart it there is a serious backfire. The bike has new coils, new pick up coil, new spark plugs, clean fresh gas, the carbs have been dismanteled and cleaned, the vent tube to the gas tank is clear, the battery is new and all connections are clean and tight. The only mod I made before this started was to replace the intake manifolds with better ones from TPUSA. The bike is maticulously maintained. It is an 02 America; 82000 mi; 904 BB kit; Bubs; jetted according to the calculater referenced on this site.
I do all my own work and would hate to take it to a dealer since there are none close and I have trust issues with other people working on my bike.

I have read the posts from others who have had the same problem and have gone through the check list of possible causes. Any advise would be appreciated.

Were the electrical components replaced to address this problem or were they changed due to age over a period of time?

Two things. Since the bike seems to run good when it is cold and quits when it is hot, could it be running too rich. Stuck float, sticking slides etc. What colour are the plugs?

The other item is a failing electrical component. Coil being affected by heat is usually the culprit. Does the engine have to cool before it will restart? Does it run on one cylinder when it starts or run fine?

I'm assuming the simple things like idle too slow or idle mixture adjustment are set properly.

At what RPM & throttle position does it typically cut-out/die...at idle...at light cruise...under acceration...wot...?

Have you tried disconnecting the throttle position sensor?

Have you ever reset the gap on the pick up coil? Since it does it when warm I'd look at the ignition components... i.e. pick up coil, maybe bad connection or more likely the igniter.

Thank you for your responses. I will answer each question. The electrical componants were replaced because of this problem. The floats were checked and all seems well. The fuel in the bowls is at the top of the bowl as it should be. The engine restarts immediately but continues to cut out or shut itself off. The rpm's don't seem to matter. It will cut out at idle or at WOT if the engine has been running for awhile. When I first start it up it runs fine at any rpm. The TPS has been disconnected for years so I reconnected it to see if that would help but it does not help. I will check the plugs tomorrow and report what I find. If there was a vacuum leak, would it only effect the bike when it was hot? I know I'm drawing at straws here. All the squarrel condums are new and firmly seated.

Given what is know so far, I'm leaning toward the igniter.

Pick up coil is set at .8mm. I thought the pick up coil and the igniter were the same thing. Where is the igniter located?

I Just went to Bike Bandit and saw where the igniter is. Does anyone know if there is a way to test these since they are $600 to replace? Any after market options? I don't think I have ever seen one for sale at "Pinwall used parts."

Igniter. Maybe you could shoot some DeOxit on the pins and apply some dielectric grease in the hopes it's corrosion and not heat failure.

Seems like we have mixed results with the Procomm replacement igniters but that's an alternate path or replacement. Or keep checking Pinwall, that's where my current igniter came from.

I just ordered a Procom from Fast Eddy. Pinwall has nothing at this time that fits our bikes. I will post the results of my Procom swap out so everyone will know if the mystery is solved or not.

have you thought about the tank venting?? it seems that you have done all the electrical things and you still have the problem and if you have had the tank off you may be haveing a vent problem. a quick way to test this is to leave the cap loose and see what happens. if it is a venting problem, by leaving the cap loose it will not allow the vaccum to happen in the tank. there has been a number of people with this problem on the pre-efi bikes. just thought i would remind you and maybe others about this little issue that some have spent much $$ trying to fix. a friend of mine just had the same problem with his hd and after quite a bit of money spent i mentioned this problem and ta da it's kinda funny because he didnt have the problem untill he changed his caps over to aftermkt eagle embosed caps...unvented hahahahaha sometimes he could get several miles before the problem raised its head and sometimes it was within blocks from home.

Problem solved. It was the igniter. Fast eddy sent me one in a flash and I am now up and running. I want to thank those on this site who offered advise. It helped me work through the process of finding the problem. Apparently my bike had gone mad and like some people it just needed a new brain.

Where can a guy get a new brain,think Eddy has one fer sale.