Harley mechanic

[LT]

FYI I am a past Lead Technician at a Harley dealer in the Pacific Northwest and was Expert qualified through Harley Davidson. I still work on bikes on the side and questions are answered free if I know the answer. Post your question here and I will try. If you want work done I have much more reasonable rates than local shops.

[mothergoose]

Lt. I am writing this for one of our members ie CRAZY ED . He has a 103 Rev Tec that keeps fouling spark plugs. He has taken it to a couple of mechanics but the problem still keeps coming back. any ideas? Thanx

[LT]

Lt. I am writing this for one of our members ie CRAZY ED . He has a 103 Rev Tec that keeps fouling spark plugs. He has taken it to a couple of mechanics but the problem still keeps coming back. any ideas? Thanx

Jetting. About the only thing that will foul plugs. It probably has an S&S carburetor, Super E? If so, it should have a 68 or 70 main jet (it probably has a 74), and a 29.5 or 31 slow jet. Check back with me if this isn't the problem or if he has a different carb.

[mothergoose]

Lt; He has a 107 S&S will check the sizing of the jets and get back to ya again thanx

[freddw1]

Hey LT,
I think I probably know the answer to this already but how tough are harley secondary drive belts? I just had mine replaced about 5000 miles ago and found that a small 1/4" or so sharp rock had lodged itself into and through the belt leaving about a 1/4" slit in between the belt teeth, seems to be no damage to the sprocket but......? Am I asking to be stranded or is this something fairly common.
Fred

[Cheech]

Ah, yes - the wonders of belt drive.

If the damage to your belt does not extend to the edges - you are probably OK.
HOWEVER - I do not recommend any flaming burnouts or power shifts!

Gates makes a great replacement belt (I say this after breaking 2 HD belts in rather not so good circumstances)
I think it is called a "Gator" and seems to be much more heavy duty than the HD offering.
Yes, it IS good for flaming burnouts AND power shifts! (my bike only puts out a bit under 100 hp tho.)

Cheech

[LT]

Hey LT,
I think I probably know the answer to this already but how tough are harley secondary drive belts? I just had mine replaced about 5000 miles ago and found that a small 1/4" or so sharp rock had lodged itself into and through the belt leaving about a 1/4" slit in between the belt teeth, seems to be no damage to the sprocket but......? Am I asking to be stranded or is this something fairly common.
Fred

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I have seen bikes go thousands of miles with a small rock hole. The belts are actually very tough other than for small sharp rocks. I don't know how much the Gates belts are, but if you are replacing yours Harley also makes a performance belt. If the prices are the same the Gates may be better but I don't know much about it.

For now I would follow Cheech's advice and just ride without going crazy, like most of us do. Make sure you remove the small rock. You can push it out towards the inside of the belt with a dental pick if it's still stuck in there. You probably won't have any problems. If you have to take the primary off for any other reason then you might as well throw a belt on while you are in there.

[Rowboat]

Head scratchier here (for me at lease). I have no spark in my rear cylinder. Replaces coil (DC6-4 4 3.0 ohms Twin Fire Coil), plugs wires, has electronic module (Compu-Fire not replaced), Any ideas?

PS Yesterday I had fire in both for a short time, today, rear quit again..
Rowboat

Thanks!

[EWOK]

Have plenty of ideas, but it would help to know what your bike is, EVO, Twin, Shovel etc and it your carb, efi and if the coil is set up as either twin or single fire. But right off the top of my head I would be checking to see if swapping ignition wires changes the problem, and double checking the ground both at the coil and from the battery to the frame. One final thought would be a compression check of both cylinders. You can have spark at the plug but no fire because there is no compression in the cylinder.

m

[Rowboat]

Thanks, will try. Info 1980 FXWG Shovel S&S super e S&S heads. Kick and elec start, single fire

[LT]

One final thought would be a compression check of both cylinders. You can have spark at the plug but no fire because there is no compression in the cylinder.

m

Although you did state that you had one cylinder not firing. That implies no spark. Sounds from your description that you have a wiring issue somewhere along the way. Pull the plugs and set them on the engine while still attached to the plug wires. Crank the motor. If you have spark on one but not the other, swap the plug wires from the coil. If the problem is the same, you have a wiring problem to your coil or your module is shot. It won't be a ground problem unless each tower of the coil has a separate ground (unless you have twin coils). If you have a friend with a single fire module, ask to borrow and try again with the known good module.

Sounds like a wiring problem to me though, since it came back briefly. Check that you don't have a pinched wire anywhere in the harness going to the coil.