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Help Needed For A Sick 1998 EFI Road King

Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart

Active Member
I have had this bike for 3 years in Florida, and it has run flawlessly until a few days ago.
Its a 1998, the last year of the EVO, EFI, with 64K on it.
Out on a ride recently and it started missing and coughing, then it would run OK again for a while.
Sometimes it won't idle around town; it wants to race with the throttle completely closed, meanwhile the check engine light is on.
When this happens I have taken to shutting it off on the side of the road. Then after 10-15 seconds it will start up and run fine again for a while.
For the first 30-40 minutes of any ride it runs just like always, then the fun begins.

I took it into the local dealer to get the EFI checked for codes. They said they found none, and they don't have a clue as to what could be wrong.
They test drove it a few miles and of course it ran fine, which it always does for the first half hour or so. They wanted to start changing sensors and god knows what to see if they could find the problem, and run up a nice big fat bill. I said no thanks.

Anyone any thoughts or ideas??
It's definitely an intermittent thing of some type.
Appreciate any help.

Rod
 
The Tank said:
If you have seen the CEL (Check Engine Light) when riding then I would think that you have a code set in the diagnostics. Below is a link to the Self Help Tips for reading the codes without the Scanalyzer. In the Tip it will tell you how to count the light pulses of the CEL to get a numeric value for the codes.

Harley Davidson Community
Click to expand...

Any ideas why the hyperlinks aren't available to me when I go into the self-help section? :small3d029:
 
Rod Stewart said:
Tank;
Thanks for the link, but it does not seem to lead anywhere.
Any idea why?

Thanks,
Rod
Click to expand...

The Tank said:
Do you get any flashing/pulsing CEL response? Start at the point in the document where the handwritten arrow is. If you are getting into the readout mode you should at least see the transition framing I would think.
Click to expand...

Tank - sounds like he can't get to the PDF document to even read about the test you're describing. Don't know why - works fine for me.
 
Re: UPDATE: Help Needed For A Sick 1998 EFI Road King

Hi Tank and others;
OK I downloaded the document and it is great! Many thanks.
I got a code 14 off the EFI; which seems to be bad cylinder head temperature sensor.
I called the dealer and ordered the part.
It is 94 bucks, special order, and NOT returnable, and will be up to a week to arrive!! Wow! Good thing it wasn't anything real important, like a new EFI module!
Anyway, once it arrives it will be worth it all if it really is the problem.

I wonder why the useless local dealer could not find the code?? I had no problem at all following the .pdf instructions.

Oh well.....
Thanks all,
Rod
 
Progress report.
The new temp sensor arrived and I installed it yesterday.
It was about a 2 hour job, most of which was spent draining the fuel tank and getting it positioned so I could raise the front of it up about 3 inches.
This is needed because the temp sensor on the EVO is located inside a cavity in the middle of the front rocker box cover, screwed directly into the top of the head.
The twin cam temp sensor, by comparison, is located on the back of the front head, just above and beside the intake runner port. It is accessible by removing the horn.
Anyway, after raising the tank, changing the sensor took maybe 10 minutes.
So far it seems to run fine, but it will need a longer run to really test it out.

Thanks again all.
Rod
 
Further progress report.
Took it for a longer run today; about 1-1/2 hour total with a 1/2 hour break along the way.
I am pleased to say she ran perfect. No issues at all, and no check engine lights.
So I am thinking the sensor was indeed the problem.

Again, many thanks to all who offered help and suggestions.

Rod
 
Rod Stewart said:
Further progress report.
Took it for a longer run today; about 1-1/2 hour total with a 1/2 hour break along the way.
I am pleased to say she ran perfect. No issues at all, and no check engine lights.
So I am thinking the sensor was indeed the problem.

Again, many thanks to all who offered help and suggestions.

Rod
Click to expand...

Thats great man sounds like you sorted it out
 
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