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Help,it stopped running

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firstfatboy

Member
I have a 1998 fatboy and just freshened up its top end.I ran it briefly a few times to seat the rings.I then drove it carefully about 2 miles,ran great,and I brought it home.I took it out yesterday,got to the bottom of my street and heard a slight ticking from the top end of my front cylinder.I decided to head home,but within a mile I started loosing all power,then it stalled and cranks but wont start.It backfired thru the carb a few times,and I pushed it home.Im sure I wasnt out of gas,but was too angry too start fixing it.Anyone shed some light on what the heck happened????
 
Can you be a wee bit more specific on what you did to freshen the top end

Brian
 
Have you got compression on both cylinders? (timing issue) Stuck open intake valve for some reason on front cylinder (broken spring, valve keepers came off) just guessing... Sorry about the bad luck, that sucks.
 
OK,sorry,I wasnt too specific about freshing up the top end.I put on SE heads,had the jugs bored 10 over and SE 10.5:1 pstons.I also installed a mild SE cam,but dont have the numbers in front of me right now.I did use SE adlustable push rods,and carefully adjusted them.I havent put a compression guage to it yet,but there was enough to close the compression reliefs.It just ran so great,then so suddenly lost it.I havent looked into it much yet.Pushing that bike up hill home really was no fun.Sometimes my temper gets the better of me,so I put it away for now.This happened yesterday,and I can just start thinking clearly today....
 
rockerz said:
Have you got compression on both cylinders? (timing issue) Stuck open intake valve for some reason on front cylinder (broken spring, valve keepers came off) just guessing... Sorry about the bad luck, that sucks.
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The above post is where I would be checking.

firstfatboy said:
I wondered if a push rod on the front loosen up,but would that make it stop running????? Had to push it home
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No I would not think so unless it was so loose it wasn't opening a valve.
 
The reason I thought it might be a pushrod is I made the mistake once of not tightening the locknut on a pushrod and it backed clear off. Its definitly an easy place to check. a compression test would certainly tell the tale
 
I would run a compression test first, open up the push rod tubes and watch the pushrods and give them a wiggle
 
firstfatboy said:
I have a 1998 fatboy and just freshened up its top end.I ran it briefly a few times to seat the rings.I then drove it carefully about 2 miles,ran great,and I brought it home.I took it out yesterday,got to the bottom of my street and heard a slight ticking from the top end of my front cylinder.I decided to head home,but within a mile I started loosing all power,then it stalled and cranks but wont start.It backfired thru the carb a few times,and I pushed it home.Im sure I wasnt out of gas,but was too angry too start fixing it.Anyone shed some light on what the heck happened????
Click to expand...

Does your bike have a vacuum operated petcock valve on the tank or a manual valve? If the latter, have you switched to the reserve position and tried to start? If vacuum operated, try replacing the hose.

Open the bowl drain and drain some gas into a glass jar. Gas look clean with no trash/sediment in it?

TQ
 
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