Hello all......

Ok, I'll try to make this brief and yet not leave out any details..... if thats possible.

So after 15+ years in the garage, I finally got the replacement fuel tank and throttle cable installed on my pristine 1985 FL 350 Odyssey. To my surprise, it fired right up with a little starting fluid, and I was riding the beast in no time. (Made me wish I had done it years ago) This thing really flies!

After several passes around the track, and one big smile on my face, it died and would not start back. I tried a little more starting fluid (cause with my limited mechanincal abilities that is what I do) and it wouldn't even fire. So I pulled the spark plug which is probly original, and it looked great! It was behaving like the key was in the off position, so I worked it back and forth along with the engine cutoff switch, and nothing. I then started thinking neutral safety issue, so I wiggled the shifter back and forth and still no dice.

Have I overlooked something simple? I guess I will tear into the engine cutoff switch to see if a wire has broke loose.... after the new battery is charged of course, since I have 2 blisters from pulling it!

Any other ideas?

 

#1 rule: Find out if it's spark, fuel, or mechanical.

Take the plug out and ground it and pull it over. Does it spark?
Does the pipe smell fuelly?
Have you done a compression check?

Find out the answer to these questions and you will find the problem............or know where to look.

 

Sounds like he has already checked for spark with no luck.

 

Went back in 2 days later with a fresh battery, and it fired right up the second I hit the starter. I'm affraid this wont be the end of this issue tho..... especially since it died on me when it was hot, and would not start back.

Any ideas what might cause this to happen?

If it ever stops raining, I will get out and run it again like I did before to see if it duplicates.

Thanks for the input.

 

I am by no means an expert, but...if the only thing you altered was the battery, it leads me to believe you have a charging issue. It seems as though you were able to ride for a short while on the stored electrical power in the battery. Once that was gone, the engine died.

I hate electrical issues!!! It could be something as simple as a poor connection or broken wire all the way to a faulty charging circuit.

Good luck and keep us informed!

 

The day of the problem, I removed the battery to take it in to replace it, and was running without a battery installed. Surely, you don't have to have a battery in to run these?