Cut out while driving

[slick58pandhead]

i have a 58 flh with the 6v system.....it starts a runs good...i'll ride for awhile like 5 or so miles and it well cut out like the switch was shut off or something like that....i'll roll it of to the side and kick it over...its starts up and well go...a ways and do it again....i and the coil sort of have to limp it home after that.....is it the coil...how would i test it if so///should i go to the 12v system....I replaced the wire harness so i don't think it's shorting out somewheres and the coil is 4yrs old aftermaket

[UPSROD]

Check to make sure the gas caps are venting.

[slick58pandhead]

you know i just put two new caps on it 1 leftside non vent the other rightside vented.....i changed the ones i had on because the leftside leaked......both caps were vented...... i noticed when i ordered they had two different caps i'll try putting the old ones back on with new gaskets thanks upsrod maybe that well solve it

[DuoGlide62]

If it has stock '58 tanks you need both sides vented. Those tanks have no vent crossover line.
Don't overfill them either.
~ Ride On

[jdpan]

You can bend the tangs in to get a tighter fit.

[socalrider]

Check your battery connections and wiring connectins between your switch and coil. you can verify its a wiring problem by taking it out for a test ride and take 2 pieces of wire with you with alligator clips on each end. When the bike dies out , try connecting one of the alligator cliped wires from the positive side of the battery to the positive side of the coil.if it fires up then you know the problem is on the postive side of your wiring system. If not try connecting the other wire to the negative side of your battery to a ground on the bike.any metal part of the bike i.e. Motor , frame can be used as a ground. If the bike fires up then you know you have a bad ground connection or in the rare possibility a bad ground connection and a bad connection somewhere on the positive side of your wiring system. Either way, it will narrow down the problem to a wiring problem and not ignition (coil,points,condensor) or fuel problem.
Suerte,
Arnulfo

[steve_wood]

Careful bending those tangs, did that on one of my original gas caps and the dang tang broke.

[slick58pandhead]

thanks.....looks like i have somethings to work with....i hoping it's just the vents.... thanks again guys

[duoglide58]

Could be a bad condensor. I have had many that were bad out of the box. Usually though, when I had them go bad they were temperature sensitive and difficult to start when hot until they cooled back down. Same was true of the coil.

You might have an intermittant short. Since the bike has no fusing in stock form. A wire shorting to ground can take the whole bike down.
Doug

[Karl]

i have a 58 flh with the 6v system.....it starts a runs good...i'll ride for awhile like 5 or so miles and it well cut out like the switch was shut off or something like that....i'll roll it of to the side and kick it over...its starts up and well go...a ways and do it again....i and the coil sort of have to limp it home after that.....is it the coil...how would i test it if so///should i go to the 12v system....I replaced the wire harness so i don't think it's shorting out somewheres and the coil is 4yrs old aftermaket

If it cuts out like the key was turned off, I´d go for some short circuit or bad connection somwhere.
But if you have the loss-of-power-dying sensation, I´d go for gas related problems.

Go through all leads, connections and ground cables. Loosen connections and brush with a brass brush or fine sandpaper. On with some contact grease and reconnect.

Good luck,
/Karl

[slick58pandhead]

well i took it for a nice long ride....it ran good with the old vented gas caps....it ran real good but when i tried to open up the throttle more...it kinda heistated like it was muffled...then i gased it again and it back fired...probally the high speed idle.....i know it's an old bike but it shouldn't do that cause it's old....too much gas maybe...i had the high idle adjusted 2 turns out... i turned it in a little more than a full turn.. haven't really tried it yet...does that sound about right...is the kind of a ball park average figure on the adjustment on the high idle...??? thanks

[Karl]

well i took it for a nice long ride....it ran good with the old vented gas caps....it ran real good but when i tried to open up the throttle more...it kinda heistated like it was muffled...then i gased it again and it back fired...probally the high speed idle.....i know it's an old bike but it shouldn't do that cause it's old....too much gas maybe...i had the high idle adjusted 2 turns out... i turned it in a little more than a full turn.. haven't really tried it yet...does that sound about right...is the kind of a ball park average figure on the adjustment on the high idle...??? thanks

Have You checked the plugs if they are fouled after such a trip?
Perhaps if you could provoke that behaviour and then pull the plugs to check?
Lean machine gives dry white plugs, rich gives black sooted plugs.
(I don´t mean to suggest you don´t know this already, but someone else might read this thread in the future, that does not know.)

Otherwise I´d look at airleak around intake and carb.
I had a Yamaha xs 650 that behaved like that when the rubber boot between airbox and carb went dry and cracked. It pulle air through the cracks in the rubber.
It was ok on steady gas, but when given more gas, it went: "BRRAAA..aaaa..uuu..uu..phpph.. and sputtered and backfired.
Another telltale with air-leak is when you give gas, and then rapidly turn the throttle off (twist the gas handle back to "zero"-gas), and the throttle does not respond as quick as it should. You get a delay in the throttleresponse, even though you already let go of the gas.
(Do I come through clear and make any sense, or am I just confusing?)

Good luck man!
/Karl

[59Panman]

You might want to open up the low speed needle more. I had a little backfiring going down hill and I ended up turning out the low speed needle which cured the problem.

Cotten can clue you in on the low speed needle and the function it performs with the emulsifier tube in the Linkert.

[steve_wood]

Slick58pan,

You're getting lots of good suggestions from the folks here. Any of which could be the root of the problem.

By the way, is it a Linkert carb?

At the risk of confusion, I'll add another suggestion: I'm thinking that it might actually be the high speed mixture. I think I recall reading somewhere that sometimes the best operation is with the high speed needle almost completely closed. The high speed mixture is supposed to be pretty much "fixed". The adjustable jet is supposed to be just for fine tuning.

But like I said, all of these suggestions are good. Try things out and let us know how it goes.

steve

[George Greer]

Just my little 2euro cents worth.

I learnt on my M88 on the WLA, make any adjustments a couple clicks at a time, not a lot of big adjustments, ride a bit and let her stabalize before any other adjustments.

George