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Need Some Harley Guidance

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Dr. Frankenstein
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Need Some Harley Guidance

#1

Post by Dr. Frankenstein »

Dear NGW Forum - I never thought this would happen to me (or so starts another well-known forum in a men's magazine - you know who you are! :lol: )

A friend of mine dropped by today to GIVE me a 2002 (??...pretty sure that's the year) HD Road King! He said he saved it from a cousin's garage, who's widow just 'didn't want it cluttering up the garage', knew I was into old bikes and he didn't want it, so gave it to me! (Nice Friend! :-D )
ImageDSCN2755 by Dr. Frankenstein1, on Flickr
Only 'problem' is, I'm not really a Harley guy, so have no idea what to do with this beast. I'm happy to have it, but still...it's 720 lbs wet - it came with a full tank of good gas, fresh battery and fuel injection, a new coil in the box, chrome leg shields, a new shift lever and even a cover! It cranks mightily strong, but I can't get it to fire. I'm wondering if the security key fob has anything to do with this...maybe the fob's battery is dead/has anything to do with it??

Pretty high mileage, if I'm reading this right, and hasn't been on the road since 2019...
ImageDSCN2756 by Dr. Frankenstein1, on Flickr

The heads on the left side are a bit grimy (the smudges are mine, wiping to see if that's oil or just road grime)...
ImageDSCN2760 by Dr. Frankenstein1, on Flickr

...and I'm wondering if these two switches are stock, or what...? They look factory, with both 'On' and "off' labels on the switches, but I have no idea what they do...I thought it might be a combination kill-switch, but even after fiddling with them I get No Joy...
ImageDSCN2761 by Dr. Frankenstein1, on Flickr

And NO, I'm not going to rush out and start getting dressed in black and orange any time soon (shudder!) - but what am I dealing with here? It's literally all there but even fuel injected it just won't fire. I haven't gone through it or tested for spark yet, but...Security key fob, maybe? Any thoughts?
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#2

Post by Whiskerfish »

Me, I would google the HD security Fob for that year and get smart on the function before tearing into anything. Might be as simple as you said a dead battery or some such. I think most have a reset ability procedure but you need to find it for the year and model.
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#3

Post by Dr. Frankenstein »

Yes, that's all I've done so far. The bike looks really well taken care of and I don't want to fix anything before I know it's broke. I still wish I knew what those two switches are for though. They are factory, but I don't know what they do.
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#4

Post by Sagebrush »

Maybe this will help? https://youtu.be/xcwWN6inzBs
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Liam
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#5

Post by Liam »

All I can say is, when you get it to fire, you WILL know. :-D :-D
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#6

Post by dontwantapickle »

Someone Gave you a $7000. motorcycle ?
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#7

Post by julimike54 »

Try the 'run' switch. ie 'kill' switch?
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#8

Post by julimike54 »

May want to post your question here...

https://www.roadglide.org/forums/my-oth ... uilds.437/

They have a this section for non Road Glides and they have some very knowledgeable folks about Harleys.
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#9

Post by Sidecar Bob »

It's been mentioned already but the kill switch on the handlebar was my first thought too.

I wouldn't expect it to crank (or do anything else for that matter) if the fob's battery was dead.

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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#10

Post by julimike54 »

I learned something today about the security on that old of a bike. The FOB should have a button, one push activates alarm, two push de-activates alarm. Maybe that is whats going on?
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#11

Post by Gowing »

Tail light shutoff?
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#12

Post by sodbuster »

I have a 2006 Road King with 118k miles and am a little familiar with them. If it's turning over, I would pull the plugs and see if its actually getting a spark. One time out in the Black Hills, I went to start the bike after a visit to a restaurant and wouldn't start. Turns out the tube in the tank had come off or was deteriorated (can't remember which) from the pump and not getting fuel. It had about 80k on it then. Also, The crankshaft position sensor could be suspect as well. I've had to replace mine a couple times.
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#13

Post by sodbuster »

Those two switches you mentioned are stock. one on the right is for the passing lamps, left one is aux (you get to decide what to hook up) The oil on front cylinder might be from leaking fork seals?
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#14

Post by sodbuster »

The 2002 was considered one of the better years of the early Twin Cam 88 motors with still having Timken crankshaft bearing.
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Re: Need Some Harley Guidance

#15

Post by rcmatt007 »

if it were the fob it would not even turn over, so that is not the problem. As mentioned, check the spark, then I would go with the fuel system. You SHOULD here the fuel pump when you first turn it on and then it will stop. None of use crank the engine until that sound stops. Secondly do NOT open the throttle to start the engine. My hunch is you are not getting fuel. I had to replace a cracked fuel line near the pump. The fuel pump is inside the tank.

As mentioned the switches are one for the running the lights and the other for "aux" so it may or may not be hooked up to anything.

The speedo is not stock, but most likely HD as the OEM speedo does not have the bottom RPM part.

I had a '05 twin cam 88. Interesting as they are the standard road king hard saddle bags, but it has spoked wheels like the road king classic (which had hard leather bags).

128k is high milage. you will probably need to replace the cam bearings, but that may have already been done. (bottom right hand side little circle cover under the push rods.
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