The fuel guage on my 2005 HD Road King stopped working--its either the guage or the sender/float unit---how do I replace both items??

joecoolvette

• 5660 Answers
• Posted on Apr 25, 2009

SOURCE: when riding 2005 fuel injected harley road king,

Sounds like the intake manifold is leaking. The area where the leak usually happens, are those two rubber sleeves that go from the heads, (Cylinder heads) to the intake. Sometimes the clamp/s loosen up. Sometimes these rubber sleeves deteriorate, and cracks form.

This makes the engine backfire, pop, and idle fast.

The added air at the wrong time cause a backfire, when you let off the throttle. The added air causes the engine to pop, because the exhaust valve has sucked up some cold air.
The engine idles fast, because more air is being introduced, and not metered by the injection system.

(The exhaust valve thing. Exhaust valves are supposed to open, and let exhaust out right? Well there is a thing called Valve Overlap.
The Exhaust valve hasn't closed all the way yet, and the Intake valve is opening.
The 4 stroke engine, (Of which a Harley is), has these four strokes.
1.Intake Stroke. Fuel/air is sucked in.
2.Compression Stroke. The piston comes up and squeezes the fuel/air mixture.
3.Combustion Stroke. The spark plug lights the fuel/air mixture off.
4.Exhaust Stroke. The spent gases are expelled out.

Your Road King has one camshaft. There are four cam lobes on it.
Intake, Exhaust, Intake, Exhaust.

If you had the camshaft in your hand, and had the gear end facing you, look down the camshaft. You will see those egg shaped cam lobes. You will notice that No.1 cylinder Intake lobe is facing to the left.
No.1 Exhaust is facing to the right.

If you put a degree wheel on the gear end of the camshaft, and had the No.1 Exhaust lobe ramp nose facing straight up, you would see that it's about 110 degrees, before the Intake lobe ramp at .050 lift, comes into play. (The roller, of your roller lifter has raised the Exhaust valve up .050 inch) There is about 55 degrees before the Exhaust valve hasn't quite shut.
This is okay for normal running. Introduce a vacuum leak, and the surge of extra cold air, makes it pop.

Solution? I suggest checking to see if the clamps on those rubber sleeves are loose. You can also spray WD-40 towards the ends of each rubber sleeve, when the engine is idling, and see if it speeds up. Means, one or more, of those rubber sleeves has deteriorated.

SOURCE: Fuel tank parts

Don't get a new one!!! If you're anyway handy, drain the tank, slip it off the bike & turn it upside down. Scribe a mark on the body of the unit to the tank to ensure you get it lined up again rebuilding. Unscrew the 4 retaining screws holding the sender unit in place. The rubber seal can be used again but examine it first. Carefully remove the sender unit, it's crooked in parts so you need to twist it at strange angles to get it out. Once it's out you will see the float/metal rod attached to a black bakealite holder. There is a tiny star shaped washer holding it in place, very easy to lose. Prise off the washer. Keep it safe. Upon inspection of the bakealite holder(potentiometer) you will see the metal rod has elongated the hole and thus sends a wrong signal to the fuel gauge on the dash. To counter this, get yourself some plumbers tape, the very thin stuff, and wrap it round the metal bar where it goes through the potentiometer, the part that is most worn. The trick is to get the metal rod to sit evenly & square to send the correct signal to the gauge. You may have to add or deduct some tape but make sure the float/rod moves freely before you rebuild it. This sounds gimmicky but in essence it's really handy and you save £50 on a new sender unit. Before you refit the little washer, gently squeeze it between a flat pair of pliers to tighten the little gripper teeth, then refit it. Press it home with pointy nose pliers. To test it you can attach it to the multiplug on the bike and move it manually with your hand whilst watching the dash. You should have a working fuel gauge. Mines been repaired like this for 4.5 years and it's as accurate as it was before it went wonky. Hope this helps.

SOURCE: Idel adjustment on fuel injected road king.\not on

Thats not totally correct. remove your air filter cover. look to the lower right side. You will see a small hole thats where the screw driver goes in to adjust your idle. Ya the dealer has a scanlizer that can also do it if u want to spend the bucks.