Starting and stay running

I have 2002 road star midnight. I lost completely spark on all 4 spark plugs. Before bike was running OK but sometimes on low RPM while idling would skip a firing on a at least one cylinder making spufff like sound. I put new spark plugs, and wiggled a little coil wires. Bike with new spurk plugs would not fire up at all. Checked for spark on all 4 spark plugs - no spark., not even an electrical I lost completely spark on all 4 spark plugs. Before bike was running OK but sometimes on low RPM while idling would skip a firing on a at least one cylinder making spufff like sound. I put new spark plugs, and wiggled a little coil wires. Bike with new spark plugs would not fire up at all. Checked for spark on all 4 spark plugs - no spark., not even an electrical charge going to spark plug. Went back to coils. Each coil (there 2 of them) has 2 spark plug wires and 2 ignition timing signal wires connected to them. I realized that these ignition timing wires contacts are corroded to the point they would not conduct a charge from the distributor to coil. CLEAN ALL THE TIMING WIRES Contacts on the coils. I did that and bike fired up right away and started running much better without sputtering or skipping a cylinder firing. SO DISCONNECT ALL THE COIL WIRES AND BRUSH THE CONTACTS WITH A SMALL METAL WIRE BRUSH.

check coil and rectifier

Hi, I do a lot with these bikes, I think if you are getting a weak spark there is a couple things to check. First, do you understand how it builds the power to create the spark? The magnet in the flywheel has to be very close to the magnito or coil, if the gap is too much it will cause a weak spark, if the magnet is weak, weak spark, if the coil is shorting internally, weak spark. If the plug wire is damaged, weak spark. I hope this helps you.

Bad stick coil

Try changing spark plugs does it fire? If yes fire it up if no check wires to coil or change your coil, does it fire then?

try switching the position of the two coils, the plug wires will unscrew off of the coils and that way you dont have to pull the spark plug wires too,(be sure and change the 2 wire couplers too) if your front cylinder stops firing you know its the coil, if the back cylinder still doesn't fire then your coil is good and you either have a bad #2 spark unit or a bad crank pulse generator.

There is no firing order. Your bike has a coil that fires on both the compression stroke and the exhaust stroke (also called a wasted spark). Therefore either plug wire can go on either cylinder and the bike should run the same.On four cylinder bikes this meant that you could run four plugs using only two coils and two sets of points instead of four coils and four points.If the bike is running poorly try new spark plugs and new spark plug caps first(start with the cheap stuff). Next check the actual coil and pulse pick up or points. You may have to replace the coil only because the wires are cracked shorting.

check the battery coil wire

Take the round cover off the right side of the cam cover above the oil filter and try starting the bike - it has a small red led that flashes every time it sparks. if it doesn't flash - change it. it is bad.

Hi and welcome to FixYa,

On the 2 ignition coils:

• two wires coming in - black/white carries/supplies IGN + 12 to both coils and the ignition control module. Coil1 (left) is connected to the ICM by the yellow/blue wire while coil2 (right) is connected through the blue/yellow wire;
• 2 coming out - left coil powers 1 & 4 while right coil powers 2 & 3;
• 1 &4 will fire together; so with 2 &3.
  

Good luck and thank you for asking FixYa.