Just a quick note to anybody who might find themselves in this spot. This is a problem I have never heard of before, and everybody who wrenches on EFI models, just goes, “Hmmm, haven’t heard that one before.” So, here is the fix, if it happens to you.
I have a 2002 FLHT Fuel injected Twin Cam, I was traveling through the L.A. area a few weeks ago, and the bike started coughing and sputtering through the air cleaner. It started mildly enough, but within a few HWY miles, it was getting really bad, so I stopped at a Chevron, and started looking for obvious problems.
I called the Bikernet Tech Wiz, Hiwayman, in San Fran, and he gave me a few pointers to look for; like bad spark plug leads, and a couple of other things.
No go, it was still the same. I limped to Bartels' Harley- Davidson in Marina Del Rey, a few miles away, but that was a complete waste of time. The Vagos were having a big party in the front lot, and the head wrench was nowhere to be found. It was Sunday.
The service guy got on the phone, and discovered the only dealership in Southern California open on a Monday was located in San Diego, 120 miles south. As luck would have it, that’s where we were heading anyways, (My 10 year old son and I).
So we fired her up again, and sputtered our way down Interstate I5 for another 2 or 3 hours to Escondito, where we had a room booked. I hated doing that to my girl, but had no other choice. It would run as long as I either twisted the throttle wide open, or no juice at all, so I was up and down on the throttle the whole way, trying to keep it from popping through the air cleaner.
I got the kid in to a cool swimming pool at the Super 8, and thought, fuck it, I’m going to see if I can figure this out myself, instead of screwing up a whole day at the dealership tomorrow..
I noticed every time, I hit the “run” button and the ignition, I could hear a misting sound inside the fuel tank, instead of the usual sound of the pump building pressure.
I had the whole assembly apart previously, in the winter, to replace the filter inside the tank, so I thought, maybe I cracked the fuel line inside there, and it was not building enough pressure, so I tore into it.
I removed the tank console, and all of the torx screws holding the pump assembly on top of the tank.
This is a VERY tricky part to remove if you haven’t done it before, as the whole assembly is huge, and has to actually pivot to be removed from the tank.You will run into huge problems, if you don’t release the articulating pickup before trying to remove it.
Once I loosened the screws holding the assembly down, I pulled it part of the way out, and reached inside the tank with a clean screwdriver and pushed down on the pickup to release it from its cam lock. Then it will fold to the left side of the tank. The following picture shows it pivoted over to the left side, this allows you to pull the whole unit out of the tank.
Once I removed it, I discovered the filter assembly was coming apart. The O-ring had been pushed out of the joint between the filter and body, so I hit the ignition, and run button, and sure enough, it was pissing gas all over the place.
I must say, this whole assembly was sorta Mickey Mouse, and very loose even when clamped into place. I am attempted to pull it apart again recently, and wire-tie it into place, now that I’m home again.
Anyway, I pushed the filter back into place and clamped it back into its resting place. Then I hit the ignition and run button again. Smooth as silk, and no leak.
I buttoned the whole works back together, cleaned everything up with some Super 8 towels, and hit the pool with my Kid, quite happy to have it fixed, and not lose a day in the process.
I should add, at this point, Nyla, the Queen of Bikernet, called on my cell phone. She said Hiwayman had posted on the message board that I was in trouble, and just wanted to make sure I was OK.She invited my son and I to stop by the Bikernet HQ on our way home so we did a few days later. It's good to know, even far from home there are some brothers and sisters out there looking out for you…
I hope this might help out somebody else in the same spot…….
Ian “E Man” Macdonald
