1999 1500 misfiring when accelerating

[ignitethewill]

Thanks Troll!

[Troll]

That will certainly make it misfire.. combination of electrical loss and compression loss. BE CAREFUL when tightening the plug...stripped threads are not fun.

[ignitethewill]

Thanks, Troll.  I replaced the plugs and wires before I went on the cross-country run, but did notice that one plug was so loose that I could turn it with my hand when I parked this morning.

I will tighten the plug and see if that does it.  If it still misses, maybe the plug is foul?

[Troll]

Sounds like a classic case of spark failure.Wires/plugs...the bike is 14 years old. A leaking spark plug wire cap will do this, as will a wire going bad.

[ignitethewill]

I have a 1999 1500 drifter with 45,000 miles.  It was running great, but yesterday started cutting out randomly when I accelerate.  The idle is fine, but ever fourth or fifth acceleration after stopping at a light was really rough. The engine seemed to die (or at least miss) then it would fire back up, then die (or miss) again.  It would do this 4 or 5 times, then run smooth until the next light.  It made the bike buck a bit.

Any ideas on what this could be?

Unrelated: I am a longtime reader of the forum, but this is my first post.  Thanks to the advice of you all, I was able to ride this bike from Ocean City, MD to San Francisco.  Thanks!